Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[mdthomas AT mindspring.com]

I've seen this theme recently in articles and conversations
 -- investment capital as Poisoned Pawn. You would 
think that you just can't go wrong with some more money,
but as soon as you get more money you have to spend it. 
Then you are in the corporate equivalent of "Brewster's 
Millions."

So, for instance, you hire a bunch of people...

But then you have to find something for them to do.
For technology companies, this can lead to a variation
of the Mythical Man Month problem, "Adding people to 
a late software project makes it later." Instead of people
having too much to do, which seems to be the Modus
Operandi of successful tech. companies, you have a bunch
of smart, ambitious people with too little to do, 
except trade email and worry about their jobs. All that 
extra unfocused communication is overhead similar
to what Dr. Brooks describes as delaying software
projects when people are added too late. But worse,
people's jobs are at stake -- all rationality goes 
out the window as people focus entirely on stomping
on each other's projects.

And the customer? No one worries about the customer...

InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu> wrote:
>       Did anyone catch the piece on Morning Edition on Friday about dot-com
companies which are still alive and turning a profit.  The common
denominator seems to be those companies that didn't accept a lot of
investment and didn't burn it up on flashy offices and toys.  

        The piece also caught my attention because the reporter was an N&O Biz
section alumnus, Joel Obermeyer.  Always nice to see someone local make
it into the national scene.  

TaB

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