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Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

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Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#61

Post by shadowgovt »

ngngngng wrote: post #36
daenz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>not that I agree or disagree with his opinion You just outed yourself. I wish I was joking, but anything other than instant condemnation of what he wrote gets you labelled.

You phrased this funny, and I think that's why you're getting downvotes since the sarcasm wasn't obvious. You're right though, what we just saw with the linux foundations tone policing and the Lindsay Shepherd situation absolutely confirm this. There is a very effective group of activists that can make life hell for you if you don't hate the same things as them with the same fervor.

The downside to becoming wildly successful and influential in a culture is you begin to come under far more scrutiny from that culture.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#62

Post by avocado4 »

malvosenior wrote: post #5

I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists are now regretting their decision. For a long time it was common knowledge that you would try to keep stuff like that out of the workplace. The past 10 years have been an about face to that strategy and now we're seeing more or less complete chaos internally at these previously pro-politics (some kinds of politics) workplaces. My guess is th…

I'm pretty sure Google has seen an exodus of alienated top performers in the past years (who happen to be predominantly Asian and White males). So now Google is realizing that maybe demonizing their core demographic through fostering hostile identity politics inside the company is threatening their core advantage. I expect more crackdowns from the leadership in the future, including restrictions on Memegen and other toxic internal forums.

I cannot stress enough how bizarre the internal politics truly were now that I left Google. It's interesting to see posts from Xoogler activists in Xoogler boards who try to introduce themselves as some sort of oppressed heroes, only to be stonewalled by the alumni community who couldn't care less about their PC agenda now that their career isn't held siege to PC whims.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#63

Post by siruncledrew »

malvosenior wrote: post #5

I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists are now regretting their decision. For a long time it was common knowledge that you would try to keep stuff like that out of the workplace. The past 10 years have been an about face to that strategy and now we're seeing more or less complete chaos internally at these previously pro-politics (some kinds of politics) workplaces. My guess is th…

It's very hard to actually have private, internal dialogues in a 'townhall setting' among an employee group so large.

Recordings and videos could get leaked at any time by an employee to the media or on social media, which will further blow it up (ahem, like with Facebook) or perhaps take things out of context or cause more chaos.

Google actually trying to have a serious - and not just PR/HR-bullshit - discussion about highly nuanced, opinionated, divisive topics relevant to the workplace in this type of mass-meeting setting is basically playing with fire out in the open.

(This isn't a take on yes/no politics in the workplace, just an interpretation from Google/Facebook)

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#64

Post by 40acres »

Sounds like Googlers spoiled the well. I'm not sure exactly why but Google employees always seem to be in the news about something and have leaked conversations that management had with them. In some instances the controversy is warranted (Rubin Payout, etc.) but it must be annoying from a management perspective.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#66

Post by zdragnar »

pmoriarty wrote: post #10

Are all-hands meetings actually ever useful to anyone or ever more than merely internal PR?

Weekly seems a bit redundant to me, but at minimum a quartetly meeting helps people understand how what they do corresponds to the bigger picture, as well as how well the big picture is actually going.

Also, by letting employees know that their work ties into the bigger picture, you help encourage a bit more innovation at the lower level / on the ground, so to speak.

I've been at companies that did it well, very poorly, not at all, and everywhere in between... So yeah, sometimes really useful, other times the meeting itself can feel like make-work.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#67

Post by tenpies »

threeseed wrote: post #19

Nobody actively courted activists. It's more just than tech startups generally skew younger and newer generations want their companies to reflect their own values. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And these companies are not in complete chaos. In fact apart from the James Damore incident there hasn't been any significant change in the company cultures.

Google famously hired one of the activist organizers of Occupy Wallstreet: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineer-who-organize...

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#68

Post by shadowgovt »

techie128 wrote: post #50
paggle wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should consider Microsoft and Apple... employees there don't really care too much about these things

Microsoft and Apple employees might care. However, workplace is not an appropriate forum to fight over politics or other non-work related topics. More importantly, it is important to maintain professionalism and focus on the job you've been hired to do. You can be an activist in your spare time. You may also not like your coworkers due to their political views but we live in a diverse world. Acknowledge that and work…

Some politics isn't work-related.

Some is, especially when a company has 100,000 people. I think, perhaps, it is easy for people to forget that when some Googlers fought against the Dragonfly project, it's because they have friends and loved ones who are Chinese expats under threat from China's government (meanwhile, some Googlers are Chinese citizens). When some Googlers fought against project Maven, they were only two or three degrees of separation from people who had lost loved ones as "collateral damage" in US drone strikes during the "war on terror."

I think one of the most interesting questions is whether a 100,000 person multinational can survive without a hard "Don't question leadership" culture in a world with simultaneously this easy flow of communication and people and this much inequality and conflict.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#69

Post by remarkEon »

markovbot wrote: post #9
malvosenior wrote: post #5

I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists are now regretting their decision. For a long time it was common knowledge that you would try to keep stuff like that out of the workplace. The past 10 years have been an about face to that strategy and now we're seeing more or less complete chaos internally at these previously pro-politics (some kinds of politics) workplaces. My guess is th…

To be clear, "keep politics out of the workplace" is another way of saying "I'm okay with the status quo, and if you don't like it I don't want to hear about it at work".

To be clear, Kafkatrapping, which is what you’re doing, is the most insidious manifestation of this culture because it turns everyone who isn’t trying to out-do the next one into a potential “enemy”.
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