nailed it! great article! this happens most to engineers... 4

[rickitek]

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/...you?trk=NUS_UNIU_PEOPLE_FOLLOW-megaphone-fllw

 

[TomDOT]

There is a good Heinlein short story on the topic: "The Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail"

 

[SNORGY]

It would take a lot of convincing to get me to buy into the notion that "laziness" is ever positive in any situation, other than during a well-deserved vacation.

 

[FeX32]

I agree with SNORGY. I have never seen lazy benefit anyone.
In fact, when doing my doctorate in grad school I had a colleague who was also in grad school. He was (and still is) a very intelligent person. However, I have seen him fall well short in many areas due to laziness. As a result, much of his progress was hindered.



"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[FeX32]

Not to mention at the same time this laziness hindered the progress of innovation..


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[controlsdude]

I have been at both ends of this spectrum.
Underperform is just inexperience and no one is their to check progress, so the project just runs into the ditch. This is mainly a manager who just thinks that the underperformer should be given a sink or swin experience.

Over acheiving is after above with some years doing it right and trying to better communicate with other disiplines around you. I have been told the saying, i dont have to watch you at all. But this also gets you in trouble because you get in the bad habit of not telling managers if a project is not on target, you just deal with it.

 

[PEDARRIN2]

But don't 49% of all employees perform below average in any company?

 

[zdas04]

Yeah, but 10% of white-collar workers do 80% of the creative work.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[Keith1029]

I think performing a quick mental cost/benefit analysis of an activity and deciding not to do it, or do it differently, (Type I Lazy) shouldn't be confused with avoiding work (type II Lazy). Even if it ends up with the same result, in my opinion, there is a fundamental difference in the motivation and reasoning, "this is not efficient/of benefit" vs "I don't feel like doing this". Same result sometimes, but eventually the type II Lazy will show with cut corners and mistakes. (Equally bad is the type 1 with bad judgement I guess).

 

[FeX32]

"this is not efficient/of benefit" ... this is not what we call lazy. Sorry Keith.
I believe this is a great trait to have.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[MadMango]

I always thought it was the conservation of energy?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[TomDOT]

Well, I'll have to amend my earlier statement, as I would be Type I Lazy.

 

[TenPenny]

My grandfather used to use the term 'lazy man's load' to refer to someone carrying the most they possibly can on each trip so that they minimize the number of trips they have to make.

It all depends on what you mean by 'lazy', obviously.

 

[moltenmetal]

I love it- Type 1 vs Type 2 lazy! What is certain to me is that the elimination of drudgery by means of innovation is a key engineering skill. People who are OK with drudgery don't have the motivation to think about how to eliminate it.

My dad would walk everywhere, at a great clip, and did so until he was in his early '90s. When I asked him why he didn't get a bicycle for the longer trips he made routinely as a young man, he said that riding a bike to him was "walking like hell to give your @ss a ride"...So people may vary greatly in their opinion of what is drudgery and what isn't!

 

[monkeydog]

I have two words to ride a bike instead of lots of walking "Plantar Fasciitis".
Dang, that hurts.

 

[JohnRBaker]

This quote has been attributed to Ross Perot, but I can't verify whether that's accurate or not:

"Never stand when you can sit. Never walk when you can ride."

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[SNORGY]

JohnRBaker,

That's not lazy. That's intelligence.

 

[urgross]

I think the quote is fom Satchell Page. Never run when you can walk. Never stand when you can sit.

 

[dvd]

One of my all-time favorite quotes:

"Only very lazy men could have done so much in so short a time."

John Steinbeck in Sweet Thursday.

 

[KENAT]

Meh, I don't know about about a great article.

Kind of careens between not remotely matching my experience and just being outright fantasy.

Then again, I'm crabby as hell having just had a project condensed from what was originally meant to be a 6-8 month project into an 8-9 week project plus significant added scope.

Maybe this means I'm the high performer that gets the $hit.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[tbuelna]

The article seems to have been written by someone that wanted to become a manager more than they wanted to be an engineer. And once becoming a manager, they are sniveling about having to babysit other engineers that are more concerned about becoming managers themselves than they are about being productive engineers.

I've spent over 25 years working as an engineer for aerospace companies. And one thing I've noted during that time is that the best engineers are generally less likely to become managers.