npub16l…jvcy8 on Nostr: (reposting from npub1yyx7s…2qa5g instead of reblogging because mastodon don't feel ...
(reposting from npub1yyx7sllvsrr0fauh2rdlqk5rakf3963g9xk4a7j5uhfcs00lr3kq42qa5g (npub1yyx…qa5g) instead of reblogging because mastodon don't feel great about quote reblogs)
Back in late 2021, when I was still working for Automattic, the Chief of Money Things presented the revenue goals for 2022+ his team decided based on a forecast they spent months working on. The goals were incredibly ambitious, because they were based in the growth the company had experienced during 2020 and 21.
Back in the day it didn't make any sense to me, basing the goals of the company on the results of a year where, because of COVID, all the online products were experiencing 2 or 3x more growth than any other year before seemed incredibly stupid. But I told myself "Javi, there may be a hundred different factors you don't see and these people do: it's not your field, this seems dumb , but trust those who know".
But time passed. People stopped being locked at home for 23 hours per day. And surprise surprise: online activity went back to normal levels. Who could have guessed uh? Well, not the C-suite of most tech companies. Not the C-suite of my company.
Flash forward to early 2023: we are told that it's clear we are "underperforming", so the company needs to go into "antifragile" mode (a term from one of those self-help for businessmen books the CEOs like so much): benefits start being cut down, salaries get frozen, the CEO tell us that working 40 hours/week is now considered below the bare minimum expectations, and the execs announce the hiring is frozen and the new goal is to make the company "lighter" by "managing people out". Mind you, the company was making more money than ever (except for 2020/21). The revenue was growing, handsomely. But it wasn't growing as much as the investors were promised, so we were underperforming.
Did the people responsible for setting stupid goals based on inane ideas admitted responsibility and suffered any consequences???
Of course not! They just blamed it on "execution issues". Because hey, admitting that they took some decisions so dumb that any average 13-year-old would find them laughable, would mean that maybe it's not justified for them to earn millions per year.
Every year it becomes more clear that success in the business world and being smart, or even competent in your job, are totally unrelated variables.
So yeah, there are a lot of not-too-bright but incredibly confident people in positions of power in the business world, taking absurd decisions that end get paid my fucking thousands of workers, and never suffering for any kind of repercussions themselves.
The system is entirely broken.
https://goblin.band/files/a0b2e90d-0033-4a6d-8a01-77569e18828f
Back in late 2021, when I was still working for Automattic, the Chief of Money Things presented the revenue goals for 2022+ his team decided based on a forecast they spent months working on. The goals were incredibly ambitious, because they were based in the growth the company had experienced during 2020 and 21.
Back in the day it didn't make any sense to me, basing the goals of the company on the results of a year where, because of COVID, all the online products were experiencing 2 or 3x more growth than any other year before seemed incredibly stupid. But I told myself "Javi, there may be a hundred different factors you don't see and these people do: it's not your field, this seems dumb , but trust those who know".
But time passed. People stopped being locked at home for 23 hours per day. And surprise surprise: online activity went back to normal levels. Who could have guessed uh? Well, not the C-suite of most tech companies. Not the C-suite of my company.
Flash forward to early 2023: we are told that it's clear we are "underperforming", so the company needs to go into "antifragile" mode (a term from one of those self-help for businessmen books the CEOs like so much): benefits start being cut down, salaries get frozen, the CEO tell us that working 40 hours/week is now considered below the bare minimum expectations, and the execs announce the hiring is frozen and the new goal is to make the company "lighter" by "managing people out". Mind you, the company was making more money than ever (except for 2020/21). The revenue was growing, handsomely. But it wasn't growing as much as the investors were promised, so we were underperforming.
Did the people responsible for setting stupid goals based on inane ideas admitted responsibility and suffered any consequences???
Of course not! They just blamed it on "execution issues". Because hey, admitting that they took some decisions so dumb that any average 13-year-old would find them laughable, would mean that maybe it's not justified for them to earn millions per year.
Every year it becomes more clear that success in the business world and being smart, or even competent in your job, are totally unrelated variables.
So yeah, there are a lot of not-too-bright but incredibly confident people in positions of power in the business world, taking absurd decisions that end get paid my fucking thousands of workers, and never suffering for any kind of repercussions themselves.
The system is entirely broken.
https://goblin.band/files/a0b2e90d-0033-4a6d-8a01-77569e18828f