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Title: JPod
Author:
Douglas Coupland
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (5 Jun 2006)
ISBN:
074758222X
Price:
£12.99
Reviewer: Claudine McClean
 Douglas Coupland captured the spirit of an era with Generation X, a revealing portrait of slacker life in Canada. The lack of ambition and conformity was considered disturbing and reviewers worried about a lost generation.
JPod looks again at a new generation of employees working in the software industry. It’s interesting reading for anyone working with bright young people and looking to get the best from them.
The JPod of the title is a small collection of employees working in Dilbert style cubicles, writing code for a computer game with an ever changing concept. Due to a spreadsheet irregularity all the employees with a surname beginning with ‘J’ were seated in one pod.
From a business perspective the book explores what can happen when you have intelligent, articulate employees with a drive to create and collaborate, but without motivating leadership or clear, agreed goals.
The intelligence, creativity and team spirit of the J-Pod employees is not lost, they find ways to express themselves and achieve both in entertaining time wasting diversions and more malevolent work related sabotage.
JPod is compulsive reading for anyone looking to understand the mindset of underachieving twentysomethings in their organisations. It’s not an inspiring vision, but it offers insights into how and why employees can become disaffected if not offered positive leadership and an inspiring talent management and succession planning process.
Claudine McClean
t: +44 (0) 1789 734333
f: +44 (0) 1789 734401
e: claudinem@predaptive.com
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