Natual Human Resources

People are “renewable resources”. Just ask this guy.

Developers are not renewable resources. You use them up and they’re fried. You use them up and the word gets around that you use them up. No one wants to work for you. Training developers to your application, business, and ways of doing things costs lots of money.

I remind myself of this with something that U. Utah Philips said in his album “The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere”. He said it to a bunch of graduating students. I think every manager needs to remember it every day about his or her employees.

You are about to be told one more time that you are America’s most valuable natural resource. Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources?! Have you seen a strip mine? Have you seen a clear cut in the forest? Have you seen a polluted river? Don’t ever let them call you a valuable natural resource! They’re going to strip mine your soul. They’re going to clear cut your best thoughts for the sake of profit unless you learn to resist, because the profit system follows the path of least resistance and following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked!