simple sabotage
the simple sabotage manual was created by the CIA in 1944 with the goal of disrupting enemy organizations simply.
some core tenants of simple sabotage: there's a lot more, but these few stood out to me.
- Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
- Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
- Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
- Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
by using the law of inversion, how would you sabotage an organization today?
- create a strict levelling system with a long hierarchy.
- encourage tons of meetings. lot's of 1:1s, lot's of weekly syncs, and lot's of planning meetings.
- hire people that do not directly improve the product, or do not directly sell the product.
- write lots of tickets. create a PRD for everything.
- lot's of "cross-functional" collaboration that results in blockers.
- hire consultants with no subject matter expertise.
- reward the loudest in the room with the biggest bonuses.
the list goes on.
the point of inverting the problem is to be able to detect sabotage happening, and to stay away from places / people like this. you should strive to not be the type of person that conducts simple sabotage either, whether intentional or not.
Elon gets a lot of hate for consistently downsizing his companies, but you must do that if you do not want to be a victim of simple sabotage. look at twitter - how many people on payroll were just not doing anything of substance? x dot com is the everything app now.
source - pg. 28 section 11a.