Interesting Web Data from a Day on the Front Page of Hacker News

If we classify projects into four categories by important vs. unimportant,
and interesting vs. unpleasant, we can assess what happens under open
allocation.

Important and interesting projects are never hard to staff. Unimportant but
interesting projects are for 20% time; they might succeed, and become
important later, but they aren’t seen as critical until they’re proven to
have real business value, so people are allowed to work on them but are
strongly encouraged to also find and concentrate on work that’s important to
the business.

Important but unpleasant projects are rewarded with bonuses, promotions, and
the increased credibility accorded to those who do undesirable but critical
work.

via Tech companies: open allocation is your only real option. | Michael
O.Church.

Michael has a strong understanding of the incentive undercurrents that exist
in technical business environments. I highly recommend subscribing to his
site.