The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams (1996, Hardcover)

Witty, insightful, and "Calling It How It Is", Scott Adams continues the saga of Dilbert, Dogbert, and the entire bunch.

Another fine work from the man who pointed out that incompetent employees are intentionally promoted to prevent them from doing harm.

"But Of Course There Are Obvious Exceptions"

"The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage - management."

That's the Dilbert Principle. Scott Adams states this up front, then spends over 300 fun-filled pages backing it up. No, it's not all about management and inane company policies. A good portion of the book covers warped coworkers.

It reads like an actual how-to guide, written by a sarcastic humor writer with a bad attitude. And it is liberally seeded with copies of some of your favorite Dilbert cartoon strips. If you don't like sarcasm, you'll hate this book. But, if you can appreciate tongue-in-cheek references (as well as a few solid backhanded slaps), you'll laugh out loud.

Note that Adams uses exaggeration to emphasize his points. In one section, after he points out that it is the clothing (note the employee) that gets promoted, he reminds us to be in the clothes when the promotion happens. "One man made the mistake of bringing his dry cleaning to work and ended up as a direct report to his own sports jacket." In reality, this rarely happens; the sports jacket would most likely have advanced to a different department. :-)

Okay, so reading this can affect your own perception of reality. Strangely, it is also informative. Seriously. Between the laughs, you can see the truth in the accusations. For example, he has a section on manipulation. As I read it, I recognized the strategy of several past coworkers (and at least one former boss).

If you don't recognize your current boss within these pages, then you're lucky. If you don't recognize a former boss or at least one of your coworkers, then you're new, either to the workforce or this planet.

I rated this a 4 instead of a 5 because there are times where he crosses too far over the line into tastelessness. Not bad enough to toss the book, but enough to drop it back a notch.

I would suggest this book (with the stated warnings about sarcasm and occasional tackiness). Read it and enjoy it, but don't take it too seriously. Since we are all likely to run into these office politics in some form or another, laughing (rather than crying) at them can help you endure.