The subject of a book of the same name by
Scott Adams. The basic idea is that
idiots are promoted to
management in companies, where they can do the least damage. Unfortunately, this tends to happen before they've acquired any actual
skills, so instead of being managed by an idiot who was at least once good at someting, you end up just being managed by an idiot.
Compare: The Peter Principle.
Book review
The Dilbert Principle is, frankly, an amazing work. Quite how Scott manages to be so repeatedly funny is beyond me, and every single page is littered with
comics, witty analogies and gags. This is no small achievement for a book so large - many aspects of the
corporate world are covered, including
teamwork,
ISO 9000,
managers and the habits of those strange creatures - the
scientist and the
engineer.
If you're a fan of Scott's unique brand of humor, don't give this a miss.