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Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

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Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#21

Post by JSeymourATL »

throwitaway1981 wrote: post #6

I'm curious: how bad is it to leave a new job soon after starting (because you realize the product isn't as great as what you thought it would be/too much competition in space)? When you are a high performer, you really don't want to waste everyone's time if you end up in this bad situation. What is the professional thing to do? Asking because the article mentioned some people staying only for a few weeks. In a small…

> how long should one try to make a new job work?

Depends on your mandate going in. Stick-to-itivness is a desirable leadership quality. Most industries consider business cycles in annual terms. If you can't move the needle in 24-36 months, do everyone a favor and move-on. A 3 week stint however, is not worth putting on your CV.

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#22

Post by Dublum »

huac wrote: post #11
nullrouted wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget fantasy sports tracking!

Their fantasy football platform, at least, is the best of the ones I've tried. Lots of obvious product placements and ads, but good UI and UX, well-gamified weekly/seasonal trophies, and interesting statistical stuff I haven't seen anywhere else.

I agree, it also does a lot of little things right that other platforms mess up. For example, it's the only platform that doesn't penalize a team's defense for scores that occur when they're not on the field (e.g. an interception returned for a touchdown). It is, unfortunately though, an unholy browser memory hog as well.

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#23

Post by [deleted] »

ufmace wrote: post #17
throwitaway1981 wrote: post #6

I'm curious: how bad is it to leave a new job soon after starting (because you realize the product isn't as great as what you thought it would be/too much competition in space)? When you are a high performer, you really don't want to waste everyone's time if you end up in this bad situation. What is the professional thing to do? Asking because the article mentioned some people staying only for a few weeks. In a small…

It only really matters in the eyes of potential future employers, so consider how it looks to them. Having done interviews and resume screening myself, I wouldn't balk too hard at one quick departure, but I would want to hear a good explanation for why you left so soon. The job and/or company being very clearly something different from what you were told would be a good one. Multiple quick departures in a row are kin…

[deleted]

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#24

Post by biot »

JSeymourATL wrote: post #21
throwitaway1981 wrote: post #6

I'm curious: how bad is it to leave a new job soon after starting (because you realize the product isn't as great as what you thought it would be/too much competition in space)? When you are a high performer, you really don't want to waste everyone's time if you end up in this bad situation. What is the professional thing to do? Asking because the article mentioned some people staying only for a few weeks. In a small…

> how long should one try to make a new job work? Depends on your mandate going in. Stick-to-itivness is a desirable leadership quality. Most industries consider business cycles in annual terms. If you can't move the needle in 24-36 months, do everyone a favor and move-on. A 3 week stint however, is not worth putting on your CV.

  > Stick-to-itivness
Tenacity.

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#25

Post by sirkneeland »

coldpie wrote: post #3

What does Yahoo do? Microsoft has Windows, Office and Xbox. Amazon has massive web server and product distribution platforms. Apple has OS X and iPhone. Google has Android, search, ads, and an online office suite. What does Yahoo do? I guess they have some long-time email users and a well-liked stock tracking platform?

Clearly you've never experienced the joy and wonder of Yahoo Answers

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#27

Post by heimatau »

Maybe Twitter/Yahoo should team up or Snapchat. Get these teens some ads. Yahoo's mobile strategy is a struggle, maybe some partnerships are in order.

I honestly believe Mayer could do it but since none of their apps are FB/Instagram/WhatsApp nor do they have the traction as these juggernauts, I'd suggest a partnership.

Come on Yahoo. Find a niche, make some money.

Losing these talented people. Maybe it's because they didn't perform or didn't realize the large task they they'd be responsible. Or maybe Mayer only hired them to steward a certain project (this wouldn't explain the quick exits but not all of these exits are quick). Mayer is a work horse. The issue might be with the hires and the difficulty of tasks.

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#28

Post by USNetizen »

Maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the whole "work in our offices or quit" memo sent to virtual employees a while back not paying the dividends she had hoped. Adding insult to injury, perhaps her build-out of a full private nursery in the executive suite staffed with her personal nannies while simultaneously requiring staff to stop working remotely, even part time, had a deleterious impact on morale and work-life balance for those who cannot afford a team of private caretakers for their own families while they commute potentially for several extra hours each day.

Perhaps we are just now starting to see the effects of potential internal management hypocrisy with all these departures, especially the ones that only lasted a brief time.

Of course, this may be speculation on my part, but I can't see how decisions like those would encourage people, especially high performers, to stay long term if this is indicative of Yahoo management philosophy.

Ref:

http://gawker.com/5987043/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-installed-...

http://gawker.com/5986462/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-no-more-wo...

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#29

Post by endymi0n »

coldpie wrote: post #3

What does Yahoo do? Microsoft has Windows, Office and Xbox. Amazon has massive web server and product distribution platforms. Apple has OS X and iPhone. Google has Android, search, ads, and an online office suite. What does Yahoo do? I guess they have some long-time email users and a well-liked stock tracking platform?

I always thought that exactly this question was part of their demise. Although the word "synergy" is far overused, it's exactly what Yahoo never managed to create. Google brought people searching content together with people offering solutions. Facebook brought people seeking entertainment together with people offering entertainment.

Yahoo had it all - email, answers, news, stocks, search, and they even invented Hadoop back then to sift through all their data. They just never had any larger vision to integrate any of their assets properly to solve a grand problem.

They always just threw ever more noodles to the wall and tried to see which ones would stick.

There's zero coherency in anything they do, for me it's just a diverse bunch of poorly maintained and integrated services that's purely kept together with duct tape, page rank and marketing hacks stacked on top of each other.

It's the kind of slow death when there's just enough recurring revenue left that it's hard to screw things completely up, even with a league of completely dilbertized MBAs in charge battling each other until the last of talented people have left.

Re: Yahoo Talent Exodus Accelerates as Marissa Mayer’s Turnaround Flounders

#30

Post by sirkneeland »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #9
coldpie wrote: post #3

What does Yahoo do? Microsoft has Windows, Office and Xbox. Amazon has massive web server and product distribution platforms. Apple has OS X and iPhone. Google has Android, search, ads, and an online office suite. What does Yahoo do? I guess they have some long-time email users and a well-liked stock tracking platform?

A lot. Millions use Yahoo website daily and Yahoo email. Yahoo is the fourth/fifth most visited website in the world. WORLD. Yahoo's ONLY problem is that they want to be a leader in their industry. If they did not and were content with milking their content and user base, they would be boring but very profitable. Yahoo can deploy many products to its audience and be a leader again.

Serious question: Can they, though?

I'm not doubting if Yahoo could build (or buy) some cool tech products and put them in front of their large audience. But the real question is whether their audience is the sort who would bite and eagerly adopt new technology.

While I am sure there are exceptions, I think the bulk of people visiting Yahoo and using Yahoo properties are there because they can't or don't want to change things up. I think how many of those hits to yahoo.com come from library computers that are hardwired to visit it as the homepage, from my parents computers, from people who will load the yahoo.com page to type "Gmail" in the search bar "because that's how the Internet works" etc.

The early adopter set that's more consciously in control of their digital destiny and eager to try new things are already giving their eyeballs to Apple, Google, and the swarms of shiny startups orbiting their ecosystems.

I'm not celebrating this fact. I wish there were more tech centers of gravity to choose from, and I am saddened that Yahoo (along with so many others) is unable to break through.

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