Reflecting on the present problematic Y2K situation, I recall learning in a college psychology course about the behavior of frustrated lab rats. A series of experiments showed that increasing frustration led to a decline, indeed a vanishing, of adaptability. There would be ever more frantic efforts to move a lever that was not delivering their food pellets even though there were other ways which with a little experimentation would have delivered their food.

Now I don't think that all lab rat experiments shed light on human behavior, but some seem to, and I think that what I have described above has human parallels. As we reach the stage where management starts to get really scared, think of the project emergencies you have suffered through, you who have been in the trenches. If you have never seen a sharp increase in resources accompanied by an equally sharp increase in the dumb quotient, count yourself lucky.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), May 29, 1999

Answers

to say nothing of having huge,oversized testicles

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), May 29, 1999.

Peter, your expectation is IMHO a likely scenario for how things will be behind closed doors in innumerable companies and gov't agencies this fall, as it increasingly becomes crystal-clear that mission-critical stuff will NOT get fixed in time. A couple of sayings that I believe are relevant now: 1) One definition of insanity is to repeat previous behavior and expect different results (Roman Empire in its declining phase has no more implications for us than Napoleon's invasion of Russia did for Hitler. Right...). 2) You can't get blood from a turnip (compliant code from an overworked programmer?)...but, you sure can make that turnip hurt! (Being a Y2K-programmer in Dec. 1999 will have lousy working conditions; everyone heard the term death-march?).

my website: www.y2ksafeminnesota.com (new articles on it as of 5/26)

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), May 29, 1999.