191–200 of 458 posts
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Many tech companies are over-staffed: R+D pet projects, full time OSS devs, dev rel, etc. Some companies probably have staff who literally do one task like managing webpack config. I disagree with Musk about A LOT, but most companies have opportunities to trim fat before they even touch the core product.
As long as you're willing to accept a company that is not growing in revenue due to new value created, you can build a system entirely dedicated to maintenance of existing features with a small group. In Twitter's case, however, how long is it until they're sued for child porn (lack of moderation) or get 50 million euro fines for running afoul of Germany's Network Enforcement Act?
In my opinion Elon miscalculated the type of people at Twitter. These aren’t people like the ones in Tesla or SpaceX where there is some sort of idealization of Elon. The number of fan boys he has at Twitter must be super low. None of the Twitter employees signed up to work for him, it’s pretty obvious from the public tweets that most of the staff has posted that they don’t have much respect for him. On top of that,…
Engineers interested in cars or rockets have way fewer exciting options than web devs working at Twitter.
Anecdote time: I have an acquaintance who’s an engineer who works on nuclear power plant technology. They’ve wanted out of their current employer for over a decade now.
Why have they stuck around? Because their current employer is the only one in a several thousand kilometer radius with any use for their expertise, one of only a couple they could work for without leaving the country, and one of only a handful whose primary language of business is one that they speak.
Tesla, SpaceX, and perhaps even the Boring Company have much more in common with that situation than they do with Twitter.
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Website and app working fine for me. Don't really see this "spectacular collapse" everyone seems to wish would happen
Have to agree. I’m bewildered by the (social) media reaction so far. People, the app still works. Over a thousand employees will continue to work for Twitter. As far as I understand, Twitter is financially in a terrible state. Huge changes have to happen. Let’s all just wait and see how it will turn out.
People aren't saying the app isn't working. If you lay off all of HR will your company still run tomorrow? Of course. Lay off all of engineering will the app still run tomorrow? Of course (most likely lol).
The collapse is the implied result of all these terrible decisions. Terrible decisions which imply terrible leadership. And companies can only survive terrible leadership for so long.
> Twitter reportedly no longer has a communications department to relay information to the media. Doesn’t look good.
Why is that not good? Twitter can communicate to people directly without the media middleman.
I haven't met a single defender of Musk that has the slightest inkling of business or tech, and this is a great example.
You want to have random engineers talking to the press through their Twitter accounts? Sounds great! Especially if there's no way to tell who actually even works at Twitter because verification is now purchased for a tiny amount of money, rather than reflecting any sort of trust based verification.
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80hr+ in-office work weeks with no equity and the threat of being instantly fired for appearing disloyal in Slack or correcting the CEO... sounds fun!
If you want money, work life balance, comfortable pace it’s not the place. If you want to change the world, are ready to push yourself, work with the most dedicated people, it is. It’s a place for very few. I would really like to work in one of his company, but I don’t think I have the stamina for it.
Nah.
Wild prediction: Twitter will continue to work as it did even after that ~80% workforce haircut. Make of that what you will.
You're assuming that someone leaving immediately causes things to break down. A lot of things will take some time to see the effects of people leaving. Fire your entire payroll department. No one will notice... until the biweekly paychecks don't go out, and now your employees aren't getting paid. Fire badge security. No one will notice... until you need someone to make a new badge for a new employee. Fire your IT sta…
At this point, I'm kinda wondering if Musk's deal to finance the Twitter acquisition included some Brewster's Millions -style clause where he gets to keep the company and the $44B if the company goes bankrupt within 90 days.
Wild prediction: Twitter will continue to work as it did even after that ~80% workforce haircut. Make of that what you will.
Wild prediction: Twitter will continue to work as it did even after that ~80% workforce haircut. Make of that what you will.
You're assuming that someone leaving immediately causes things to break down. A lot of things will take some time to see the effects of people leaving. Fire your entire payroll department. No one will notice... until the biweekly paychecks don't go out, and now your employees aren't getting paid. Fire badge security. No one will notice... until you need someone to make a new badge for a new employee. Fire your IT sta…
Musk's approach is drastic and will probably include a lot of turbulence as you say, but it's probably also the fastest way to find the minimum number of employees required to run Twitter.
You couldn't use this strategy with any kind of critical service, but ultimately nobody is really hurt that much if things break at Twitter, so there is more latitude to take risks.
I'm not saying I like or agree with Musk's approach, but I see the logic.