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How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

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Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#11

Post by sverige »

gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

I respectfully disagree that nobody orders things that way. I have generally had that attitude wherever I've been working. The times I didn't have that attitude were where I discovered that I was being lied to by my boss or by those further up the chain. Lying kills my motivation to work for anyone, and when it happens, I immediately begin planning my exit in earnest.

Now, it may be a rare trait. I have no idea really whether it is or not. I've certainly known many who operate in the reverse order, but it is what I was taught by my parents growing up, and has served me well during various careers.

None of this means I want to work for Facebook, but they may actually be doing this there. I have read complaints by former employees that it is a little cult-like to work there, but again, those are a few out of thousands.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#12

Post by 1024core »

> Take the incentive out of “climbing the ladder.”

In other words, pay everyone the same? Of course the author didn't mean that; and pay and power are the primary drivers of upward mobility. If I get paid as much as Zuck's SVPs, sure, I won't feel the urge to climb the ladder; but until that happens, I will.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#13

Post by cmsmith »

gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

The author should have been more specific in referring to the professional 'self', rather than the general self. My takeaway was that they don't want people who value their own professional advancement at the expense of the company/product as a whole (e.g. backstabbing co-workers, hoarding resources).

I don't think that the author was suggesting that the employees are expected to value the company's interest over their own personal lives. At least I hope not.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#14

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

wskinner wrote: post #8

"At Facebook, moving into management is not a promotion. It’s a lateral move, a parallel track. " This is nice in theory. But when your "peers" with Manager in their title have access to more information and more decision-making power, it is not in fact a parallel track. Just saying people are equal doesn't make it so, and it doesn't change the underlying organizational structures.

If the managers say management is a lateral move then it must be so.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#15

Post by taurath »

gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

Depends what set of priorities and how far you draw the line, in my mind.

Project/work priorities? Should be company first, then team, then self. I think that goes without saying, and I think thats what they're trying to get across. Going for self glory in projects isn't good for a company. Going to team glory isn't good for a company, but its better than self glory.

Financial priorities? Everyone has to take care of themselves in that sense. Every individual has to take care of the bottom of their hierarchy of needs. This might be what you're comparing here. At the same time, past a certain point self needs are fulfilled financially - holding a project hostage for a raise for example wouldn't be great.

Social priorities? Self probably comes first there as well - but its not that great a scale since self improvement from working around good people is a benefit to the company as well. But if done in such a way that you stand on the bodies of your vanquished foes you've created a win/lose situation where it could be a win/win. Don't be like oracle, basically.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#16

Post by 867552 »

gaius wrote: post #4
gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

Indeed. Where's the company that orders it employees, shareholders, management? Doesn't exist!

MathWorks

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#17

Post by m82labs »

gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

I guess I need more detail to understand your position on this one. An employee that is working for their own personal benefit and gain only is not going to work well in most team settings and will likely not care to work on projects that move the company forward. I don't think they are saying you need to die for the company, simply that your work should be focused on the goals of the company. It's kind of what you get paid for when you go to work.

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#18

Post by neat159 »

0xdeadbeefbabe wrote: post #14
wskinner wrote: post #8

"At Facebook, moving into management is not a promotion. It’s a lateral move, a parallel track. " This is nice in theory. But when your "peers" with Manager in their title have access to more information and more decision-making power, it is not in fact a parallel track. Just saying people are equal doesn't make it so, and it doesn't change the underlying organizational structures.

If the managers say management is a lateral move then it must be so.

hmm

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#19

Post by shostack »

wskinner wrote: post #8

"At Facebook, moving into management is not a promotion. It’s a lateral move, a parallel track. " This is nice in theory. But when your "peers" with Manager in their title have access to more information and more decision-making power, it is not in fact a parallel track. Just saying people are equal doesn't make it so, and it doesn't change the underlying organizational structures.

Is that in fact the case?

Re: How Facebook Tries to Prevent Office Politics

#20

Post by danielweber »

Spivak wrote: post #6
gmarx wrote: post #2

"Successful candidates should clearly demonstrate that their priorities are company, team, and self — in that order"...right there you are creating a selection bias for exactly the kind of people you claim not to want. No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way. You are filtering for liars who know which lies to tell. I consider myself very not into office politics and I'm confident a would fail massive…

> No-fucking-body in his right mind orders things that way Except, for example, the ACM Software Engineer's code of ethics where this is the explicitly stated order. [1] http://www.acm.org/about/se-code

I see "team" three times and "company" zero times. Can you point to the specific portion?
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