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A comment on The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Office". Parent comment

Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by orthoxerox on Tuesday March 10, 2026 @07:41AM (#47321899)
Scott took it too literally. See also how the broader rationalist community took issue with Sam Kriss for inventing a not-obviously-fake historical figure.

The biggest takeaway for me is that you shouldn't expect to succeed as a manager by meeting (or exceeding) KPIs. It's about as effective as being a "nice guy" and expecting intimacy in return.

The KPIs are there for assigning blame, not for identifying key personnel. You can game them to increase your compensation if you are already doing something that an even bigger manager finds useful and important. Conversely, you can get away with half-assing every official performance indicator as long as you keep delivering the real thing.

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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by hammock on Tuesday March 10, 2026 @02:13PM (#47326853)
That’s a good takeaway and if anyone doubts you just think about how you set “goals” in the HR system every year during annual review time , vs. what your boss talks to you about
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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by markus_zhang on Tuesday March 10, 2026 @03:08PM (#47327542)
Just curious what’s the definition of “success” here? Getting promoted and getting a better compensation?
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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by orthoxerox on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @04:13AM (#47332877)
And self-actualization, if you're into that.
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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by markus_zhang on Thursday March 12, 2026 @09:50AM (#47350527)
Yeah that's definitely a big success.
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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by wging on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @02:44AM (#47332344)
> Scott took it too literally

He does say in section (I):

> I was particularly told to “take it as literally as possible”

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Re:The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to "The Of... by orthoxerox on Wednesday March 11, 2026 @04:24AM (#47332957)
He shouldn't have taken this advice literally either.
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