Kathy Sierra on process absurdity in the workplace
Too many times I’ve heard “upper management” assume that when employees (or users) insist that what the company is doing makes no sense (e.g. a policy that punishes customers or pisses off employees), it must be because the employee just doesn’t get it. The employee doesn’t have all the facts and doesn’t see things from the “higher” perspective of management. The employee doesn’t see the Big Picture.
Sometimes… sometimes that’s bullshit.
Sometimes the employee or user is the only one who DOES “get it”. Sometimes it’s the lower-level (or at least more user-facing) employee who really knows how damaging a company’s policies can be, or where the points of leverage really are. Sometimes it’s the user who has a basis of comparison — who hasn’t bought into the company’s worldview so long that they can’t see any other reality.