Uber is laying off 10% of staff
uber.com
Uber is laying off 10% of staff
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Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#2"In Pulse surveys and conversations with many of you, we’ve heard that too much work requires coordination across teams, debates take too long, and decision-making rights are unclear. I’m sure many of you have felt that you spend too much time “aligning” rather than building, shipping, or serving customers. To improve this, we have reduced roles primarily focused on coordination, and have clarified the remit of the coordination roles that remain. "
Well, in theory this sounds reasonable. But who knows what will be the real consequences.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#3> We are also asking the vast majority of remote employees to move to an office, and going forward, only ~1% of employees will be remote.
If you believe in return-to-office as a soft layoff, even more than 10% will be leaving.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#4"In Pulse surveys and conversations with many of you, we’ve heard that too much work requires coordination across teams, debates take too long, and decision-making rights are unclear. I’m sure many of you have felt that you spend too much time “aligning” rather than building, shipping, or serving customers. To improve this, we have reduced roles primarily focused on coordination, and have clarified the remit of the c…
I don't get it. Too much time is spent coordinating, so fire those who are responsible for coordination? Am I reading this wrong?
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#5Interesting -- it doesn't cite AI (smart comms move, and a change from recent practice) but the buried lede is that this frees up resources etc etc.
I think we might be in a new phase: AI layoffs are now being disguised as regular layoffs (rather than the other way around) because of the backlash.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#6[deleted]
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#7"In Pulse surveys and conversations with many of you, we’ve heard that too much work requires coordination across teams, debates take too long, and decision-making rights are unclear. I’m sure many of you have felt that you spend too much time “aligning” rather than building, shipping, or serving customers. To improve this, we have reduced roles primarily focused on coordination, and have clarified the remit of the c…
I don't get it. Too much time is spent coordinating, so fire those who are responsible for coordination? Am I reading this wrong?
People whose primary job is to "coordinate" often, either in a well-meaning attempt to be thorough or just to be relevant, try to pull as many different people into any decision-making as possible.
So instead of me just getting approval from my manager, I need to get approval/buy-in from departments A, B, and C.
In that case, firing the "coordinator" person increases velocity because parts of the business processes they prop disappear.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#8"In Pulse surveys and conversations with many of you, we’ve heard that too much work requires coordination across teams, debates take too long, and decision-making rights are unclear. I’m sure many of you have felt that you spend too much time “aligning” rather than building, shipping, or serving customers. To improve this, we have reduced roles primarily focused on coordination, and have clarified the remit of the c…
I don't get it. Too much time is spent coordinating, so fire those who are responsible for coordination? Am I reading this wrong?
There were too many meetings, so they got rid of the people whose jobs were to create lots of meetings.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#9Interesting -- it doesn't cite AI (smart comms move, and a change from recent practice) but the buried lede is that this frees up resources etc etc. I think we might be in a new phase: AI layoffs are now being disguised as regular layoffs (rather than the other way around) because of the backlash.
Layoff note mentions AI => it's not AI
Layoff note omits AI => it's AI
I am onboard with the idea that corporate messaging is typically anything but forthright but I don't see the logic here.
Re: Uber is laying off 10% of staff
#10Interesting -- it doesn't cite AI (smart comms move, and a change from recent practice) but the buried lede is that this frees up resources etc etc. I think we might be in a new phase: AI layoffs are now being disguised as regular layoffs (rather than the other way around) because of the backlash.
Layoff note mentions AI => it's not AI Layoff note omits AI => it's AI I am onboard with the idea that corporate messaging is typically anything but forthright but I don't see the logic here.
Because AI is now a monstrous political issue, and the valence has flipped -- literally the irony I was pointing to :)
Whoosh