Twitter announces layoffs • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#231

Post by ethbro » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:28 PM UTC

kaonashi wrote: post #203

at-fates-hands wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always surprised people can never seem to see these things coming. If I was working there, I would've started looking two or three months ago. Maybe they had some stock options or something they were holding onto??

Maybe they have families and don't want to upset the status quo until it's absolutely necessary.

I wonder if there are any risk metrics for one's primary employment. We apply sophisticated risk models to our investments, but I've never heard of anyone doing the same to their employer.

As a logical exercise, if we assign some risk to your employer terminating you (I imagine especially for publicly traded companies one could come up with some more-accurate-than-guess-formula), then there would be a point at which the risk of your current employer would outweigh the risk of leaving to find another job. Or, another way, the risk-reward between two different jobs could be measured (e.g. working at risky Startup X vs stable Retail Bank Y).

Links welcome!

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#232

Post by adevine » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:29 PM UTC

rudolf0 wrote: post #169

adevine wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While they may be jargon, they're not meaningless. I mean, roadmap? Is there anyone who has worked at a tech company that doesn't know what a roadmap is, and why it's important? Is there anyone who doesn't know that nimbler means better able to react to changes in the marketplace?

They're jargon as well as buzzwords. They mean things, but they're unnecessary. "Roadmap" -> plan, strategy "Structural change" -> internal reorganizing, lay-offs "Nimbler" -> fewer employees, which we hope will make us become more agile "Streamlined" -> ambiguous and essentially meaningless by itself "Impactful" -> revenue- and/or growth-generating, maybe "important"

But I'd argue that the "jargon" version is more precise in most cases. I mean, to me, roadmap means a very specific thing about lining up high-level features with milestones, while plan and strategy mean something more generic. Same with "nimbler" - seems like just an easier way to say more agile.

I'll give you "structural change" though, which I think is just a euphemism for layoffs.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#233

Post by jsprogrammer » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:30 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #227

jsprogrammer wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you check the screenshot? Access was removed at 5:24AM, but the voicemail wasn't until 7:22AM.

Access was removed from Github . Not necessarily from his email.

Sure, I don't think anyone claimed otherwise.

Pulling your repo access without notification isn't exactly what most people would view as, "parting ways with 'the utmost respect for each and every person'".

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#234

Post by igorgue » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:32 PM UTC

blackaspen wrote: post #14

MattBearman wrote: post #10

"Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight." Three paragraphs later... "So we have made an extremely tough decision: we plan to part ways with up to 336 people from across the company." Edit: My bad, I should have been clearer in what I meant. There isn't really any corporate speak, but I wouldn't call 3 paragraphs of fluff 'giving it to you straight'

It's not great, but it's certainly better than something like "We've decided to move forward with a new strategic initiative that will involve a synergistic restructuring of our organizations and in that process it's possible that some people may find themselves seeking opportunities"...

Meh, same shit... Somebody got fired after working very hard on a product, that's all I know.

None of the people who got fired are like "OMG... Jack is such a great guy for firing us without so much fluff"

If anything is just good for him, and press, just for him, if anything his message basically say "We want a strong twitter and you are weak".

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#235

Post by skylan_q » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:35 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #151

Sidnicious wrote: post #97

> Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight. I tried rewriting his email to live up to this promise: - - - Team, We're cutting our workforce to strengthen Twitter as a company. The team has been deciding how to best streamline Twitter, Vine, and Periscope to put their focus on the projects which will have the greatest impact. Moments, which we launched last week…

Dear Twitter, They're going to let me be CEO again, but as part of the deal I had to fire a bunch of people. Mostly engineers since I'm told there are many of them who cost too much and don't seem to impact the top line. Please let's all be nice about the whole thing, so it doesn't turn into a PR disaster. Jack

A decent human being always has perfect foresight and never has to make tough decisions that impact people.

If anyone is ever fired or laid off, the CEO should be immediately replaced.

Or alternatively, no one should ever be fired.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#236

Post by acaloiar » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:35 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #110

acaloiar wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you said is as near the definition of "giving it straight" as one might expect to follow his preface. What he actually said is as near the definition of corporate speak as possible. There is no confusion on my part. Perhaps Jack is the one confused about what people mean by "corporate speak".

If you understood exactly what he meant, then it was pretty straight. Especially the bit about how many people are being let go and from where, that's remarkably forthcoming.

Forthcoming as that may be – an understanding listener does not a pretty straight statement make.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#237

Post by notacoward » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:36 PM UTC

Sidnicious wrote: post #97

> Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I'm going to give it to you straight. I tried rewriting his email to live up to this promise: - - - Team, We're cutting our workforce to strengthen Twitter as a company. The team has been deciding how to best streamline Twitter, Vine, and Periscope to put their focus on the projects which will have the greatest impact. Moments, which we launched last week…

You missed a couple.

* "Reach out" - I doubt that Mr. Dorsey wants people literally reaching out to him.

* "Streamline" - literal physical air flow is probably not involved here, and it's not even a particularly good metaphor.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#238

Post by fluxquanta » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:39 PM UTC

ThomPete wrote: post #46

collyw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is that Twitter is way more popular with newspapers than the general public because it is easy to extract trending tweets compared to almost anything else and generate stories based on it.

Agree but so is Reuters, still it's their news that a lot of newspapers uses for their papers. Twitter is a news source not a newspaper.

>Twitter is a news source not a newspaper.

While I agree, I also hate this. A Twitter trend can inspire good journalism, but it is not in and of itself journalism. Too many media sources slap a tweet on TV or on a website and call it journalism.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#239

Post by stevesearer » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:40 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #216

The "moments" feature will be a failure. They're essentially building an editorial model on top of Twitter - something they (as the platform creators) shouldn't be worried with. The decentralized model of Twitter's content creation is an asset. If you group those into a more traditional top down model, you lose the uniqueness and power of the Twitter platform.

I've been searching for a replacement to Circa News since it shut down and I'd love if Twitter's Moments turned out to be something like that. Surface what is happening around the world via social and then add the context of it with editors and journalists for people not wanting to slog through social media all day long.

Re: Twitter announces layoffs

#240

Post by krstck » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 4:40 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #212

cwbrandsma wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startup is just a code word for "tech company" anymore.

"Anymore" is just a word used to mean "now" anymore. (I kid, but seriously, I've searched for analysis on the use of the word 'anymore' in the positive (eg, as something other than part of a 'not...anymore' clause) and haven't been able to find anything. Any links would be appreciated, I am legitimately curious as to when and how this became a thing).

Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_anymore