职业与工作方法ribbonfarm.com编辑精选
格维斯法则：用《办公室》解读职场
The Gervais Principle, or The Office According to "The Office"
2009 — 2024，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 ribbonfarm 博客 2009 年的长文，借《办公室》剧集提出「Gervais 原则」：企业组织分三层——顶层「Sociopaths」制定规则、冷酷地操纵局面；中层「Clueless」因被提拔而脱离实际工作、忠于组织本身；底层「Losers」真正干活却选择不出卖自己。文章把剧中人物一一对应到这三类，剖析科层制里的权力与自我欺骗。
为什么经久不衰：它把一部喜剧变成理解公司政治的透镜，十几年来每次重登首页仍能让人对号入座。
HN 评论精选
提出硅谷资深工程师是「loser 意识 + sociopath 认知」的混合体，补充了原文的三分法。
这是一篇相当精彩的分析。我觉得硅谷很多有才华的工程师属于一种混合类别，我姑且叫它「有反社会倾向的 loser」——这些词真妙，不是我发明的，我只是跟着文章走。他们在组织架构上刻意停在「loser」层，却对公司运作有「反社会」级别的清醒认知（也许因为当过早期员工或创始人）。他们在 loser 层从不安心，但也许不愿或无法迈到 sociopath 层，又有意避开 clueless 层（我认为最终还是会进去，哪怕不当经理，也会通过某种「荣休」工程职位）。文章暗示 Toby 可能属于这一类。
incandenza查看英文原文
This is a pretty amazing analysis. I think a lot of really talented engineers in Silicon Valley fit into a kind of hybrid category I might call 'loser with sociopathic tendencies' (gotta love these terms--hey, I didn't invent them, I'm just following the article). Although they deliberately choose to remain at the 'loser' level in terms of the org chart, they have a 'sociopathic' level of awareness of how the business operates (maybe from being an early employee or founder of previous startups). They're never truly comfortable at the 'loser' level, but maybe not willing or capable of making a move to the 'sociopath' level, and consciously avoid the 'clueless' level (which I think they eventually enter anyway, even if they avoid becoming managers, by entering some kind of 'emeritus' engineering position). The article suggests that Toby might be in this category, which I didn't think fit at first, but maybe it does--this type of person seemed to me to generally be laconic, cultivated a high degree of irony about the nature of the organization and their role within it, and usually carried an 'escape plan' as a prominent part of their mental outlook (based on either past actual or future fantasized stock option earnings) --all quite similar to the Toby character. I also think there's a type of person who views anyone at the 'sociopath' level as being inherently morally corrupt, and therefore preemptively excludes him/herself from ever reaching that level, even if they'd otherwise be capable of it. I don't think this is a correct view; the 'sociopath' type may just be the type of person who is more willing to face the full reality of how the business is run and make tough decisions that involve firing and so on. For example, even in the show I don't think the David Wallace character is portrayed as being particularly corrupt. Ryan, on the other hand, is purely selfish and greedy for power--but this actually causes him to fail at the higher levels (which I think often happens in real life as well). (By the way, in case it's not obvious, I'm trying to use these terms in the sense they're defined in the article--I don't mean them to be truly pejorative to anyone operating at any of these levels.)
用 Pournelle 的官僚铁律作为另一理论框架，呼应并简化了原文的三层模型。
我今天才知道，科幻作家 Jerry Pournelle 早就提出过类似观点（他分两组而非三组，这是认识上的推进）。「Pournelle 官僚铁律」认为任何官僚组织中都有两种人：第一类忠于组织目标，比如敬业的教师、NASA 的工程师和科学家；第二类忠于组织本身，比如教育系统管理者、教师工会官员、NASA 总部人员。铁律指出，第二类人总会获得并保持对组织的控制，他们制定规则、掌控晋升。
Nomentatus查看英文原文
I hadn't realized it before today, but Jerry Pournelle (a science fiction writer) pioneered here (with two groups, not three, which is an advance in understanding.) "Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people": First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration. Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc. The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization." https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
以「快乐的 loser」自居，并用沉没成本偏见解释为何有人长期困在 Clueless 层。
我最初读时觉得太愤世嫉俗，但现在觉得它有点能引起共鸣。作为软件工程师，我不觉得自己的「坏交易」有多糟，我是个快乐的 loser。但多年来我多次观察到：明显有才华的人在烂公司苦干多年，很久才意识到自己在浪费时间，有些人永远意识不到。他们通常是组织提拔起来的人——早期员工，相信愿景，难以放弃希望，也就是文中的 Clueless。也可能有更简单的解释：沉没成本偏见。他们或许清楚处境糟糕，却很难割肉，而组织总能抛出「转机就在眼前」「很快就提拔你」的胡萝卜。
shubhamjain查看英文原文
When I first read this, I found it too cynical for my tastes. But now, I can say it's a bit relatable. Being a software engineer, I don't find the "bad" bargain I have for myself that bad. I am a happy "loser." But over the years, I have observed— multiple times—obviously talented people who have been slogging for a shitty company for years. It takes them forever to realize they are wasting their time and have to take some action. Some never realize, too. Usually, they are people who have been promoted by the organization. They were early employees. They believed in the vision and found it hard to lose hope that things might change. The "Clueless" as the article notes. But there can be an easier explanation as well. Partly, it's also sunk-cost bias. It's possible they do recognize the terrible place they are in. But find it incredibly hard to cut their losses. The organization can always dangle the carrot of "the turnaround is around the corner", "we will promote you soon", "the team depends on you". A parallel is stock investing. I once invested in terrible company. Even though the deluge of bad news never stopped, it took me four years an my investment falling by 60% to admit that I need to admit I made a bad decision and sell my holdings.
用亲历的多次大厂入职培训，说明这套机制如何批量生产 Clueless 员工。
这是篇发人深省的文章。我正在经历第三次 Meta 入职培训（之前一次实习、一次全职）。第一次很兴奋；第二次有趣但显得古板；第三次感觉像一条流水线，正在塑造文章所描述的那种 Clueless 人。
codekansas查看英文原文
This is a thought-provoking read. I'm currently going through Meta onboarding for the third time (once before as an intern and once full-time). The first time it was exciting; the second time it was interesting but seemed quaint, but still, neat for a first-time job; the third time it feels like a pipeline for molding the exact sort of Clueless people the article describes.
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