As a Systems Engineer, I've always been fascinated by systems both for computation and involving people. Concepts in business process design/implementation have quite the overlap with automation, and this book provides one of the best discussions I've seen, where its first properly defining the problem, and then moving on to failure modes via a priori reasoning (which is fairly conservative) in relation to centralized hierarchical systems, or bureaucracies.
The title aside, the structural analysis is quite impressive and in the process also explains the basis for many failures within bureaucracies involving people, including corruption, and trends concentrating staff production value towards a least common denominator (negative production value), through social coercion, within the institutions.
This book arguably is a very dense read though, and requires an old dictionary (from around the same time). Many of the words have changed meanings since the writing (towards more ambiguity and more contradiction).
It comes from a time where hyper-rationalism and its principles were followed and respected, and falsehoods and liars ignored or rejected outright; something we can use more of today.
The book also is useful in describing why Socialism, and its various forms is a failed system, and indirectly but inevitably fails in ways that allow no accountability through deceit, and how those supporting and promoting such systems are both supporting their own destruction as well as others (incl family, friends etc).
The systems discussed are safety-critical systems, and its not hard to reason that when you support a system that will inevitably fail (causing death/harm), where you can't transition off the system or know beforehand, then you promote and support the given outcome. Indirect, but still rational and principled.
As a Systems Engineer, I've always been fascinated by systems both for computation and involving people. Concepts in business process design/implementation have quite the overlap with automation, and this book provides one of the best discussions I've seen, where its first properly defining the problem, and then moving on to failure modes via a priori reasoning (which is fairly conservative) in relation to centralized hierarchical systems, or bureaucracies.
The title aside, the structural analysis is quite impressive and in the process also explains the basis for many failures within bureaucracies involving people, including corruption, and trends concentrating staff production value towards a least common denominator (negative production value), through social coercion, within the institutions.
This book arguably is a very dense read though, and requires an old dictionary (from around the same time). Many of the words have changed meanings since the writing (towards more ambiguity and more contradiction).
It comes from a time where hyper-rationalism and its principles were followed and respected, and falsehoods and liars ignored or rejected outright; something we can use more of today.
The book also is useful in describing why Socialism, and its various forms is a failed system, and indirectly but inevitably fails in ways that allow no accountability through deceit, and how those supporting and promoting such systems are both supporting their own destruction as well as others (incl family, friends etc).
The systems discussed are safety-critical systems, and its not hard to reason that when you support a system that will inevitably fail (causing death/harm), where you can't transition off the system or know beforehand, then you promote and support the given outcome. Indirect, but still rational and principled.