"Technical Hording"- phrase used in SuperFreakonomics audio book
While driving this morning I was listening to the follow-up book to Freakonomics. The book is OK so far.
The phrase above caught my ear. They told a story of a doctor who had developed a way of extracting babies out of the womb by using a tool. He and his family horded the tool and this lead to loss of millions of lives.
As I pulled in the parking lot, I thought about the people in my career that were technical hoarders. They had a niche at which they excelled and did not want anyone else to learn how to do it.
One great example was a guy who used to do the billing for the power utilized during the month by different steel mills. He used to spend two days massaging numbers until they made sense. He did it so quickly that no one could learn how to use he tool he developed or the methodology he used to manipulate the numbers.
Since Iwas assigned to watch him I did but eventually told my boss that it was a waste of time.
His hording was silly. He thought that this was his job security. It might have been. It was also his terminal job since no one could replace him. Eventually he had to train someone when he was to retire. The sad part was that he was a very smart man and could have moved up to a better paying job. His loss was also the company's loss.
Today's question is:
"What are you hording?"
While driving this morning I was listening to the follow-up book to Freakonomics. The book is OK so far.
The phrase above caught my ear. They told a story of a doctor who had developed a way of extracting babies out of the womb by using a tool. He and his family horded the tool and this lead to loss of millions of lives.
As I pulled in the parking lot, I thought about the people in my career that were technical hoarders. They had a niche at which they excelled and did not want anyone else to learn how to do it.
One great example was a guy who used to do the billing for the power utilized during the month by different steel mills. He used to spend two days massaging numbers until they made sense. He did it so quickly that no one could learn how to use he tool he developed or the methodology he used to manipulate the numbers.
Since Iwas assigned to watch him I did but eventually told my boss that it was a waste of time.
His hording was silly. He thought that this was his job security. It might have been. It was also his terminal job since no one could replace him. Eventually he had to train someone when he was to retire. The sad part was that he was a very smart man and could have moved up to a better paying job. His loss was also the company's loss.
Today's question is:
"What are you hording?"
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