Haven’t had Saturday posts in a while.

Haven’t had Saturday posts in a while. It’s been pouring here all day and I stumbled on an interesting document authored by the CIA from 1944 (for fairness’ sake: the CIA was formed in 1947 out of the Office of Strategic Services, OSS, so the doc is from them) — SIMPLE SABOTAGE FIELD MANUAL (practical recommendations for sabotage). Attached the document.

So there’s this paragraph that hooked me: General Interference with Organizations and Production (aka how to properly undermine the work of organizations and production), which, well, really reminds me of how a lot of product teams and small businesses/startups operate. I’ll leave the best bits, tweaked the text a tiny bit for modern reality :)

• Insist that everything be done through “official channels.” Never allow shortcuts to speed up decision-making.
• Give “speeches.” Talk as often as possible and for a very long time. Illustrate your “points of view” with long stories and tales from personal experience. Don’t be shy about dropping in a few appropriate “patriotic” remarks.
• Whenever possible, refer all matters to committees for “further study and consideration.” Try to make the committees as large as possible — never fewer than five people.
• As often as possible, bring up irrelevant issues.
• Haggle over the exact wording of messages, minutes, resolutions.
• Refer to issues decided at the previous meeting, and try to again call into question whether that decision made sense.
• Call for “caution.” Be “unreasonable” and urge your colleagues to be “reasonable” and avoid haste that could lead to awkwardness or difficulties in the future.
• Worry about the legality of any decision — raise the question of whether the planned action falls within the group’s jurisdiction or might conflict with some higher-up level’s policy.

Tips for managers in the comments :)

Document available in the original Telegram post.