Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The story of John Perkins is an easy to stumble upon story in the conspiracy theory based literature. I learned about him in the second documentary of the famous series Zeitgeist. John Perkins wrote a book about his story, his life: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. In this book, he explains how the United States of America used economy and finance to extend its empire across the globe. I thought that it is a point of view worth telling, especially that I always considered that 90% of the world's events are often driven by hidden financial logic.

Corporatocracy is a word Perkins invented to describe the implicit coalition of the banks, corporations and governments. The interests of these three institutions have converged in the current capitalist economical system. A lot of big names in this coalition have in their CVs entries from the three different institutions: for example the current president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick was a former Deputy Secretary of State of the USA and a member in the board of the energy corporation Enron.
This Corporatocracy is the new imperialist empire of nowadays. The Americans have discovered after their wars in Asia in the fifties that they had to change their imperialist strategies. They adopted a new creative strategy to dominate countries with resources: Corporatocracy instead of armies. This strategy has three different steps according to the resistance of the targeted country.
The first step is accomplished by the Economic Hit Men (EHM) like John Perkins. The objective is convincing the leaders of the country with resources to take huge loans from the World Bank to finance some development projects. These projects are contracted to american corporations (construction, energy, communication, consulting..) so the money is vehicled back to the USA. EHMs are men with expensive suits, who work often for private consultancy companies for camouflage, and try to convince third world leaders with a lot of means. One of the tasks John Perkins has typically done was writing exaggerated economical forecasts on the effect of loans and development projects on the growth of the targeted country's GDP. He even invented with the collaboration of an MIT mathematician an economical model for forecasting that is easy to cheat. Other ways for convincing include corruption, threats, sex.. Typically the leader will be promised to be rich with his family, and protected also by the USA. When the leader yields, his country with rich resources makes huge loans from the World Bank. Loans that can never be payed back with interests. This way the World Bank blackmails this country afterwards, and forces it to open its borders to american corporations, sell its oil for low prices, accept american military bases on its land, give its vote for the USA in the UN...
If the EHMs fail their mission, the Jackals step in. This is the second step. The Jackals are professional killers, specialized in eliminating leaders by assassinations or other methods. In Ecuador, Jaime Roldos elaborated a policy that helped its people with the oil money, and it was surely not international oil companies friendly. He was killed in an "mysterious" plane crash. In Panama, Omar Torrijos wanted to enforce the fair pact that was signed with Carter about the canal. He was similarly killed in a plane crash. The savoir-faire of the Jackals includes organizing riots and coup d'etat such as with Mossadegh in Iran and Chavez in Venezuela.
In the third step, the traditional army approach is finally used. This is when the EHMs and the Jackals fail. In the case of Irak, Saddam Husein has a strong character, he had money and power and wasn't corruptible by the EHMs, and the Jackals couldn't get him because he has collaborated a lot with CIA and knew all of their tricks. Irak was invaded after that the Corporatocracy has invested billions of dollars in media to convince the public opinion of the invasion. They got what they wanted. The oil, the military bases, and all the development projects contracted to the american corporations.

A documentary has been made based on this book, you can find it on youtube:

As I saw on the internet, this book was a bestseller, rose a lot of criticism on some factual things, and was described as another conspiracy theory book. Personally, I found the book interesting and quite passionate. Nevertheless, I think the essential information is not enough to make a book of it, but the way the author has put it in a narration style makes it  worth reading, even if some information is being repeated constantly. I also think the the confessions of Perkins have come a little bit late, after he has played the game for many years. Something inside of me felt while reading the book that the author wanted by this book just another success in his life rather than an authentic confession. I felt also that the author is a bit egocentric as if the stories are more about him than about explaining the Corporatocracy game. This makes me wonder about the correctness of the facts in the book. 

In all cases it is an interesting book and a point of view worth exploring. It is also a point of start to further readings on the big political events of the last century.

Achraf

Scrum & Outsourcing

Agile development is a fashion nowadays. Anyone one who wants to shine in a professional discussion adds SCRUM keyword between his words. For making things short, Scrum is a very dynamic and flexible way of  work organization in order to conduct a project. In scrum we privilege persons and interaction over processes, working products over heavy documentation, client collaboration and trust over negotiation and contracts, and finally flexibility over planning.

In big companies, sometimes there is a need to reinforce scrum teams with external persons, which is known as technical assistance (outsourcing). This is a very risky strategy if it is not well managed and understood.

As said before, scrum is highly dependent on interaction among team members, and on their spirit of initiative and proposition. If the external members aren't motivated enough, scrum can be a nightmare for the project. Many reasons are possible of this lack of motivation: The external member intervene for a short period of time, he doesn't have a good vision of the project, the scrum master hides a lot of information considered important to his company... The problem with scrum is that documentation isn't present in abundance. It means that scopes and rules of work aren't well defined and in case of problems it is not easy to contractually repair the damage. When trust is not well present, hell of mutual accusations threatens the success of the project.

Scrum's name is inspired by Rugby. It is a team game. If you aren't sure about the external people you want to integrate in your team better not use them and work harder in the smaller team, or otherwise work in the standard V-model process.

