Interpreting Y2K Press Releases & Announcements

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I realize corporate and government executives and spokesmen often have great talent to put a positive spin on just about anything.

But here's something I notice in many Y2K press releases, announcements, interviews, etc. :

A corporate spokesman or executive who's very confident HIS Y2K software project will prevent virtually all Y2K problems at HIS company ... adds that he's worried about small companies, or companies in another industry, or organizations in another country.

If these executives really have their own Y2K projects under control, and virtually every organization on Earth has publicly stated they have Y2K under control, why would the executives have anything to express concern about? If their company really did have Y2K under control, wouldn't these executives assume most other companies are also in good shape?

-- Richard Greene (rgreene2@ford.com), December 10, 1999

Answers

It's known as the "Lake Woebegone effect," so named after the stories by Garrison Keeler, who describes the mythical town of Lake Woebegone as the town where ALL the men are smart, ALL the women are beautiful, and ALL the children are above average.

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 10, 1999.

Although I laughed at Ed Y's answer, I can't figure out how it applies to my post. Every Y2K announcement is NOT 100% positive -- "we're in great shape but I'm worried about others" is not 100% positive at all.

I'm wondering if these executives are trying to tell us something, whether deliberately or unintentionally with their "split- personality" Y2K announcements.

About thirty years ago I took a psychology course for an easy A while in engineering school, so that should fully qualify me to discuss the psychology of these "split personality" Y2K press releases: "We're in good shape on Y2K but I'm worried about others". Here's what I should have included in my original post:

- Maybe executives are lying about their own Y2K projects and know other executives are lying too. This has happened many times before when large corporate software projects were approaching their scheduled completion dates.

- Maybe executives can't tell the truth about their own software projects and some feel guilty about lying to the public. They relieve some of that guilt by cautioning people about OTHER software projects (but never reveal specific names, even if known, because that might get them into trouble ... and avoiding trouble is an executive's top strategy)

Any other explanations?

You can probably tell I didn't listen well during that psychology course in 1971, but I did remember the term "split personality"!

-- Richard Greene (rgreene2@ford.com), December 10, 1999.


They are in their 'child' mode. You remember when you were a kid it wasnt you it was the other guy with everything that wasn't good.

-- Susan Barrett (sue59@bellsouth.net), December 11, 1999.

Good answer Susan

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), December 11, 1999.

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