“Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day” is a 2015 book about this. I haven’t read it. http://amzn.to/2uRKgYA
-
Show this thread
-
“Bullshit jobs” is the technical term, coined by
@davidgraeber, for the paid aspect. I don’t find his explanation for them convincing, and he didn’t propose a solution in his original viral article, but it’s a good description of the problem. http://evonomics.com/why-capitalism-creates-pointless-jobs-david-graeber/ …4 replies 1 retweet 8 likesShow this thread -
Graeber has a book coming out next month that proposes a theory for why there are so many bullshit jobs (which a naive view would suppose capitalism ought to eliminate).

@againstutopia,@bornwithatail_,@IlariKaila https://amzn.to/2Jrn4Uk1 reply 2 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
In the mean time, “The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy,” also by
@davidgraeber, looks highly relevant, and is now on my to-read list: https://amzn.to/2ErwPho1 reply 2 retweets 7 likesShow this thread -
David Chapman Retweeted Venkatesh brrrRao
Here
@vgr injects his 2x2-fu:https://twitter.com/vgr/status/982358055156310016 …David Chapman added,
2 replies 3 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
David Chapman Retweeted Stephen Pimentel
Several people pointed out, in different ways, that the problem is not information technology, it’s social technology—or just political will. IT can free us from drudgery—or enslave us. For one example, in many countries taxes are automated. Another:https://twitter.com/StephenPiment/status/981952230759657473 …
David Chapman added,
Stephen Pimentel @StephenPimentReplying to @MeaningnessAgree with all of this. And yet there are also complex services based on mobile apps that work smoothly and well. So it seems that we suffer from pathologies of social organization and governance (interacting with technology), not from technology per se.3 replies 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
Relatedly, several pointed out that regulatory capture is a major cause of the problem. Economists measure the cost in terms of rent extraction and obstacles to innovation. They (probably?) don’t take into account the human cost of generating shadow work and bullshit jobs.
1 reply 0 retweets 7 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @Meaningness
My career in management has been such a brutal demonstration of the efficiency cost of scaling operations that if I could choose, I would never manage a team of more that 5 again.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @JaredJanes
That’s my experience too. OTOH, there are things that can only be done by large orgs. Steering 10,000 (or even 100) unmotivated, clueless people to get something done is a different management skill. Probably not one I’d be good at, but I’m curious about what it’d be like.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @Meaningness
For sure, I have a strong intuition that enabling the small subgroups (5ish) in these large orgs to either have or feel like they have a lot of autonomy is a important part of the puzzle. Disempowerment seems to be a big part of what leads to so much of the waste...
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
That seems plausible to me! I have little experience. OTOH, if there’s insufficient top-down control, orgs can wind up being pulled in all directions and accomplish nothing, collapse in factionalism, die of damage from internal rogue ops, etc.
-
-
Replying to @Meaningness
Indeed, completely denying hierarchy is a great way to go nowhere. Yet, I think the main function of leaders should be defining a direction/vision. Then enable their workers to do most of the navigation. Quite the balance to be struck.
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes - 1 more reply
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.