Since the crux of this seems to be about replacing middle managers, what do people think prevents AI from successfully managing 140 direct reports on day to day operations on behalf of a lone CEO? I'm reading "it doesn't work," but that sounds like more of a potential opportunity to me than a truism.
Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
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Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#62[dead]
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#63After his stunt with the mass firings "because of AI," employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings with Jack Dorsey . These clowns live in a dreamworld created by their PAs and cronies
Most early stage companies are now doing the same thing as well. It's basically a re-invention of the "build fast and test" model that was the norm amongst startups in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Yes it led to some degree of tech debt, but it also made it easier to experiment, validate, and identify good and bad workflows.
At least in my network, we don't think AI will replace all workers and we strongly believe AI will lead to a significant amount of tech debt, but we do also recognize a lot of work in tech today is busywork and will be automated away in the hands of actual engineers with domain expertise.
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#64I listened to his podcast episode on the Sequoia podcast a few days ago. Interestingly, his argument was "we don't need middle managers" and he plans to have all 6000 employees eventually report to him. In other words, companies don't need managers anymore. Except for one manager. Him.
There's no doubt they see AI (or whatever the emerging tech) as disrupting everyone and everything EXCEPT themselves; the more interesting question is: conscious omission or reality distortion field of one?
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#65Block signed a friend of mine, they quit their other job, then block was like whoops layoffs including people like this person who hadn’t even started. Super unethical.
Why did they even hire if they had to just fire a person who hadn't even started. It really reflects to the level of incompetence within the company.
I am sorry for your friend, I hope that he is doing fine, Is there anything that they can legally do for this to block?
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#66Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#67I listened to his podcast episode on the Sequoia podcast a few days ago. Interestingly, his argument was "we don't need middle managers" and he plans to have all 6000 employees eventually report to him. In other words, companies don't need managers anymore. Except for one manager. Him.
He came to the same conclusion that Steve already had decades ago.
These people are amusing to say the least.
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#68I listened to his podcast episode on the Sequoia podcast a few days ago. Interestingly, his argument was "we don't need middle managers" and he plans to have all 6000 employees eventually report to him. In other words, companies don't need managers anymore. Except for one manager. Him.
I think Google tried this a while ago (flattening the org). It didn’t work, so they went back to having managers.
It only works if the person at the top is a real visionary. And you’re talking about a handful of people on earth who have this frankly.
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#69After his stunt with the mass firings "because of AI," employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings with Jack Dorsey . These clowns live in a dreamworld created by their PAs and cronies
Most early stage companies are now doing the same thing as well. It's basically a re-invention of the "build fast and test" model that was the norm amongst startups in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Yes it led to some degree of tech debt, but it also made it easier to experiment, validate, and identify good and bad workflows. At least in my network, we don't think AI will replace all workers and we strongly believe…
The build fast and test model was nonsense to begin with.
Ultimately it’s a way of saying “I have no vision so I just want to quickly throw a bunch of shit on the wall and see what sticks”.
Re: Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes, not slides, to meetings
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, holy smokes… 140 directs. Kind of curious: what did the differences look like on a day to day in that sort of org structure?
I met my manager when I joined once, then every 6 or 12 months for performance review (which was aggregated feedback from my peers that he took 2 minutes to talk through: "looks like you're doing fine, if you need anything, my EA can schedule more time"). PMs and Engineers made the prioritization decisions. If someone was severely underperforming, it'd probably take at least 6 months to notice. Projects would get shu…
I've never had close to 140 directs (or even friends) but did get close to 40 (direct reports; never had more than a dozen friends or so). Frankly, it sucks. I was (IMO) doing a terrible job, dropping balls everywhere and not serving the people I had a responsibility & emotional commitment to help. It came down to one of: 1. fail at what you truly believe is your job, 2. give up on what you believe, or 3. don't play the game. I picked #3 and quit, but most go with #2 and many are VPs and CEOs today.