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Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

bloomberg.com

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Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#11

Post by vinhboy »

TaylorGood wrote: post #8
vessenes wrote: post #4

Who knows the real story here, but I can imagine once your stock options vest, financial prudence and personal sanity don't really point to doing the next big ramp-up at Tesla. You're heavily recruitable for large swaths of stock at any number of startups, presumably with a status bump on top, or you could just take your well earned millions and chill for a bit. Whoever is running the Model 3 delivery program is goin…

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I hear people tell stories like this about successful companies all the time.

If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#12

Post by rco8786 »

vinhboy wrote: post #11
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I hear people tell stories like this about successful companies all the time. If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

Nobody said success was easy or didn't involve sacrifice. Just sayin'

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#13

Post by mipapage »

vinhboy wrote: post #11
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I hear people tell stories like this about successful companies all the time. If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

Many years ago I worked as a geologist and watched as a very low-yield gold mine went thru cycles of getting funded, building some infrastructure and then declaring bankruptcy, until finally there was enough infrastructure there to actually make something happen (and maybe the rising gold price helped in the end).

It seems this strategy can be applied in different scenarios/fields and with money, people, money and people... Opens your eyes.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#14

Post by jernfrost »

TaylorGood wrote: post #8
vessenes wrote: post #4

Who knows the real story here, but I can imagine once your stock options vest, financial prudence and personal sanity don't really point to doing the next big ramp-up at Tesla. You're heavily recruitable for large swaths of stock at any number of startups, presumably with a status bump on top, or you could just take your well earned millions and chill for a bit. Whoever is running the Model 3 delivery program is goin…

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I just don't get how you can be successful doing stuff that way. People with that little sleep are not going to function optimal. They are going to make mistakes.

But both Tesla and SpaceX seems very successful so I wonder if they are successful despite of this or because of this.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#15

Post by arcticfox »

jernfrost wrote: post #14
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I just don't get how you can be successful doing stuff that way. People with that little sleep are not going to function optimal. They are going to make mistakes. But both Tesla and SpaceX seems very successful so I wonder if they are successful despite of this or because of this.

Or whether this story is apocryphal, being twice removed from the original workers.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#16

Post by TaylorGood »

vinhboy wrote: post #11
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I hear people tell stories like this about successful companies all the time. If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

Sprint deployment / critical fixes are one thing, but for a year I did 90+ hour work weeks on a CPG startup and fried myself. More specifically, I was so burnt out on the very thing that was supposed to catapult me to the next level. The concept of positive burnout is very real..

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#17

Post by Eerie »

vinhboy wrote: post #11
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I hear people tell stories like this about successful companies all the time. If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

>If this is really how the game is played. I quit.

It's not a game.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#18

Post by dang »

Chronic51 wrote: post #2

Waiting for the HN fanboys to defend Tesla.

This comment breaks the HN guidelines, which ask you not to call names in comments. We also ask people not to post drive-by dismissals.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#19

Post by bitmapbrother »

vessenes wrote: post #4

Who knows the real story here, but I can imagine once your stock options vest, financial prudence and personal sanity don't really point to doing the next big ramp-up at Tesla. You're heavily recruitable for large swaths of stock at any number of startups, presumably with a status bump on top, or you could just take your well earned millions and chill for a bit. Whoever is running the Model 3 delivery program is goin…

The Model X has been plagued with problems. I'm guessing they were asked to leave.

Re: Two Tesla Production Chiefs to Leave Ahead of Model 3 Ramp-Up

#20

Post by rm999 »

jernfrost wrote: post #14
TaylorGood wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will say this: I met a director from Tesla just after their unveiling of the Model X. She said a small number of people were assigned to fully assemble / prep each vehicle shown that night.. for roughly two weeks they worked 20 hour shifts and slept 2 hours each night. Most teams were working on them right up until the cars rolled on stage; there was still wet paint on one. Also, it was said a "normal" workweek of 16…

I just don't get how you can be successful doing stuff that way. People with that little sleep are not going to function optimal. They are going to make mistakes. But both Tesla and SpaceX seems very successful so I wonder if they are successful despite of this or because of this.

I think it requires strong, perfectionist, top-down leadership. See for example Steve Jobs or James Cameron. They aren't the most popular bosses, but they create amazing things by working their people hard and watching everything very closely.
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