The Chains of Incumbent Systems

This post let me air out some rebellious feelings and frustrations with a world that changes 100times slower than I’d like. Patience is a virtue.
I’ve got a bone to pick with fixed wages, incumbent business systems and outdated financial models. I’m thankful that they’ve been the foundation of our economy and sustained my life until now, but they have unerringly lead to a society of doing just enough. Productivity is stuck in a local optimal that’s shrinking every day.

  • many of us do just enough to survive, the value earned from working twice as hard just doesn’t make sense
  • the projects we work on, the accepted methods, and the product all don’t make sense. The disconnect from real measured value/feedback is enormous. Incumbent business and financial models aren’t adapting fast enough
  • we work just hard enough to keep our jobs. In the wake of irrationality we cling to meaningful activities outside of “day jobs”
  • we make just enough money to pay our mortgages or rent, keep the lights on, and fill our bellies
  • we live a life of prevent defense, afraid of losing the precious little we have earned so far
  • we chase after seals of approval in old heirarchical systems, spending every ounce of our energy on propagating a dying beast

Hourly pay, and fixed salary paradigms have lead to the wholescale factorization and commoditization of genuine effort. I want to see people experiment, and break things. I want to hear objections based on personal views. I loathe broadcast meetings, just email me and don’t waste my day. When a business becomes so bound by existent systems that creative problem solving is impossible, something is obviously wrong.

Sure there are heroic exceptions that excel despite the system around them. But each step of rationale, genuine effort is met with a bureacratic wall of “do just enough”. Even though the exceptions haven’t bought into this zombie philosophy, the rest of the crowd doesn’t want you making them look bad. I know. I’ve been part of that “stay in line” system for far too long. Even though I’m struggling to find value in my hourly job, I cope with my cognitive dissonance by writing what I truly believe, and putting my best energy into a startup that’s building a personal relevance engine. The sad part is that the rest of the crowd could be amazing if they only tried, if they only listened to that small voice in the back of their minds that says, “no more pushing papers”. We’ve become a zombie nation, of commoditized intelligence and action, but we don’t have to stay this way. We can’t afford to.

You know how to make things work better in your own little part of the world. Do it! Go break something that has tied your creativity up. Break free of existing formats, legacy structures or completely circumvent barriers to your ideal solution. Even if you’re wrong at least by trying you get closer to getting it right. Be relentless and courageous in your personal quest for value.

Life is about experimenting and learning each and every day. Imagine an entire world where we all followed our internal compasses. I bet we’d be surprised by what we can collectively accomplish, as new more fluid organizations formed to overcome unimaginable (by today’s standards) challenges.

Perpetuating an irrational system is a biproduct of misguided expectations. We must strive to cultuvate a culture that is confident in the stability of change. There is no preset course to a better future, we have to continually evaluate our assumptions and motivations. Go break some chains, and show the rest of us how it’s done.

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  • http://www.everyonelovestea.com Tyler from Everyone Loves Tea

    I think that systems have this intrinsic property that they must sustain themselves at all costs. If people discover that there is a system outside of the current system, then the current system knows that it would fail and does everything it can to prevent people from adopting the other system regardless of the benefit

  • http://steamcatapult.com/ Dave Pinsen

    Did you ever read The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk? Your post reminds me a little of that book, particularly how a couple of the young, bright officers chafed against the “system” of the Navy. I know I mentioned this in another context on AVC a while back, so this may be a repeat for you, but Wouk (or one of his characters, I forget at this point) notes in the book that the Navy is a system designed by geniuses to be run by idiots.

    That was an exaggeration, but the point of it was that, in a large organization like the Navy, most people aren't smarter than those at the top, so the system is designed to maximize the input of the geniuses, and minimize the input of the non-geniuses, by replacing individual initiative with procedure (to the extent possible) at all but the highest levels.

    That is, of course, an imperfect system, because in big companies as well as in the military, there are some smart folks at all levels*. I actually have an idea for a business that would tap into the intelligence and creativity of those at all levels of a company, but it's in the queue.

    Long story short, the system that most companies follow is imperfect, but not necessarily broken. You chafe, because you are too smart, creative, and ambitious to stay in your cube. Where you need to be is either running your own business, or working at a place like 37 Signals where they apparently eschew the typical corporate system.

    *E.g., there was a fellow at a temp financial planning gig where I worked a few years ago who had a bachelors degree from Wharton, and MBA from NYU, and a CFA. Doing the same job I was doing, and not doing it as well, judging by the performance evaluations (probably because he resented his underemployment).

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Excellent context, haven't read Caine Mutiny but it sounds like a good rationale behind some larger organizations. Jeez Dave you're a reading machine with a mind like a trap. My ranting segways immediately trigger a fresh read that you generously share back.

    I wish I had the time and energy to consume texts as rapidly as yourself. I'm backlogged with about 8 books, two of which are refernce tools for Ruby on Rails

  • http://steamcatapult.com/ Dave Pinsen

    I read that book 15 or 20 years ago. I haven't read many books recently, but I should start. I am drawn to a lot of urgent but unimportant stuff online. It wouldn't hurt to sub some of that for reading.

    Speaking of Rails, if you haven't seen it yet, you should check out the speech by the creator of Rails that I included in this post on my blog recently. It's about how to make money online.

    Also, allow me to plant a seed in your head. Have you considered taking a short breather on the opus you and Tyler are working on and knocking out something completely unrelated but potentially lucrative — a quick, lower-tech, e-commerce project? I have a few ideas.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I haven't had time to see the speech (mailing it to my inbox/labelling for reading later)

    As soon as our next big push is stable I can consider that last question. Unfortunately one big project at a time is all I can handle (but I'm a fan of lucrative, I just know my limits).

    ps. Arnold Waldstein got me to setup a subscribe by email on my blog (simple feedburner option). It's a good idea for your blog as well (I'd subscribe by email)

  • Laurent Boncenne

    actually, my Internet connection taught me patience back in the good old days of the 56kbps :)
    to your comment in the previous post :
    yes I am, I said I would. (could have done it earlier but that avc redesign post got me into it and I ended up writing a comment worth 2 pages at least on word lol)

    I want to know where you guys are heading :)

    back to this,
    I sometimes wonder if the metrics tools people are somehow forced to use (in the context of measuring an app or a website) to validate their thinking is necessarily a good thing.
    Building something is mostly about your view. Granted it helps to get feedback, but as so many people might say, sometimes you need to stop listening and go with what you feel. It can be dangerous and scares me sometimes, I'd like to try for a possible project of mine and see what the end result might be if I'd do it my way without adapting that much the feedback received.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you are working on when you are ready to share it. There's art in where our imaginations meet the walls if reality, and ultimately the tool/product/entertainment is a function of our genuine instincts intermingled with any external feedback we allow in.

    Depending on how you listen feedback can make or break your work. As long as outside opinions are just that, and not strict enforced rules, I find the additional input on design quite valuable.

  • Laurent Boncenne

    I meant it in a general manner, getting rid of the A/B testing for a bit, and going with what you feel.
    As for me, currently it's in brainstorming mode, thinking of providing IT services meets web agency to SMBs and startups, to help them better spend their money and accompanying them on their way to growth etc…
    Seems a bit rough, but I think it's can be pretty powerful and quite lucrative if properly set up. :)