Author: viczaz

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

I quite often hear people saying time is a non-renewable resource, “carpe diem,” don’t count the days, make them count… People in general have the utmost reliability to find/bring problems to the table, though they are seldom good at solving them. With this said, I found the class we had on finances to be nutritious to our brains. The person who came to give us the talk brought us an alternative to use our money in such way that we have a mattress to fall back shall we ever need to. It also made us reflect on the economy to a level which our career would usually never take us to, and I find that interesting, since one of my objectives would be to get into fintech if possible.

This was a very peculiar class that we are having, but it is something that I have been waiting for all my life: having all the semester’s homeworks laid so that I can finish them as soon as possible or as late as possible (I usually do everything as soon as a receive it). It made me more aware of the fact that I am learning more from the way and the moment that I decide to deliver my work, rather than doing it because the teacher told me to. Also, the fact that the teacher (you) is not really on the lookout for slackers or unattentive people makes me care even more for the class, similar to reverse psychology. The more an educator asks for attention, the least you want to listen. When someone is just chilling while giving a class, you feel as if that person has actually something he/she that needs to be said and listened to, something important. That is why I enjoy these classes.

Let’s not Continue reading "Pivoting – First Partial Exam"

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

This chapter teaches us about measuring work. Although it does a good job on the description and the details on how to achieve it, I am still wondering, how are they going to use it? Previous to this (and restated by Belok), the team already had a dealine and calculations on how they were making the job efficiently and approximately how much it would take them (had they not been interrupted by the NNL’s best man). So how different would their work be now that they had a new measuring unit? To be honest, I did not totally understand how it works, only that it is synthetic, and thus needs to focus on the different process of each business to bring out the result. If Binda and the boys say it is 100% useful I trust them (that is how management works, sort of, right?).

An interesting point that Binda and Tompkins talk about is how Corpolous was being paid for doing something that was vaguely obvious. Webster getting scolded by Belinda for not thinking of it before comes off with a quote by Mr. T:

No. Good on him. The people who point out things
that should have been obvious but weren’t are the ones who
do the most real good. They see the simple fundamental
truths that the rest of us miss, and they help us to see them as
well.

And yet, it is hard work. Just because something appears obvious, it does not mean it is easy. Tompkins probably thought about it, but he has many worries in his head (including not getting killed). At any rate, it should have been Binda, the bag lady who just says “this guy” or “that woman” and promotes people to managers, who starts doing these measurements on her Continue reading "The Deadline – Chapter 12"

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

Now it has begun unfolding: the real plot of this book, the real threat that the author wishes to show us, and it is *drumroll* politics. To be more precise, and to quote the book, pathological politics. And I find this interesting, because I have always seen politics as an attempt to organize all the resources in a country (or a big organization), so we may say that it is management on a great scale. As the characters discuss: what they are trying to build is politics, organizing people and moving them towards a goal. Belok’s practices are those of destruction and mischief, since he just wants to screw around and take all the credit for himself.

Something interesting that came from a character whom I did not excepect too much participation from was General Markov. When the trio are discussing their strategy to keep up the production and sidewind the NNL’s best, he says something that I think describes what this book’s core is made from: “Remember we are here to work hard and learn.” Nothing that our characters have done until now matters until the final product is achieved and they get the results they want from their experiments. The only way that our characters will fill their roles is by working, their obstacles are the very people in charge of them. I wonder if this will go full “Animal Farm” with the workers revolting against this one douche.

It is a shame when not everyone involved in a project is on it for the purpose of doing said project, but rather stalling all the work for their own benefit. I suppose it is much quicker and easier to let others work and get all the profit, but it never ends well.

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

So basically this whole chapter consists on:

Mr. T (finally!) ensuring he is being payed for his time, effort, and masterminding of turning a nobody-company into a billionaire enterprise (strangely enough, he does not mind adding “kidnapping” to the payment list) in two years.

Him meeting and discussing about management guts with Abdul Jamid to talk about guts and do a model on Mr. T’s guts (which sounds weird outside of context).

That’s pretty much it for this chapter. Very few things happened, yet it took 21 pages to get to the point: there is a way to measure guts if you apply the principles of divide-and-conquer and take every piece there is in a hunch, a small reason behind that decision. A gut is basically made up of this teeny reasonings which you cannot feel, but putting all of them together gives off a strong resolve to act in a certain way.

I liked the example used by Dr. Jamid in which doubling the size of a team makes it even less productive. It is weird how Mr. T can describe little by little how he would decide not to do this, but the guy has no idea whatsoever why he would make that call. But is this practice even possible in real life? Is it a thing which I have never heard about before reading this book? My guess would be that this is some high-level reasoning in the management business. And like a joke from another country that I could not understand, this is probably something management professionals have longed to attain and regular people do not have knowledge about, mainly due to lack of experience. Perhaps that is the reason why I did not find this chapter that much interesting.

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

It has been long since the last time I read such a captivating book. I have always been interested in management, but a story with the likes of an adventure book seems to be just the thing I have been waiting for! It honestly has made me get back the faith in non-practical books. I do not intend to discredit its message and lessons about being a manager, how dealing with people is the essence of a good company, etc. But being straight: it requires you to stretch your imagination just a little bit to believe that a billionaire just buys a country and gives a blank check to a kidnapped manager from who knows where just because he emphasizes the importance of people in business and walks out of a conference (“Wow, so managing!”). Where I am going with this is mostly that I am impatient to see what the results of these experiments they are bulding up to may bring and whether or not they are based on real life managerial experiments or they are just a hoax.

