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Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

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Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#911

Post by brightball »

ok_dad wrote: post #451
msmith wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if you've read Turn the Ship Around [1]? It's one of my favorite leadership books and tells the true story of the Navy captain who was put in the awkward position of running a submarine class that he was not familiar with. He adapted to the situation by leaning on the expertise of the crew in a way that was very different than the normal command-and-control style of leadership. It sounds like what you descri…

Yea, the Navy has basically fostered a shit culture that turned the leadership into MBA-style bullshit artists today. Leadership isn't taken seriously, just promotions and personal gain. Only those who kiss ass can make it in today's Navy. If more leaders like this guy who wrote this book were sent to the top levels, it would be an improvement. Instead, you notice he's writing books for a living now.

When I read about Lockheed’s stealth ship, I assumed people would be excited about them.

Because they were run by such a small crew, nobody wanted to command them because the number of people under your command mattered for rank advancement.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#912

Post by babypuncher »

georgyo wrote: post #523
slg wrote: post #208

Let's say you run a company and you want to reduce staff. Let's also say you want to make an unpopular decision (or multiple unpopular decisions) that you know will drive a certain percentage of your staff to leave the company. Wouldn't it make the most sense to announce those decisions before making layoffs? Let people self select whether they want to stay and work for you and then make your layoffs after to ensure…

I worked at a place that did this in 2009. The problem with this method is that many people DID relocate to keep their jobs. And then were layed off two months later. Imagine uplifting your life for your job, and then being told you need to find a new job anyway.

The other problem is that these unpopular decisions end up driving away the people who are the most confident about being able to find a new job, leaving you with less-skilled employees who maybe feel less comfortable job hunting.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#914

Post by Apofis »

slg wrote: post #208

Let's say you run a company and you want to reduce staff. Let's also say you want to make an unpopular decision (or multiple unpopular decisions) that you know will drive a certain percentage of your staff to leave the company. Wouldn't it make the most sense to announce those decisions before making layoffs? Let people self select whether they want to stay and work for you and then make your layoffs after to ensure…

The layoffs and departures on their own are by my count possibly getting close to saving the company a billion $USD a year. That's the projected cost of the debt obligations he took on buying the company. EZPZ.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#915

Post by Tomis02 »

mirekrusin wrote: post #180
throw__away7391 wrote: post #134

Regardless of the merits of remote/office or what this announcement would mean at a normal company, it sounds like it must be pure chaos at Twitter right now.

Half the chaos, smart.

Is this a running meme, where whenever people like Musk or Trump do something silly, someone comes along and spins it to something positive and then says "smart"? I've seen this happen several times and I wonder if I'm just out of the loop.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#916

Post by gorgoiler »

Firmwarrior wrote: post #412
DonsDiscountGas wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO the ideal situation would be for people to work in their own offices, with doors that closed, and short commutes. Easy to work distraction-free alone, easy to have group meetings and random chats. But real estate costs have made this approach untenable, so something has to give.

I don't know how much commercial real estate costs, but in the region around Twitter's HQ it's about $5-$6k for a 1000 square foot apartment Assuming it's the same price per square foot for commercial space, that's less than $1000 a month for a 100 square foot office for each employee. Considering these employees are making more than 20x that, if offices could improve their productivity, it seems like it'd be well wo…

Another way of looking at it: the market price for office space is based on each employee having a 4’ x 2’ desk with the same space again for a chair.

You are talking about increasing the per capita headcount sixfold from 16 sq ft to 100. That’s going to have a significant effect on real estate cost.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#917

Post by dehrmann »

bogota wrote: post #286
kleiba wrote: post #123

Prior to Musk’s arrival, Twitter had established a permanent work-from-anywhere arrangement for its workers ...for some definition of the word "permanent".

Really feel bad for anyone who went out and bought a house in another place or made life decisions based on this policy which is likely a lot of people. This is really showing that you don’t respect or care about your employees which is par for the course for musk. However i think what he is forgetting is that Twitter isn’t some amazing challenge to solve like self driving or rockets. I think you will see a very unde…

> Really feel bad for anyone who went out and bought a house in another place or made life decisions based on this policy which is likely a lot of people.

I don't. The usual recommendation for buying a house is if you're going to stay there for 5+ years. Job hopping in the valley every 3 years is pretty common. Committing to the remote work lifestyle with an expensive home when it's not clear how long WFH will be an option is a risky move.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#918

Post by dehrmann »

ben7799 wrote: post #284

It feels like remote work is a distraction here.. it's more like Musk realizes he bought a company that was in a lot more trouble than anyone out in the public can understand and he's scrambling for anything. Everyone is all worried about what this means for remote work at other companies when it might not mean anything at all since the other companies don't have the same circumstances as Twitter. Also we're all defe…

He's done this for his other companies, so it's hard to say if there's any more to the story.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#919

Post by dehrmann »

linuxhansl wrote: post #823

Step 1: Buy company, load it with debt in the process. Step 2: Claim company is not profitable (partially due to the interest payments you yourself loaded onto it) Step 3: Lay off 1/2 the staff. Step 4: Try to get some of these people back, because you need some projects done (that actually happened) Step 5: Enforce unpopular and useless work rules. Step 6: Profit... Maybe? I want to believe that he knows what he is…

Step 1 is more like he bought it with a corporate version of a mortgage.

Re: Musk’s first email to Twitter staff ends remote work

#920

Post by roelschroeven »

sangnoir wrote: post #441
jesuscript wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> He wants to show he can spend that kind of money[...] Reminder: he expressly did not want to spend that kind of money but was forced to after facing a near-certain defeat in Delaware court. I wasn't expecting the events to be mythologized beyond recognition within weeks.

Musk was forced to buy Twitter for one reason and for one reason only: because he himself signed the agreement to do so. He offered that kind of money. At no point was there anyone else forcing Musk to buy, or forcing him to skip due diligence. That's all on Musk and on Musk only.
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