How does this fit with return to office?
RTO may not mean return to the Bay Area ?
Considering the high CoL people have already moved other places and this is a reflection of that ?
Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
81–90 of 205 posts
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#82Google looked at how sailors share space on a sub and were like "yeah, that's the ticket". Hot-desking is the worst way to be in-office, on top of the worst way of working which is in-office. What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? These "geniuses" can't use their superior big brains just barely hiding under those infantilizing propeller hats to figure out a way to make remote work effective…
ugh, you're so right about this hot-desking nonsense.
But it's not even just Google. I haven't been back to my company's office because they insist on not assigning a desk. Every time I wanna go in I have find a random desk to sit in.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#83Google looked at how sailors share space on a sub and were like "yeah, that's the ticket". Hot-desking is the worst way to be in-office, on top of the worst way of working which is in-office. What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? These "geniuses" can't use their superior big brains just barely hiding under those infantilizing propeller hats to figure out a way to make remote work effective…
Have you considered that maybe your priors are just wrong? I don't know a single person who prefers in-office work who thinks that remote is more effective, but I know many who have the opposite opinion but prefer the flexibility. Maybe there isn't a realistic way to make remote as productive. I'm honest enough to say that the social pressure that people bemoan makes me significantly more productive. I wish it didn't…
Agree with your points. That said, I think people work from home because they value their personal happiness more than helping Google make more money. They probably see that Google isn't doing much to help anyone except Google, particularly Google's executive team and shareholders. If leaders want workers to be more productive, they should improve culture and motivation, forcing workers to put social pressure on each other is a short term boost, but folks will move to greener pastures eventually.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
> on top of the worst way of working which is in-office. It's funny how both sides of this debate present their opinions as fact
It _is_ objectively true that WFH is better for the environment. But oh well, so far wildfires are contained to just wildfire season, so not a big deal :))))))
WFH may be better for the environment but that is a different thing than "the best way of working".
I've been remote for 14 years, I love it, but I've worked with plenty of people who didn't and went back to an office.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#85Google looked at how sailors share space on a sub and were like "yeah, that's the ticket". Hot-desking is the worst way to be in-office, on top of the worst way of working which is in-office. What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? These "geniuses" can't use their superior big brains just barely hiding under those infantilizing propeller hats to figure out a way to make remote work effective…
As a googler I understand. Leadership is capricious and petty, chasing trends and seems to be flailing. They have nothing left to offer stockholders than cost-saving measures.
Tbh I love the project I work on and I’m still learning tons. But I wish we could have more confidence in our leadership instead of hoping to be insulated from whatever their whims are this month.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
>What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? Google went public is what happened. You literally cannot make good decisions when you have to base everything around what will make the most profit for the shareholders this quarter.
Things weren’t like this for a long time after it was already public. I used to work there more than 5 years after ipo and their office environment (especially in zurich) was really good
Reality isn’t fractal. People leaving for a variety of motives, expansion of some offices, closing others… chip away at the edge of known truth.
Entropy forces new relative perspective. Humans need to do better about accepting figurative and literal death and chill. There quite literally is nowhere else to go except insane from repeating ourselves.
A rewrite of philosophical priority is a necessity for anyone under 50 and the species. That has to be taken sincerely and seriously because, well they kind of outnumber the ossified pensioner, and if they’re staring down forced obligation to choke on fire smoke for 60 years or dump gramps overboard, no one around to see it happen will be around long enough to insure it’s a footnote in any discussion of history.
Self proclaimed STEM minded secular people seem just fine ignoring evidence that does not fit the civic life narrative they’ve been spoon fed like it’s immutable truth. Seems to have latched itself onto whatever quirk of biology religion accidentally exploited; like a nihilism cause it’s all gods plan kind of woo.
“Hey look at me, mom! My life goal is making computers do what they were intentionally designed to do!”
That can be automated; any acceptable experience is a finite set of constraints. DOOM is pretty DOOMy. Same for Halo. Email clients. But hey we have figurative career ambitions, man; Google Fellow! Boom goes the dynamite.
Smaller models first; let’s make an AI to replace the CEO by assigning project management to vetted candidates via publicly audited randomizer. Term limits for geniuses who always seem to end up enjoying their own farts.
“I’m sorry general manager of capital intense AI infrastructure, you are tonight’s… weakest link! dropped into literal shark tank”
It’s been a long day. Sorry not sorry for the more unhinged off gassing.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#87Google looked at how sailors share space on a sub and were like "yeah, that's the ticket". Hot-desking is the worst way to be in-office, on top of the worst way of working which is in-office. What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? These "geniuses" can't use their superior big brains just barely hiding under those infantilizing propeller hats to figure out a way to make remote work effective…
Have you considered that maybe your priors are just wrong? I don't know a single person who prefers in-office work who thinks that remote is more effective, but I know many who have the opposite opinion but prefer the flexibility. Maybe there isn't a realistic way to make remote as productive. I'm honest enough to say that the social pressure that people bemoan makes me significantly more productive. I wish it didn't…
This all falls apart when the people you are working with are geographically distributed anyway, which happens to be the case quite often in companies of this size.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#88Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google has turned into the "new IBM" for years now. I've worked with Google engineers and managers from different "generations". It's shocking how the newer engineers are just your average consultancy engineer with leet code practice. They have little abstracting capabilities and would be pissed-off if you use some tool/workflow that's not "The Google Way™" (and that includes things like Github for code reviews (inst…
I worked at a startup with just 2 other engineers. They hired a guy from Google with a decade less experience than me. When I arrived I was taking my time to understand the culture, company, needs, etc. before making any suggestions. One example, they did Agile with sprints and I think KANBAN works better. But, I didn’t see it as an important issue to spend time on. So the Google guy comes in and from day 1 began mak…
Sounds like you dodged a bullet.
Re: Google cuts office space in Bay Area by more than a million square feet
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
>What happened to being a forward thinking and innovative company? Google went public is what happened. You literally cannot make good decisions when you have to base everything around what will make the most profit for the shareholders this quarter.
I’m sometimes cynical about publicly-traded companies, but Google seemed more forward-thinking in its pre-Alphabet era, and Apple seemed to be very forward thinking from 1997-2011 when Steve Jobs was running the company. Being a publicly-traded company doesn’t automatically mean resorting to bean counting and other bad forms of management.
I think you need someone with a steadfast personality like Jobs in order for it to work. Otherwise the CEO just ends up drifting in the wind trying to appease shareholders