Re: [Nolug] Are You Noticing Nerd Fatigue?

> Are You Noticing Nerd Fatigue? by Mark Cappel
> http://www.ftponline.com/wss/2004_03/magazine/departments/ednote/

First of all, I'm a /geek/. I know, a lot of people think geek and
nerd are synonymous, but they just aren't. Trust me, I saw American
Splendor last night. Toby Radloff is a nerd. Harvey Pekar is a
(comics and music) geek.

So, what about this fatigue thing? Mark makes an argument for
centralization. I would've thought that we're beyond the
"centralization is better" fad, but I know a lot of IT guys like the
idea. Keep the users dumb.

Further, he argues that productivity is negatively affected by
"nerd-wannabees", but measuring productivity is a slippery game.

While your non-IT staffer is answering someone's technical questions,
he could have shuffled two or three pieces of paper!

Of course, we neglect to look at how many more pieces of paper are
being shuffled now because the "nerd-wannabe" was there to answer a
question immediately instead of going to the help desk. Maybe as
many as four or five more pieces of paper got shuffled for a net
savings in paper shufflage of two.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say.

Mark.

-- 
A choice between one man and a shovel, or a dozen men with teaspoons
is clear to me, and I'm sure it is clear to you also.
    -- Zimran Ahmed <http://www.winterspeak.com/>

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