Other detail that keeps making me see this as an epic adventure book is how we have the characters presented chapter after chapter. In this case, I am talking about General Markov and his not-so-subtle bad guy golden tooth. Get real, a former army general who, rather than kick it in the Caribbean with his millions and forget life, simply decides to stay working for the new leader? He is holding a sign and a loudspeaker shouting: “BAD GUY HERE! IMMA MOLOTOV YOUR ENTERPRISE AND TAKE OVER”. Although, you could argue that Belinda does not flinch when they decide to

Continue reading "The Deadline Chapters 8-9"

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

This author has a talent to introduce eccentric characters, and these chapters were no different. As the story continues unfolding, our protagonist, like many other protagonists, begins to grow stronger as he builds a network of allies. Our newest companion, Belinda, seems to know a greater deal than Mr. T appears to do about managing. She is a mentor on Webster’s journey to raise this country, even though she was already teaching him before they met (if I understood correctly, she wrote the book Tompkins was reading). And yet, she seems to have come to a rather contrasting conclusion now than she did three years before or when she wrote the book. Something weird happened to this woman who was at the pinnacle of her career and had a decent curriculum, something which will without a shadow of doubt be revealed later and play a tremendous influence in our main character’s ability to make decisions, for good or ill.

Although she seems authentic, I do feel uncomfortable towards her “hunch” when choosing employees. It is not that I do not trust the guts of someone better than me, or that it does not make sense, but to put it simply: relying on someone to do 85% of the job destined to me gives off a vibe or sensation that makes me wonder, what did I really do? Just as our friend Mr. T wonders that himself at the end of the chapter, he defends his standing with the “I did the paperwork first” excuse to leaving most of the recruitment to Belinda.

But let’s be fair: he reflects on his weaknesses about doing the recruiting on his own. He admits being impatient, too talkative, probably aggressive on his approach when compared to her. So it is a matter of time

Continue reading "The Deadline Chapters 6-7"

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

I am starting to like the picture the author is painting in this story. We have a protagonist with experience, probably seeking redemption for a mistake he did in the past, an ambitious leader with an awkward past and even weirder plans for the future, and a prosperous country waiting to be exploited correctly.

I find Mr. T’s journal entries to be a smart exposition device. This way, the message and thoughts the author wishes to transmit are clearer. Instead of lazily writing them down for us to be bored by them, I begin to understand the direction this story is point to: one in which we are exposed to the lessons of a management book but tied up to first hand examples from a story. This way not only do we learn, but are greatly entertained and intrigued by this story, almost like a children’s book.

Until now, I have had very few dislikes (for lack of a better word) towards the story up to this point. Mainly the way the character interactions go, which involves the constant “Mmms” and “Uh-huhs” the characters do, or the fact that he seldom pauses to explain which character is saying what, so we must assume it directly through dialogue. This has forced me to go back a few lines before to understand what is going on. I hope this does not go on forever but here’s hoping.

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

I am wondering what’s next for Mr. T. I would suppose he is going to be a little bit of a goofy character, given that he talks about managing people, yet he let himself be managed by a complete stranger, even after hearing her talk about kidnapping and business espionage. He might have not been thinking clearly, given that he was just RESO’d and probably thinking what to do, but come on! Now I see why he was so desperate to learn the art of treating people. It leaves me wondering what would the woman have done if he had not accepted the Diet Dr. Pepper…

• 

Then we have a classic flashback exposition in which we have our protagonist’s goals explained… sort of. Is it some sense of entitlement which makes him react the way he reacted with the seminar’s teacher? Will this kind of behaviour continue as the story progresses? My guess would be there is going to be a clash of egos between his employer(s) in the future, and he will have to take a hard decision in order to stay true to his motives (?). I might just be overthinking it but let’s be serious: a character who is shown to have some attitude either is bound to have it resurface or is simply a not so well developed character. Unless he is meant to have a change of heart or developement, which does not seem to be the case in my opinion, since we are talking about a character in his fourties with a formed mindset.

--Originally published at Coder Bebop

In every business, no matter how promising or ground-breaking the idea is, it may not enough to have a good product. Two important factors that not everyone appreciates about doing business are: the presentation, how we sell the idea. The other one, which comes after getting into the market, is basically to not ruin it! Now that you had your kickstart, the worse thing that can happen is to mismanage it and go back to the beginning.

Who would have thought the software industry in the inside is a business like every other? You have finances and accounting department, HR, risk calculating, etc. On top of them all a group of rich/experienced folks giving the orders as they see fit. In the end, every job requiring large amounts of people needs to follow some guidelines to pull it off day after day. People need patience, support, motivation, a sense of belonging, and/or a goal.

When you put all the parts together in an enterprise, you create a mattress on which to land when things go wrong, if things go wrong at all. Having the right people in the right place makes an enormous difference in big companies. A good management will have gathered enough data over their history to include contingency plans for emergencies. For that and for many more reasons, we need people who consider every aspect of our company, either in relations with other businesses, in money-managing, etc. On top of it all: a healthy business will be integer in its product as in its management.