The Dilbert Principle - Scott Adams

The book describes itself as “A cubicle’s eye view of bosses, meetings, management fads and other workplace afflictions”. And it is just that. It captures all the parodies that all corporate honchos, wannabes, survivors and prisoners go through.

Having worked in a corporate environment himself, Scott brings out a very real, and a not-so-exaggerated description of corporate life. It’s sarcasm that leaves you smiling… and then laughing… and then rolling on the floor laughing. I really wonder how a corporate purist would react to this book. Of course this book is not meant for the CEOs, or even presidents and Vice Presidents… it is largely for the chunk of mass which sits in cubicles and not cabins. And I, for one, could surely relate to it. The concept of meetings… change control… quality… ISO… etc, etc and my thoughts on them are pretty close to what Scott Adams thinks. The book actually makes you feel good about not being in higher management at times… But then hey, the joke is eventually on us cubicle guys. So yeah… I wanna have a cabin!

The book is interspersed with some Dilbert strips in between. Which if nothing else, do ensure that laughter stays on even when Scott can’t think of content for paragraphs to make us laugh. And as long as we are laughing, I guess we are not complaining.

And then there are the letters from his fans. And some of them are mind blastingly funny. In fact, if some of them are true, then corporate America is surely doomed!!!

But the book gets repetitive towards the end. Sarcasm, one comic strip at a time is ok. But a barrage of it for 300 pages gets a bit monotonous. Not that you will feel like you have had a dose of tranquilizer if you go through the pages, or that you will exclaim “oh what crap” when you reach the last period… it is a light, humorous book through out. But the humour simply loses its hilarity as you flip through chapters.

All said, it is a good read. All Dilbert fans will surely enjoy it. And everyone who works in an “office” and sits in a “cubicle” should go through it.