Why is this statement in all lowercase? Is this a tech bro thing I'm unaware of?
Just a Jack Dorsey thing. He writes all of his communications like that.
Layoffs at Block
591–600 of 1001 posts
Re: Layoffs at Block
#592> i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter.
Making it seem like there's only going to be one mass layoff round. There will be another one, you can be certain.
Re: Layoffs at Block
#593This reminds me of the meme of Margaret Thatcher: "And There is No Alternative" - a way to justify the policies she desired to implement and attempt to preempt any other view. We're supposed to believe Jack is a victim of circumstance. He hired all those people, and now he has no choice but to fire them - he wasn't clairvoyant to the future when he hired all those people, or else he'd known he would have had to fire…
I dislike Jack going back several years, but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility between weighing the risk of doing this vs. not doing this. Maybe morale will tank anyway and the company will hold on, but be out-innovated by competitors that invested in growth. There are future outcomes that could prove he made the wrong call, and I any time layoffs are announced, there is a tacit…
It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".
Re: Layoffs at Block
#594Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm convinced that these "AI Layoffs" are these companies trying to save face from the absurd overhiring that they did in 2022 and 2023 because apparently they thought that these no-interest loans/free money would just last forever. No one really "knows" how to grow businesses so the easiest way to spend a lot of money quickly is hiring lots of people, whether or not they are "necessary". Then this free money dries u…
Stoping trying to cope that AI/LLM augmented automation isn't to blame here. equities and profits are at all time highs, rates are still really low!! This has nothing to do with the cost of money. It doesn't matter if AI is effective at reducing head count, it only matters that decision makers believe it will! If they go on twitter and see "SWE is dead" "4th industrial revolution is here" ect ect, they will eventuall…
>Stoping trying to cope that AI/LLM augmented automation isn't to blame here.
It's not cope. The math just isn't mathing. the efficiencies advertiesed don't match the layoff proportions. The earning call employment counts don't match with the idea that they are "downsizing" as a company (meanwhile, what semblence of truth we have left in the job numbers DO suggest that we lost a lot of white collar jobs in 2024/5). The output error of deployed products don't match the sentiment that AI is leading to equal/higher quality software. The volume of litigation doesn't match this sentiment that "AI is here to stay".
This is less about whatever I personally think of AI (and especially its future) and more acknowledging that this is simply an irrational market. Yes, the market can indeed remain irrational longer than I can stay solvent. But that irrationality also has a time limit. I'm sure people in 1928 can point to how high its stocks were too.
Re: Layoffs at Block
#595This is one of the best (if not the best) layoff letters I've seen online (no affiliation, don't know anyone working there, purely outsider perspective). * Severance packages upfront because realistically that's what everyone worries about first. * Reasoning second. I appreciate the one clean cut vs prolonged bleeding. * Owning the decision and respecting the people that got you there. Opting for an awkward allhands…
I wonder if the lack of capital letters is a clever trick to make this whole annoucement look more humane and natural. Surely it's intentional: only "U.S" deserves capitals, not even his own name in the signature.
Re: Layoffs at Block
#596Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone is an atheist until the plane starts crashing.
Don’t knock me for deciding “deathbed repentance” is a decent plan. /s Maybe it’s just my background, but I’m starting to feel that a lot of people in the tech industry have never learned empathy.
> I’m starting to feel that a lot of people in the tech industry have never learned empathy
I see you haven't visited the absolute delight that is team blind or you would have figured this out already.
Re: Layoffs at Block
#597Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dislike Jack going back several years, but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility between weighing the risk of doing this vs. not doing this. Maybe morale will tank anyway and the company will hold on, but be out-innovated by competitors that invested in growth. There are future outcomes that could prove he made the wrong call, and I any time layoffs are announced, there is a tacit…
It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".
He's also giving out massive severance packages
Re: Layoffs at Block
#598This is one of the best (if not the best) layoff letters I've seen online (no affiliation, don't know anyone working there, purely outsider perspective). * Severance packages upfront because realistically that's what everyone worries about first. * Reasoning second. I appreciate the one clean cut vs prolonged bleeding. * Owning the decision and respecting the people that got you there. Opting for an awkward allhands…
I wonder if the lack of capital letters is a clever trick to make this whole annoucement look more humane and natural. Surely it's intentional: only "U.S" deserves capitals, not even his own name in the signature.
That’s how Jack writes to everyone (and comms drafts his announcements true to his style)
Re: Layoffs at Block
#599Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".
He's also giving out massive severance packages
Is four and a half month's pay considered massive in the US? What do you normally get when you're made redundant?