My Last Day at PivotDesk • Hacker News Board

Re: My Last Day at PivotDesk

#51

Post by sogen » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 7:02 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #43

idlewords wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. The cited essay is advice from a casino operator to spend all your time playing the slots, so you can cash out and enjoy your life on easy street. It's great advice if you can follow it.

Quite. NEVER take career advice from a VC, he will gladly sacrifice your health, relationships, long term career prospects and anything else he can get his hands on, for his own interests. Which sounds harsh but it is how it is.

"They never pay the slaves enough so they can get free, just enough so they can stay alive and come back to work" [1]

Charles Bukowski's letter "People simply empty out"

[1] http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/10/people-simply-empty-out...

Re: My Last Day at PivotDesk

#52

Post by fletchrichman » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 8:20 PM UTC

kyleashipley wrote: post #49

Without having the PivotDesk side of the story, I can't help but feel that there's a second, undocumented failure here: the lack of a strong feedback culture. Did the cofounder really not receive any performance feedback until "It might be time for you to go"? Did his team members not feel comfortable talking to him about it, or perhaps even the other cofounders, until the situation reached a boiling point? Did other…

I'll give some insight from the PivotDesk side - I've been working there for over 2 years. We actually have a great feedback culture - he even mentions several times in the post how there was an extended period of time where this was a known issue that was being worked on.

"Over the past six months I gradually lost the confidence of my teammates."

There were actually several different 'experiments' in different tools, methodologies, and feedback loops that happened over the course of those 6 months to try to help create the right team dynamics again. David (the CEO) is always very honest with employees if there are issues, and every attempt to resolve them is made before anyone leaves the team.

Re: My Last Day at PivotDesk

#53

Post by idlewords » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 9:30 PM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #45

rwallace wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paul Graham's essays contain much wisdom and truth, but even Homer nods, and let's be honest, the paragraph you quoted is bullshit. Even if you care about nothing whatsoever except your job (which probably isn't - and certainly shouldn't be - the case) there is an optimal level of effort that delivers peak sustainable output, and for tasks with a significant intellectual component, the available data says that optima…

Even if you care about nothing whatsoever except your job (which probably isn't - and certainly shouldn't be - the case) there is an optimal level of effort that delivers peak sustainable output, and for tasks with a significant intellectual component, the available data says that optimal level is about thirty or forty hours a week. Beyond that, sure, you'll get more done in the first week, but chronic fatigue will q…

This is a discussion about company founders, not employees.

Re: My Last Day at PivotDesk

#54

Post by kyleashipley » Sat, Oct 18, 2014, 10:32 PM UTC

fletchrichman wrote: post #52

kyleashipley wrote: post #49

Without having the PivotDesk side of the story, I can't help but feel that there's a second, undocumented failure here: the lack of a strong feedback culture. Did the cofounder really not receive any performance feedback until "It might be time for you to go"? Did his team members not feel comfortable talking to him about it, or perhaps even the other cofounders, until the situation reached a boiling point? Did other…

I'll give some insight from the PivotDesk side - I've been working there for over 2 years. We actually have a great feedback culture - he even mentions several times in the post how there was an extended period of time where this was a known issue that was being worked on. "Over the past six months I gradually lost the confidence of my teammates." There were actually several different 'experiments' in different tools…

Appreciate the response and love to hear that you guys tried to make it work. I originally read the quote you pulled as rationalization / post-hoc justification, but I can see how maybe he just didn't elaborate on that bit. (I was also merely trying to balance a lot of the negative commentary with a more productive approach to these sorts of problems in the future.)

I'm guessing this was a trying time for all of you. Wish you all the best moving forward!