Deans, probably wonder why the “In Search of Excellence” method of wandering the halls looking for spontaneous chats with faculty doesn’t work so well with us. Answer: the faculty whom they most want to keep, because their work is the best, are working from home – so that they can get something done without a Dean bothering them.
From one of Dan Drezner’s commenters on Paul Graham’s essential essay on makers versus managers.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:37 am
The history of my academic Department …
We used to chat waiting for the typists to finish – no more typists.
We used to chat waiting for the photocopying to be done – now we laser-print.
We used to chat in the coffee room – health-and-safety closed it.
No more chatting. Then, no more Department …
Now I work from home.