Achraf

Capitalism and diversity

A few days ago, I was walking back home from work as usual, and I noticed that the grocery next door was bought by Carrefour, a big multinational retailer. I entered the shop, and I started wandering around to check what has changed. It was amazing how they managed to fill every small corner of the place with a shiny product. There was a much bigger diversity of products than the older shop had. I said to myself how great capitalism and the current global economical system are.

I kept thinking about it on the road ..but ...NO WAIT A MINUTE!! Diversity??? Actually what I saw in the shop was exactly the same as what I saw in the other branches of this retailing brand in Paris, in Lille...and in all the cities I have visited.

Capitalism means open markets and free worldwide circulation of goods. It means an inevitable and atrocious competition among companies on the international scale. It means a race toward critical size.and the dominance of corporates over local business. It means lower prices to make more profit. It means rationalizing all of  the production and distribution processes. It means convergence to the same model. Simply, it means you are going to eat the same McDonald hamburger and drink the same Coca Cola whether you are in London, Paris or Rome, in spite of all of the rich local diverse products you may have in those wonderful cities. What we reached is a local diversity, but a horrible global monotony! a global monotony that is killing all of the beautiful local cultures worldwide. Same fast food, same fashion, same music, same same same!! This is really sad, all of the richness that the humanity has produced over the past centuries are just fading behind modern capitalism.

The same effect has changed our individual human knowledge. The rationalization of processes and the search for minimizing costs, has lead to very very specific functions. Our jobs are very specialized in a specific subject: mobile developer, UMTS specialist... We need a doctor to solve all of our health problem,s we need a specialized person in every problem that urges in the house, we need a bank to take care of our money, we need, we need ... The knowledge scope of our minds is being narrowed continually.

I am not really criticizing, nor do I have solutions. I am just writing about what I see everyday.

Achraf

The laws of simplicity

Trying to be simple in my life is a cause I fight for everyday. Simple is the little that means the most, it is this pure knowledge or truth that finds its way directly to your heart and your mind. When I saw a book talking about simplicity in the hands of a work colleague, I couldn't but borrow it and check it out. The laws of simplicity is a book written by John Maeda, a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a famous graphic designer. In this book, the author doesn't go so far in explaining why simplicity should be a way of thinking and a way of life, he rather focuses on how to reach simplicity, by respecting a set of ten laws. Nevertheless, It is clear through the book that John Maeda is convinced by the importance of simplicity in business: Simplicity sells!
The ten laws of simplicity are the following:

1. REDUCE: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
2. ORGANIZE: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. TIME: Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. LEARN: knowledge makes everything simpler
5. DIFFERENCES: Simplicity and complexity need each other
6. CONTEXT: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
7. EMOTION: More emotions are better than less.
8. TRUST: In simplicity we trust.
9. FAILURE: Some things can never be made simple.
10. THE ONE: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

I found that the first four laws are the most important to achieve simplicity, and the rest of them are to be considered when you feel that you have exaggerated in your simplicity.

The first law, reduce, has reminded me very much of a chapter I read in Rework, a recent business book. In Rework, they underline the importance of reducing features in a product to focus on the essential, reduce company complexity and expenditures to have lesser business inertia (more flexibility). They advice to put pre-constraints on your work (scope, budget, time, material) to avoid complexity and avoid drifting from core business. To respect the Reduce Law, John Maeda proposes to the reader a tool he calls "SHE". SHE stands for Shrink, Hide and Embody.

• Shrink: The smaller an object is, the more it exceeds our expectations and impresses us. The more delicate and fragile it is, the more attention we give it. Ex: an iPod nano.
• Hide: Whenever there is a complexity, just hide it! and give the power to the user to control the presence of this complexity. Ex: Touchscreen smartphones: dial pad appears only when u click on a small icon on the home screen. Ex: in Cloud computing, the complexity of business logic and computing is hidden from the user, as it is put away from him.
• Embody: Now that your product is simpler, you have give it more value in the perception of the final user. This is mostly a business/marketing operation. Ex: The distinctive image perceived by apple products.

The second important law Organize is very inspired from the German gestalt theory of perception. According to this theory, when a set of elements are well organized, they are perceived as less, and thus simpler. The good organization of the iPod's buttons set made it one of the most famous mp3 player worldwide. Once again, the author provides us a tool to Organize: the "SLIP" tool. SLIP stands for:

• Sort: Group items into instinctive groups.
• Label: Label each group.
• Integrate: Merge groups.
• Prioritize: Sort groups by priority.

The third law is about Time. Everything that takes less time is simpler. Here again if we use the SHE tool in Reduce, we can reach simplicity. Shrinking the necessary time for a task to be done, by more processing power, or by smarter algorithms. When it is impossible Hide the elapse of time for example by using a progress bar, and finally embody your product with the value of speed.

The fourth law is Learn, is the fact that the products that demand minimum knowledge, or already existent one, are simpler. A product that doesn't require a manual to be read in order to be used is obviously a simpler product.

The rest of laws enriches the simplicity we are searching for, and limits the drift in simplicity. For example, It is necessary to know that without a contrast to complexity, the simplicity doesn't exist, just like good and bad. A product without emotions is a cold uncomfortable product, and thus not simple. I invite those who are interested in understanding simplicity to read the book and examine the complete set of simplicity laws.

