• The Successful Technocrat, by Archibald Putt, from Research/Development magazine, 1976-1977. Archibald Putt is the pseudonym (for obvious reasons) of a person with long experience in observing and analyzing the always intricate - and often paradoxical - interplay of personalities in the R&D hierarchy.
  • 1: Putt's Law. Beginning a disquisition on the vagaries of upward mobility through the ranks of your fellow workers in today's R&D community - how to do it and what to do when you get there.
  • 2: Three laws of crises. Our expert on the hierarchical intricacies of the R&D world discusses the hazards of excessive perfection and promulgates a trio of governing conditions for building your own crises.
  • 3: The law of failure. In the R&D world it's "To the loser belong the spoils" (if you play your cards right). Our expert on getting ahead tells how, when failure strikes, you can salvage your career
  • 4: The S-curve law. Having told how to manage projects to best advantage (yours) Putt now discloses the secret of selecting the best project (for you) and how to foresee the best time to get out of it.
  • 5: Laws governing values. Your hierarchical position can be enhanced if you draw on the abilities of others - but only if they are of equal or higher rank. Putt provides the postulational principles to prove it.
  • 6: Three laws of advice. Some readers may be familiar with the First Law of Advice, but the Second and Third Laws are neither so well-known nor so obvious, so our expert provides two illustrative examples to show how they work.
  • 7: The consultant's law. If you've ever dreamed of becoming a consultant, read this advice from our expert on the hierarchiology of technology; two examples show how the Consultant's Law works and why you can't ignore it.
  • 8: Laws of survival. Our expert has already told us the ploys for getting ahead in the hierarchy of technology, but you can't get ahead if you've been kicked off the team; here's how to make sure you're not.
  • 9: Five laws of decision-making. Our intrepid explorer of the technological hierarchy looks at the complex process of making up the corporate mind; he finds, and sets down here, five rules that should be invaluable to the upward-oriented technologist.
  • 10: Laws of reward and punishments. If your organization is in a state of malevolent stagnation, as defined here by our hierarchiologist, there's little hope-but you should at least read his remarks to find out how you got there.