“In any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.” PeopleWritingKindChildrenPersonsTwoStatesWould BeLawGoalTeachCasesTeacherSacrificeExampleTypeProtectGainsOrganizationFunctionUnionsIncludingInvestingIronRepresentativesIncompetent Author:Jerry Pournelle
“As a means of subsidizing lawyers the present nuclear regulation system is well designed - but is there not perhaps a cheaper way of rewarding legal diligence? It would probably be cheaper to give each law school graduate a guaranteed salary of $50,000 a year on the condition that he (or she) not practice law.” WayGivingYearsWellsMeanGovernmentSchoolLawPracticeConditionsLawyerNuclearGraduatesRegulationSalaryDiligenceCheaperLaw School Author:Jerry Pournelle
“In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control, and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.[Pournelle's law of Bureaucracy]” PeopleSometimesLawGoalInfluenceBenefitsAccomplishDedicatedDevotedBureaucracy Author:Jerry Pournelle
“Gates has always understood Moore's Law better than anyone else in the industry. If you can make something run at all, get it out there -it may be slow and clunky, but hardware improvements will bail you out. If you wait until it's running perfectly on the hardware already in the field, it will be obsolete before it's released. This philosophy built Microsoft and is the main reason Microsoft won the war IBM declared back in the OS/2 days.” IfsMayWarReasonPhilosophyRunningLawWaitingLearningFieldsIndustryUnderstoodBuiltImprovementProgrammingGatesMicrosoftObsoleteHardwareBailIbmMoore's Law Author:Jerry Pournelle
