As in all other volumes, it includes strips in 3 boxes (those published from Monday to Saturday), and the strips into 8 squares (4 rows of boxes) corresponding to the Sunday strips.
Throughout the pages, the reader will be pleased to discover the new guidelines developed by Catbert, the evil director of human resources (expertise tasty career opportunities based on employee competencies page 9). Dilbert proves by example that you should never let the technical staff speak directly to a customer (the technical staff is too honest, he does not know embellish). Dilbert tries again to approach 3 or 4 representatives of the fairer sex, with his usual success. The head to the cutting tip repeatedly proves his inability to understand anything, and manage staff. But from time to time (statistically possible) he is right which has an even more disastrous effect on Dilbert. Dogbert keeps going president director of the company with any capitalist contempt for everything that is not within the scope of its remuneration, starting with employees and ethics. The time of 4 strips, Dilbert acquires angel wings (it does not help that much in love with his next dinner). Dilbert and Dogbert celebrate the arrival of the new year both at home 22:00. Wally exercises with perfect success his expertise in work avoidance. Asok loses his soul. Other employees must learn to cohabit with a time management software.
Each new volume Dilbert's Scott Adams the opportunity to use the same recipe as before and innovate lampooning new management trends. The world through the distorting telescope what this series of strips is both black and very reassuring.
It seems to me that over the volumes, Scott Adams develops a more privileged relationship with Wally. As Wally rhetoric measurement improves and knows only one goal: hang with impunity. All his energy is devoted to lazing and preparing his excuses, each time incredibly effective. At the time this character is reassuring because it materializes the possibility not to give body and soul to his work or even take advantage of the system. At once it is a vision of the black because this individual becomes a burden to all his colleagues that share its mission. Adams accentuates the comic spring what Wally manipulating everyone and reaching its goal. With hindsight, the sympathy generated by this character endorse the individual who takes advantage of the system on the back of her colleagues and creates a form of unease in the reader.
A second noticeable trend in this volume is the critique of unbridled capitalism. It's no longer just shouted down the incompetent leader (or at least who does not understand the technology on which work employees), but the higher level, that of shareholders and CEOs. The criticism of the apparent behavior of this category of executives sometimes falls flat because Scott Adams limited to pictures to critical first step of the daily press complimentary newspapers. It found against by all its bite when he returns to the industrial group whose duties strategies that profit and the perpetuation of the group. For example, the boss gives the possibility to choose between Dilbert report that he was able to convince 83 companies to adopt technical standards as the specifications of the company's product (current specifications and doomed to quickly develop a discontinued product) or recognize that it is a professional missed because he has failed to do so. By this simple joke, Scott Adams plays on the comic register imposing an impossible choice to the employee, but also in a very dark based on the fact that a business register has no other ethic than the benefit and sustainability.
Among the purely managerial innovations, Scott Adams derides time management software. Always in search of productivity, the temptation for a production organization is strong to return to the good old Taylorism, with new tools. In previous volumes, with verve Adams had noted that when an employee tells his supervisor that he is behind the project, the head will start by asking for a detailed report on the extent of the delay and its causes, which inevitably will take additional time, as well as lengthening the delay. Here, he takes this concept of solution worse than the disease, but more emphasis on the gap between the individual and the type of product that formats the performance by reducing them to the ratios. Again the reader can perceive the horror for the individual to conform to the same standard and consistent regardless of age, fatigue, tastes, etc. Fortunately Wally is there to prove it is possible to fit any and divert machines as individuals.
This volume offers a new dive in the cutthroat world of business where employees survive without hope of ever flourish. Laughter is the appointment, but the disposition by the work is never far away. One regret: no Dilmom in this volume. Volume 36 Your accomplishments are suspiciously hard to verify is a potpourri of previous strips. Volume 37 How's that working out underling thing for you? contains strips of 3 May 2010 to 12 February 2011.
