Testing: Does this work?

I was asked how I reconcile a couple of precepts this weekend.

I was asked how I reconcile a couple of precepts this weekend. I don't think I did a very good job in person, so here's a better attempt.

Claim 1: Employees should do as little as possible while extracting as much wealth from the capital class as possible.
Claim 2: Agile (and scrum in particular) enable peak productivity.

I think both of these are true.
(1) is about survival; the capitalistic class acts as a leech on the labor class, and the only tool the labor class has to defend itself is to withhold it's labor. By definition, labor as a class produces more wealth than is returned to it by the capital class.

(2) is really about treating employees like adults; when we practice scrum, we ensure it is the employees who define the current scope of work accepted by labor. If employees are pushed to accept more than is actually attainable, they'll burn out. We can also, generally, expect employees to want to take on more due to, in essence, brainwashing.

Really, (2) is about the dumbness of other management styles, in particular top-down hierarchical management where employees are told how much and what to do; this generally leads to disaster.

Which is hard for us to see: we're broken things filled with stockholm syndrome; the capital class keeps us in bondage for there own benefit, with management working to extract that labor.

That's an extreme end of the position; the truth is less violent, but comes from the same place: labor is extracted from the majority of us for the benefit of a few.

So, that's how. I think.

It was recently pointed out to me that Trump may keep the government closed for one obvious, and horrendously...

It was recently pointed out to me that Trump may keep the government closed for one obvious, and horrendously mistaken, belief.

Namely, the (wrong) belief that he cannot be removed if the government is closed.

That's an even better suggestion that my previous favorite one: That all the parts of the government he cares about are open.

My job: learning the revolution

My job: learning the revolution

The revolution took a major step forward yesterday during our retro. I'm very pleased with the team self advocating, and equally pleased that I had a solution waiting to go.

I've read half of iHunt.

I've read half of iHunt.

It reads like a modern-day Apocalypse World or Blades in the Dark.

Both of these would likely make good systems for it, and I can't wait to see the RPG!

When I say something like "I would fight against the use of that particular arbitrary programming structure", it is...

When I say something like "I would fight against the use of that particular arbitrary programming structure", it is not an invitation to school me on why the language that structure is from is sooooo important.

Hey, here's another tax proposal, a little bit harder:

Hey, here's another tax proposal, a little bit harder:

Take all households in the US, divide in half.
If your household is in the lower half, no extra taxes.
If your household is in the top half, pay 10% of the rate above the median.

Take the top half, divide in half.
If your house is in the lower half, no extra taxes.
If your household is in the top half, pay an extra 10% on the amount above the median.

... etc until we get to a 100% tax rate.

Which'd be on the ... I'm pretty sure 5 households out of 10,000 would be within the 100% rate. A maximum annual income.

Fully 50% would be at 0%
25% would be at 10% marginal.
12.5% at 20%
6.25% at 30%
3.125 at 40%
1.5625 at 50%
0.78125% at 60%
0.390625 at 70%
0.2% at 80%
0.1% at 90%
0.05% at 100%

Go ahead. Call me a commie. I'd love it.