Dilbert is just too much. I first saw the cartoon in 1998. It struk a chord immediately. Infact dilbert is the hero for almost all techies tied to the mundane office work performing their duties under a idiot.
This review is generally meant for all Dilbert books (I have read almost all and Random Acts of Management is very good representation of his work).
Now, Now you may say that I am just going too far without giving any facts to believe.
1. I am Dilbert
The reason why guys attach their work life with Dilbert is that it is a humorous exaggeration of happenings to make a mockery of well accepted system. All my friends (including me to some extent) will vouch for the fact that the ’’exaggerated’’ portion in his cartoons are hardly identifiable.
Comic
Manager quipping ’’If we can put a man on the moon, we can build a computer made entirely of newspaper’’.
Real Life
We have all noticed that individual body clocks makes us perform better during certain times. Henceforth we will list everybody’s peak performance times and then schedule meetings in time when most of us are performing at our peak.
Comic
My PC is heating up. looks like Firewall is operational.
Real Life
Winzip program also has this compressed file icon. Can you give me winzip to unzip the winzip?
Comic
Give me a copy of the Internet in the floppy
Real Life
If switches are a firmware. What are Soft switches - Sort of Software? BTW, Is the network stored in Sybase?
.... Guys you should have got the point. The more we see the comic, more we associate ourselves with it.
2. Pun
Writing pun so as not to be offensive on any religion, caste, country is difficulr. Scott Adams is doing a wonderful job. I say, he has experienced a bit too much.
3. Management
This by far is a joke by itself. I cant draw any analogies but gross expositioning of unwarranted opinions and displaying the lack of erudition is something we have to witness and swallow.
4. Characters
All Characters in Dilbert (Spineless technocrat), PHB (Real pointy statements of view), Alice (Whiz kids who treats management mainly men - women’s included with disdain), Wally (The guy who does nothing), Dogbert (the consultant - he Cons and insults for a living). God. How can Scott Adams create this cast - Upon looking around? - Definetely.
5. Setting
This reality toon revolves around a hi tech company of the ’90s and ’00s. That makes the events immediately gel with the readers.
6. Applicability
Based on 11 years of work experience, I can say Dilbert cartoons represent hi-tech industry in the most general terms. Whether it be a electronics, software, network, management, logistics, .... Anything.