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Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

cnbc.com

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Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#351

Post by tirewarehouse »

fooker wrote: post #202

RIP I'm one of those people who go work at Google once every few years. The transformation of culture from about 2013 onwards has been somewhat sad to experience. Interestingly, most people who have been continuously employed there have not felt the very slight gradient. However, the changes in culture, freedom, food quality, etc are fairly obvious when one returns after ..say.. 18 months. Here are some semi-concrete…

If badging in for a free meal (which is "required", but not enforced) is one of your top complaints, this comment will only reinforce how ridiculously entitled some tech workers have become.

Not sure what office you work or worked in, but where I'm at they regularly go over the top with decorations during celebrations. It's pretty awesome.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#352

Post by [deleted] »

hgytr wrote: post #346
rainyMammoth wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don't get me wrong. Google is still the best workplace with top notch pay, but as it's got big, it's also morphed into a typical big corporation with typical corporate politics. Sorry but I cannot stand that level of internal koolaid. I guess you also think that Google got the "smartest" people? There are literally thousands of companies working on problems way more interesting and with more stakes and upsides for…

If you know names of those better workplaces, I'm all ears.

[deleted]

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#353

Post by throwaway13337 »

ignoramous wrote: post #120
zozbot234 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's almost like the employees are slowly seeing Sundar as somebody they can't relate with I might agree but I'm not sure that this is news . Ever since Sundar became CEO there, there's been a somewhat widespread perception that he would focus on beancounting and running Google as a "mature" firm, with little or no innovation to speak of. (For that matter, you could even view this as a very reasonable response to i…

> ...would focus on beancounting and running Google as a "mature" firm, with little or no innovation to speak of. Surprising that folks would think along those lines given Sundar's background as head of product with Chrome browser, Chrome OS, and Android before he took over as CEO in 2015.

Don't forget Google Toolbar.

That was the product credited with getting him noticed for better or worse. A strategically vital and utterly boring piece of software which aligns well with how the company has changed.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#354

Post by trynewideas »

geodel wrote: post #96
reaperducer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be creative and still act like a professional in a professional environment. One example is advertising agencies, which in the last century (in spite of what you see on popular television) were very button-up places but created cultural touchstones we still know today. (Edited to clarity I'm referencing ad agencies in the 20th century, not the SV-wannabe agencies a few have evolved into today.)

Advertising agencies are lot smaller than 100K employees. Also if there are very big agencies they are distributed and individual country/city offices are responsible for clients. Beyond corporate functions there are no business "best practices" to be enforced by headquarters.

WPP alone is 130k. There are a few at that scale, just like the vast, vast majority of tech companies aren't Google's scale.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#355

Post by asveikau »

siruncledrew wrote: post #63
malvosenior wrote: post #5

I wonder if companies like Google and GitHub that actively courted activists are now regretting their decision. For a long time it was common knowledge that you would try to keep stuff like that out of the workplace. The past 10 years have been an about face to that strategy and now we're seeing more or less complete chaos internally at these previously pro-politics (some kinds of politics) workplaces. My guess is th…

It's very hard to actually have private, internal dialogues in a 'townhall setting' among an employee group so large. Recordings and videos could get leaked at any time by an employee to the media or on social media, which will further blow it up ( ahem, like with Facebook) or perhaps take things out of context or cause more chaos. Google actually trying to have a serious - and not just PR/HR-bullshit - discussion ab…

> Recordings and videos could get leaked at any time by an employee to the media or on social media, which will further blow it up (ahem, like with Facebook)

Worth clarifying a point. The leakers didn't make Zuck say stupid things.

I can understand that having scrutiny on every single communication is probably pretty hard, but people often neglect that the best PR scandal avoidance mechanism is to not do stupid things.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#356

Post by remarkEon »

projektfu wrote: post #237
remarkEon wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, Kafkatrapping, which is what you’re doing, is the most insidious manifestation of this culture because it turns everyone who isn’t trying to out-do the next one into a potential “enemy”.

Perhaps you’re also amping up the discussion. It’s one thing to say “you have no complaints because it works for you”. It’s another to say “you can’t say anything useful because of your white privilege and class alliance “

I guess that’s true to a certain extent. Unfortunately, today it is very apparent that the former example is conflated with the latter all the time. The “status quo” for the noisy people really is “white privilege and class alliance” (I’m using your terms to try to not inject any other value statements into this obviously contentious issue).

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#357

Post by PavlovsCat »

rainyMammoth wrote: post #328
hgytr wrote: post #305

First. Thanks to HN for not demanding phone numbers: anonymity allows to say things that cannot be said. Second. Many googlers read HN. In some sense, HN is the extension of the internal forums. CNBC made a good summary and I can comment on each bullet point. Larry and Brin probably stopped attending because nothing important is said on TGIFs. More people -> more leaks -> less interesting information -> less attenden…

> Don't get me wrong. Google is still the best workplace with top notch pay, but as it's got big, it's also morphed into a typical big corporation with typical corporate politics. Sorry but I cannot stand that level of internal koolaid. I guess you also think that Google got the "smartest" people? There are literally thousands of companies working on problems way more interesting and with more stakes and upsides for…

I automatically replace that with "the best place to work (for me) I know of". Someone who isn't into software or hardware but loves dancing might be very bored at Google, someone who loves animals might be happier as a vet, and people who enjoy organizing information and making it accessible to humans will probably be better off as a librarian, and so on.

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#358

Post by heavyset_go »

monocasa wrote: post #104
reaperducer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be creative and still act like a professional in a professional environment. One example is advertising agencies, which in the last century (in spite of what you see on popular television) were very button-up places but created cultural touchstones we still know today. (Edited to clarity I'm referencing ad agencies in the 20th century, not the SV-wannabe agencies a few have evolved into today.)

Since when were advertising agencies button-up affairs? Crispin Porter is down the street from me and they seem to be every silly brogrammer stereotype, just in a different market. Like their shuttle looks like a prison bus but is labeled "disruptive thinkers transport" or some such. That's Mike Judge levels of ridiculousness.

> Like their shuttle looks like a prison bus but is labeled "disruptive thinkers transport" or some such.

You're joking, right?

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#359

Post by summerlight »

ttraub wrote: post #335
fooker wrote: post #202

RIP I'm one of those people who go work at Google once every few years. The transformation of culture from about 2013 onwards has been somewhat sad to experience. Interestingly, most people who have been continuously employed there have not felt the very slight gradient. However, the changes in culture, freedom, food quality, etc are fairly obvious when one returns after ..say.. 18 months. Here are some semi-concrete…

I'd be interested to hear what Googlers have to say about recent deals with the Chinese government. Any qualms about that, or is there more of a feeling of relief or "glad we're back in China"?

Which deal? Are you saying about Dragonfly?

Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings

#360

Post by the_duke »

dang wrote: post #303
zarkov99 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did being assertive and bringing your whole self to work work out for James Damore?

Please don't start this flamewar for the hundredth, at least, time. It's predictable and predictably nasty, the two things we most need to avoid here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

This whole thread is a dumpster fire.

Sadly most even remotely political topics have started to turn into one, even on HN.

It's getting to the point where I wish moderators would just downrank such topics to position 20+ or outright ban them front the frontpage.

Or at least slap some clear "POLITICAL" tag on it and give users a filter option.

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