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How Basecamp Blew Up

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Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#21

Post by DiNovi »

fallenfromgrace wrote: post #16
DiNovi wrote: post #6

so they: - Announced a new company policy publicly before telling the staff - Deleted internal threads that would go against their narrative of why they did so - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy. - refused to reprimand said employee on the call - had one founder take this extremely sensitive call from his bed with his camera off and on mute. -…

for what it's worth, I find the picking on DHH for taking this call from bed unnecessary If he was sick, whether physically sick because of their own actions or otherwise...sick is sick. Seemed like a no-win for him whether he could either refuse to show up because he is sick, or show up to at least listen to what's going on (assuming recording it wasn't an option).

he had over 10 retweets and tweets the same day after this call. And did not use those tweets to thank his old team, just more "apple bad" stuff as if nothing had changed.

Color me skeptical.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#22

Post by rodgerd »

DiNovi wrote: post #6

so they: - Announced a new company policy publicly before telling the staff - Deleted internal threads that would go against their narrative of why they did so - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy. - refused to reprimand said employee on the call - had one founder take this extremely sensitive call from his bed with his camera off and on mute. -…

> - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy.

Ironically it seems that, contra to the narrative existing in the minds of quite a few HN posters, it was the Brietbart quoting, "white people are the real victims of racism" guy who had spend over a decade being unable to shut up about politics in the workplace.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#23

Post by Barrin92 »

Threeve303 wrote: post #13

This story is so strange. First of all, it has been considered unprofessional to talk about politics at work for as long as I can remember. It's odd how you would need a rule implemented about that. Is this just a generational thing? On the other hand, when did racial equality become an inherently political topic? Especially racial equality inside the workplace. This also doesn't mean that the Basecamp founders are r…

>Is this just a generational thing?

No, it's a class thing. Among unionised labour work has always been a political battlefield. What's new is that you know have a politically activist group of people within upper middle class white collar jobs who, traditionally were conservative in temperament because they were materially well off.

Professionals whose values do not align with their management have figured out that they actually have influence, and the top 1-10% have noticed that they can actually press the top 0.1% if they want to.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#24

Post by Trasmatta »

fallenfromgrace wrote: post #16
DiNovi wrote: post #6

so they: - Announced a new company policy publicly before telling the staff - Deleted internal threads that would go against their narrative of why they did so - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy. - refused to reprimand said employee on the call - had one founder take this extremely sensitive call from his bed with his camera off and on mute. -…

for what it's worth, I find the picking on DHH for taking this call from bed unnecessary If he was sick, whether physically sick because of their own actions or otherwise...sick is sick. Seemed like a no-win for him whether he could either refuse to show up because he is sick, or show up to at least listen to what's going on (assuming recording it wasn't an option).

This might have been the most important meeting in Basecamp's history, so it just feels odd that the co founder was apparently so sick he couldn't sit at his desk for an hour or two. Or even just during the initial introductions before he turned his camera off.

Maybe he was that sick, but I would be kind of pissed if I were one of the employees. The power dynamic is weird, because if a regular employee were sick they would definitely feel the pressure to show up at a desk, on camera, if they were trying to make their case in this meeting.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#25

Post by Trasmatta »

DiNovi wrote: post #21
fallenfromgrace wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for what it's worth, I find the picking on DHH for taking this call from bed unnecessary If he was sick, whether physically sick because of their own actions or otherwise...sick is sick. Seemed like a no-win for him whether he could either refuse to show up because he is sick, or show up to at least listen to what's going on (assuming recording it wasn't an option).

he had over 10 retweets and tweets the same day after this call. And did not use those tweets to thank his old team, just more "apple bad" stuff as if nothing had changed. Color me skeptical.

DHH has one of the most annoying Twitter feeds. He picks a hobby horse every few months and tweets incessantly about it, until something else grabs his attention. Surely they shouldn't have been surprised that many of the people they chose to hire would be likewise strongly opinionated, and not take kindly to those policy changes.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#26

Post by fallenfromgrace »

DiNovi wrote: post #21
fallenfromgrace wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for what it's worth, I find the picking on DHH for taking this call from bed unnecessary If he was sick, whether physically sick because of their own actions or otherwise...sick is sick. Seemed like a no-win for him whether he could either refuse to show up because he is sick, or show up to at least listen to what's going on (assuming recording it wasn't an option).

he had over 10 retweets and tweets the same day after this call. And did not use those tweets to thank his old team, just more "apple bad" stuff as if nothing had changed. Color me skeptical.

Hear you, but not knowing the exact timeline of events here...and seeing how this is a disaster on so many other levels...I find there is value in showing him grace for being...sick. (There is already so much bad, that his absence/presence is a moot point)

But totally hear what you're saying and appreciate your skepticism!

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#27

Post by eloff »

fallenfromgrace wrote: post #18
eloff wrote: post #2

There is a great supporting argument for keeping discussions of politics, race, religion, etc out of the workplace to begin with. It's not possible to call it from outside, but there was no actual racist behavior cited, apart from the list of funny customer names, which is not really racist (more culturalist - if that were a thing), but it is a terrible idea anyway. It sounds like a bunch of people got upset and quit…

I thought so too, until I read the second (third?) article. Quite a few racist statements were made in the meeting itself and many employees mentioned that it was the meeting that convinced them to resign.

Like what?

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#29

Post by fallenfromgrace »

eloff wrote: post #27
fallenfromgrace wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought so too, until I read the second (third?) article. Quite a few racist statements were made in the meeting itself and many employees mentioned that it was the meeting that convinced them to resign.

Like what?

I was struck quite a bit by “I don't believe in a lot of the framing around implicit bias. I think a lot of this is actually racist.”

The context it was said in made the statement rather jarring. I am all for their initial stance of "no politics" etc, but their all-hands was a face palm all around.

Re: How Basecamp Blew Up

#30

Post by mbergal »

DiNovi wrote: post #6

so they: - Announced a new company policy publicly before telling the staff - Deleted internal threads that would go against their narrative of why they did so - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy. - refused to reprimand said employee on the call - had one founder take this extremely sensitive call from his bed with his camera off and on mute. -…

> - Announced a new company policy publicly before telling the staff

Bad

> - Deleted internal threads that would go against their narrative of why they did so

I am not sure where you are getting this, but I might have missed it.

> - Had a conservative senior employee go off about politics on the call discussing the new no politics policy.

Yes, on 90th minute - we are not sure what was said before that.

> - refused to reprimand said employee on the call

For what? I don't understand.

> - had one founder take this extremely sensitive call from his bed with his camera off and on mute.

We all can be sick sometimes, certainly would be better to it in some other way, but maybe he was just that sick?

- After the employees resigned, did not send any sort of public message thanking them for their time at the company.

Pretty bad, especially considering comments from Highrise employee in this thread.

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