Articles on boring-but-interesting topics, including:
Management styles and theory
Quality philosophies
The structure of law
Case studies in reducing crime and recidivism
A reflective study on criminal justice
A case study on Warner Brothers' political cartoons
Articles on occupy, disintermediation, and ethical concerns
One thing that no-one tells you about being a writer is just how much business stuff you have to learn. In retrospect, it makes sense. Modern corporations provide the equivalent of patronage, allowing artists of all stripes to practice their craft with stuff that’s both limited and challenging. Inevitably, what people will pay for producing is stuff directly relevant to their interests, and so over the years I’ve produced a lot of documents over time about management, law and politics. Some were explanations and guides, some were for courses I took; all were at once fascinating and difficult to engage with properly.
What follows sits broadly in three categories:
—Simple guides on basic management and legal concepts
—More abstract applications and problems in management theory
—Some practical instances of politics in action, especially in cartoons
The real issue is that people are conversational, not contractual. That creates a real problem in the study of management, which is why the law (which is entirely contractual) and politics (which is entirely conversational) are included together.
I find it helps to understand that these things are part of a system that we’re all part of, willing or not, conscious or not. Management theories and practice, criminal justice in origin and contemporary application, and all political acts, whether large (the Truth and Reconciliation Committee) small (propaganda in Warner Brothers cartoons) or confusing (Occupy) are part of a single overarching desire to find the levers that make groups of people work.