Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Google+ project and exec team

threader.app

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 187 posts

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#71

Post by bambax »

brianberns wrote: post #21
tjoff wrote: post #8

If your team, say on Gmail or Android, was to integrate Google+’s features then your team would be awarded a 1.5-3x multiplier on top of your yearly bonus. Your bonus was already something like 15% of your salary. Suddenly it makes sense why we can't use + to force a word in google searches anymore.

Is that why they got rid of it? I liked using + more than putting the word in quotes, which is what you have to do now.

> Is that why they got rid of it?

Yes.

"Plus" is a dumb and lame product name.

When Jean-Marie Messier was trying to make Vivendi an important Internet company, he decided he wanted to make some kind of portal (copying Yahoo) that would be named "Vivendi Plus". He announced it at a press conference before having even secured the vivendiplus.com domain. That was in Sept. '99. It failed miserably (didn't even launch).

Ten years later when Google wanted to copy Facebook they came up with the exact same name. It failed.

I think just naming a product myBigCompany--Plus is a symptom you don't know what you're doing or where you're going. It's bad form and then it's bad luck.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#72

Post by fuoggler »

brianberns wrote: post #12
whack wrote: post #10

Controversial opinion here. I know that exaggerating and complaining is a surefire way to get clicks, but it's hard to take the author's criticisms seriously when he complains about so many different things. Some as minor as the noogler orientation. Others as petty as putting down colleagues who haven't worked as designers before. Regarding the main event in question: I like that Google allows people to party in the…

Seriously. When Jim schedules a meeting for 9am the next day, just tell him that you need more time than that. Instead, this guy goes home and works through the night so he can prove Jim wrong. Way too much ego tied up in petty disagreements here.

The sheer number of Googlers posting here is amazing. We get it, you love the Gorg, but every single criticism he lists is real.

Frankly, it has been a long time, too long, since we had a real voice air the realities of life in Goolag.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#73

Post by shanusmagnus »

jesusthatsgreat wrote: post #18

Publicly criticizing people & companies you've worked with because you haven't seen eye to eye with them... Is this the sort of person you'd want to work with or hire to work for you? If it were a company that didn't pay you or were doing something unethical etc then fair enough - blow that whistle... but as far as I can see this is just someone with a chip on their shoulder and a bruised ego who can't move on.

I would never, ever hire someone who went on a giant public character assassination of his colleagues and dumped all the day-to-day insider baseball to the world. Call-outs to people who didn't hire him. Jesus, wtf?

I don't care how dysfunctional his experience was, I don't care how much of a star he might be, I don't need that kind of worry in my life, and it's hard to imagine someone who would. Be interested to know how his career goes after this.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#74

Post by adverbly »

whack wrote: post #10

Controversial opinion here. I know that exaggerating and complaining is a surefire way to get clicks, but it's hard to take the author's criticisms seriously when he complains about so many different things. Some as minor as the noogler orientation. Others as petty as putting down colleagues who haven't worked as designers before. Regarding the main event in question: I like that Google allows people to party in the…

Totally agree.

Sounds like conflict management is not handled very well by anyone in these situations.The author certainly could have handled it better, and "Greg" should have handled it way better.

Very disappointing to hear, but at the same time these kinds of conflict are usually local and only affect a few individuals, so it is probably not very fair to describe the whole project and exec team as operating in this fashion.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#75

Post by tyingq »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #50

Just wanted to highlight this bit of the article about Vic Gundotra: "I remember him frequently flirting with the women on the team." Don't be that guy.

The shot he took on Twitter is even harsher. https://twitter.com/morganknutson/status/1050609480033951744

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#76

Post by goliatone »

ganeshkrishnan wrote: post #67
Novashi wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Would you take up the job if the salary was reduced on day one? I'd certainly tell people on as many public forums as possible instead of just letting someone walk all over me and also see if I could get anyone with influence to reverse the decision. Do I sit and take it? Hell no. And you shouldn't either because you should have more self-respect.

Is this your definition of "walking all over you"? How much of a bubble is silicon valley? I have worked in the biggest bank in Australia where subcontractors were siphoning away the source codes and customer data via mobile hotspots. I blew the whistle to data security and got fired in return. Company later paid me huge chunk of money in return for silence. Sometimes you just gotta walk away to better deals. Life is…

Since you’re sharing, how did you get from being fired to being offered payment for silence? You got terminated and a day/week/month later the bank reached out to you offering money just in case, or they fired you and approached them asking for “cautionary” compensation, or something in between? Not trying to make a moral judgement, I’m wondering how these escenarios play out in real life

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#77

Post by village-idiot »

jccalhoun wrote: post #17
whack wrote: post #10

Controversial opinion here. I know that exaggerating and complaining is a surefire way to get clicks, but it's hard to take the author's criticisms seriously when he complains about so many different things. Some as minor as the noogler orientation. Others as petty as putting down colleagues who haven't worked as designers before. Regarding the main event in question: I like that Google allows people to party in the…

totally agree. Things like "Let’s call him Greg because his real name is just as vanilla." are just petty. Maybe it is because I have a name I hate to explain to everyone but jabs at the name your parents gave you aren't cool. There is a lot of ascribing negative motives to other people's words and behaviors when other explanations seem possible from the description he gave to the situation.

Assuming the motives of others, especially when they’re always negative, is a huge red flag.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#78

Post by pinewurst »

paulddraper wrote: post #13
whack wrote: post #10

Controversial opinion here. I know that exaggerating and complaining is a surefire way to get clicks, but it's hard to take the author's criticisms seriously when he complains about so many different things. Some as minor as the noogler orientation. Others as petty as putting down colleagues who haven't worked as designers before. Regarding the main event in question: I like that Google allows people to party in the…

"If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." - Raylan Givens

Plenty of organizations breed assholes as an evolutionary process because they thrive more than better behaving people.

Re: The Google+ project and exec team

#80

Post by Flow »

adverbly wrote: post #74
whack wrote: post #10

Controversial opinion here. I know that exaggerating and complaining is a surefire way to get clicks, but it's hard to take the author's criticisms seriously when he complains about so many different things. Some as minor as the noogler orientation. Others as petty as putting down colleagues who haven't worked as designers before. Regarding the main event in question: I like that Google allows people to party in the…

Totally agree. Sounds like conflict management is not handled very well by anyone in these situations.The author certainly could have handled it better, and "Greg" should have handled it way better. Very disappointing to hear, but at the same time these kinds of conflict are usually local and only affect a few individuals, so it is probably not very fair to describe the whole project and exec team as operating in thi…

Management above Greg should have seen through Gregs behavior a long time ago and acted on it.

People like Greg are poison to a workplace, IMHO.

Post reply on HN