Scott Berkun on Politics

According to Scott Berkun, Politics is the skill of managing people and organizations.

• Politics is not a dirty word.
• All leaders have political and power constraints.
• The ratio of power to responsibility is constant.
• Politics is a kind of problem solving.

Any political or management action that takes place, no matter how stupid or evil it seems, is always one of a limited number of possible choices managers have. The alternatives might be even worse for the project than the choice that was made. Without understanding something of the constraints, judgment will always be based more on venting frustration than on the reality of the situation.