/sna' foo prin' si-pl/ [WWII Army acronym for "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up"] "True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consiste
NTly rewarded for telling their superiors pleasa
NT lies than for telling the truth." - a ce
NTral tenet of
Discordianism, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification And the plan was without form, and the specification was void. And darkness was on the faces of the impleme
NTors thereof And they spake u
NTo their leader, saying: "It is a crock of shit, and smells as of a sewer." And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excreme
NT, and none may abide the odor thereof." And the project leader spake u
NTo his section head, saying: "It is a co
NTainer of excreme
NT, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." The section head then hurried to his departme
NT manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." The departme
NT manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke u
NTo him saying: "It co
NTaineth that which aideth the growth of pla
NTs, and it is very strong." And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news u
NTo the Vice Preside
NT. "It promoteth growth, and it is very powerful." The Vice Preside
NT rushed to the Preside
NT' s side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!" And the Preside
NT looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good. After the subseque
NT disaster, the
suits protect themselves by saying "I was misinformed!", and the impleme
NTors are demoted or fired. [
Jargon File]
In addition suitable coNTeNTs:
[ = ] [ acronym ] [ ad ] [ ag ] [ ai ] [ al ] [ am ] [ an ] [ ar ] [ arc ] [ archie ] [ arg ] [ as ] [ at ] [ au ] [ aw ] [ b ] [ ba ] [ be ] [ bi ] [ bs ] [ by ] [ ca ] [ cat ] [ ch ] [ ci ] [ ck ] [ cl ] [ co ] [ com ] [ con ] [ connect ] [ cons ] [ cr ] [ crock ] [ cron ] [ D ] [ de ] [ dec ] [ demo ] [ disc ] [ disconnect ] [ Discordianism ] [ do ] [ du ] [ ec ] [ ed ] [ ee ] [ eg ] [ emote ] [ equals ] [ er ] [ era ] [ es ] [ et ] [ excl ] [ fi ] [ file ] [ fo ] [ for ] [ fr ] [ ge ] [ gen ] [ gh ] [ gi ] [ gr ] [ gt ] [ h ] [ hack ] [ hacker ] [ hat ] [ hit ] [ hr ] [ ht ] [ hu ] [ id ] [ ie ] [ il ] [ in ] [ inc ] [ io ] [ ir ] [ is ] [ it ] [ J ] [ Jargon File ] [ jo ] [ ke ] [ kn ] [ la ] [ Lex ] [ li ] [ ls ] [ lu ] [ lv ] [ ly ] [ ma ] [ man ] [ mm ] [ mo ] [ mod ] [ module ] [ mp ] [ ms ] [ mu ] [ my ] [ N ] [ na ] [ nc ] [ ne ] [ net ] [ news ] [ nf ] [ ng ] [ ni ] [ nl ] [ nn ] [ no ] [ ns ] [ nym ] [ om ] [ pa ] [ pe ] [ perf ] [ ph ] [ pl ] [ plaNTs ] [ poke ] [ pr ] [ product ] [ pt ] [ query ] [ rc ] [ re ] [ real ] [ rl ] [ ro ] [ row ] [ ru ] [ S ] [ sa ] [ say ] [ sc ] [ screw ] [ se ] [ sh ] [ si ] [ sl ] [ sm ] [ sn ] [ SNA ] [ so ] [ software ] [ spec ] [ specification ] [ st ] [ su ] [ suit ] [ sy ] [ system ] [ T ] [ tar ] [ th ] [ tm ] [ to ] [ tr ] [ tron ] [ tw ] [ ua ] [ up ] [ us ] [ V ] [ ve ] [ version ] [ word ] [ ws ]