How to destroy engineering organizations
In 1944, the CIA released the Simple Sabotage Field Manual with the following goal:
Sabotage varies from highly technical coup de main acts that require detailed planning and the use of specially trained operatives, to innumerable simple acts which the ordinary individual citizen-saboteur can perform. This paper is primarily concerned with the latter type. Simple sabotage does not require specially prepared tools or equipment; it is executed by an ordinary citizen who may or may not act individually and without the necessity for active connection with an organized group; and it is carried out in such a way as to involve a minimum danger of injury, detection, and reprisal.
in 1944, the CIA released a manual called simple sabotage to aid their espionage efforts. the goal of simple sabotage was to disrupt the functioning of enemy operations from within, without the need to train someone.
— prakhesar (e/acc) (@prakhesar) April 27, 2024
the first time I read this, I realized that a lot of… pic.twitter.com/ZS7oqoQK42
@prakhesar translates it to how modern organizations are sabotaged from within, some of which I’ve personally encountered in my career.
- Create a strict leveling system with a long hierarchy
- Encourage tons of meetings, lots of 1:1’s, lots of weekly syncs, and lots of planning meetings
- Hire people that do not directly improve the product, or do not directly sell the product
- Write lots of tickets, created a PRD for everything
- Lots of cross-functional collaboration that results in blockers
- Hire consultants with no subject matter expertise
- Reward the loudest in the room with the biggest bonuses
- …and the list goes on.
This is why I enjoy being in special projects organizations within larger organizations. We typically have a different set of issues, and our difficulties don’t come from simple sabotage.