PS: I am not a fan of Apple, but yeah, they know how to elaborate simple yet great products.

Achraf

Orange stressed

When I was searching for my first job, I always told this joke to my friends: people are suiciding in Orange to get out of it, and I am dying to get into it. Orange is the historical telco (France Telecom) in France who suffered in last years from a high number of suicides among its employees. Well it’s true, I never understood the deal till the day, in a bookstore, my eyes were caught by a black book with the Orange logo on it, and entitled: Orange Stressed.

The author of this book, Ivan du Roy, is a journalist in the weekly Témoignage chrétien and collaborator in the online magazine Basta!. In this book, Ivan du Roy gives us a historical glimpse of Orange and explains why we have suicides today in this great company. The chapters are highly backed with facts, especially from the Stress Observatory of France Telecom.

The story begins in the 1970s where France was way behind its neighbors in terms of telecommunications. To end this situation, the government of Gescard d'Estaing launched the Delta LP plan: Thousands of enthusiastic technicians were recruited by the PTT administration (Post, Telegraphs and Telecommunications) back then to modernize the network infrastructure of France.

In 1990 the transformation of the PTT into an international corporate began. The PTT was divided into two public companies, La Poste and France Telecom. In 1996, France Telecom was privatized into a corporation. One year later, 21% of its capital was sold, and its action was quoted in the stock market. Since that year, and till the day, this percentage kept on increasing. So why was France Telecom privatized?

Many factors enforced this direction. First, there was the Milton Friedman's neoliberalism influence with Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in the UK: in these countries, telcos were already privatized. Second, the European Commission, in order to Europeanize the telecom services in Europe, chose the deregulation of this sector. A green book was published on this subject. This decision was highly influenced by some European industrial lobbies (e.g. European Round Table of Industrialists), and a big think-tanker and business man played a key role in this influence: the Belgian Etienne Davignon. Finally, and ironically, it was the left wing in France with Michel Rocard that opened the Pandora box by transforming the PTT administration into a public company. It was their reaction to face the difficult economical situation at the moment. To pass their solution, they had an undeclared agreement with the second most powerful syndicate CFDT behind CGT who knew about it too late. The left wing and the CFDT paid the price of their decisions each one in its upcoming elections. For Ivan du Roy, this direction was a pure political choice, because the announced needs for privatization (modernization and unification of networks, technological revolution, cheaper services...) were already satisfied with the PTT administration.

In 1998, The European telecommunications industry was deregulated for competition. New competitors entered the French markets (e.g. SFR & Bouygues). The strategic response of France Telecom to this deregulation was the expansion in international markets, to catch up the market shares it has lost in France. The CEO of France Telecom Michel Bon led this strategy by a big number of fusions, acquisitions, OPA operations in Europe and in Africa (especially the purchase the UK mobile operator Orange which became the official trademark of France Telecom). Huge sums of money were also paid to buy UMTS licenses in different countries. The French state was blinded by the billions of Euros income due to the sale of actions and never controlled these operations as the main shareholder. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2000, the speculative internet bubble has exploded, and all of risky operations of France Telecom caused it huge amounts of losses and France Telecom was the most indebted company in the world, with 70 billion Euros of debt.

How to get rid of 70 billion of junk bonds? France Telecom will witness the era of cost killers. The new CEO Thierry Breton comes to France Telecom with an army of well paid cost killers. They put in place the NeXT plan to reduce the number of employees by 22000 in three years. Employees were pushed in different ways to leave the company. Cost killing rhymes with work intensification, reorganizations (delocalization…) and shift in professions to ones generating more cash flow like commercial professions. These huge changes caused a cultural choc to the employees. First, these changes question their history and values, in other words they would feel that everything they did before was useless. A typical employee in France Telecom is a technician with the public service culture deeply rooted in him. In a short time, we put him in call center, without convenient training, and force him to give the minimum time to clients, which is completely against his old public service culture. This brutal change caused major psychological problems which are highly reflected on the health of the employee and his private life, leading him to suicide in extreme conditions. Changes came from the top of the hierarchy without being well understood by the employees and the management of these changes seems to have been a big failure.

The alerts are in red for France Telecom: precarity of work, ratio of absenteeism and number of suicide attempts. The direction seemed to be in denial at first. In response to the suicide attempts, the company created cells to accompany persons in difficulty, but never questioned the organization itself. It didn’t consider the roots of the problem.

France Telecom is gradually waking up from this long sleep of denial; there are more and more forces from the inside that are trying to stop the drift of the financial logics from the reality of work.

If you are interested by the subject of stress in work due to modern organization of work, I strongly recommend you to watch the two part French documentary “La mise a mort au travail”. In one of the parts a small debate is held with Stephane Richard, the current CEO of France Telecom.

Achraf

Update: For french speaking readers, there is a recent interesting documentary on the subject by France 5. It shows what have been done in France Telecom since the arrival of the new CEO Stephane Richard who promised to solve these cumulated social  problems after admitting their existance. You can watch it on YouTube: