So, cynically, (and I say this with no disrespect intended to the author directly): a screed about how to continue justifying your existence as a—ostensibly "good"—middle manager (using, as its basis, one of the most nausea-inducing jargon terms to ever claw its way out the semi-sentient Dunning–Kruger ooze that is corporate-speak.)
And, to be clear, I do actually think a good middle manager is beneficial, if most commonly in the way of any necessary evil, as a very effective grease for the oft poorly meshing cogs of business. Not unlike the fresh breeze of an actually effective project manager or personable AND productive engineer.
If only there was a way to find out the truth. But who has the appetite for that these days? Or the appetite for the effort required?
The irony of this comment can even be found in the post itself:
> ...the magazine’s fortunes soared by exploiting the public’s appetite for outrage. Articles frequently relied on exaggerated – and at times outright false – stories... Accuracy and integrity were secondary to the relentless churn of opinions. The formula worked.
What you're describing more often applies to retail and service workers whose pay provides little incentive to do more than the absolute minimum to maintain employment.
Whereas it seems this might be a situation where the situation is actually inverse: being paid enough to not care.
10 Brute force medium into doing what it was not originally designed to do
20 Insist on native support for what was once a hack
30 goto 10
On the one hand you could say it's clever. On the other hand you might insist it's foolish to repeat this cycle. I'm not naïve, complaining, nor suggesting I have a better solution, but rather just making a personal observation.
(And regardless, I've been fortunate enough to make a living off this cycle for about 20+ years, having done it for fun for about 10+ years prior.)
This has been an unending source of frustration for me when I have followed someone on any of the algorithmic platforms vs. self-publishing.
So often many will invariably end up letting the place where they predominant publish to dictate what and how they produce whatever it is they output. (I was fighting hard not to say the word "content"...)
Which I despise but also understand: you do what anyone with a job does to keep the money flowing until someone in the relationship decides to end the arrangement.
(Now that I think about it, self-publishing is hardly immune to that. It just means perhaps the creator's motives could be more varied and fluid?)
It really is despairingly sad how many of these comments (assumedly by U.S. citizens) seem to not realize or believe these actions will have an effect on them.
Are some of these things normal SOP for a regime change? Sure. But to normalize everything under that blanket assumption is just foolish.
Unless you are an exceedingly (liquid) wealthy white male, you are entirely disposable to the incoming administration. You are less than nothing. If anything, you are an inconvenience buried deep in the calculations that needs to be factored out of the equation because your existence hinders the "progress" being sought.
All these pragmatic or, worse, so-called "libertarian" views demonstrate a supremely naïve, if not outright harmful (to yourself and countless others), understanding of what is going to be aggressively pursued these next few years.
Whether it's an Xbox is arguable, but for the purposes of the topic and the post, you're mostly arguing semantics.
If one were to "push a Honda Civic to the limits" with an array of engine and suspension modifications, for purposes of discussion you're going to sound like you're just splitting hairs by asking "Is it really still a Civic, tho??", even if you could be technically correct.
The author has the right to title their content as they desire and you can just rewrite it as "Modding the OG Xbox to within an inch of its life" in your head...
And, to be clear, I do actually think a good middle manager is beneficial, if most commonly in the way of any necessary evil, as a very effective grease for the oft poorly meshing cogs of business. Not unlike the fresh breeze of an actually effective project manager or personable AND productive engineer.