smarmgoblin

Totally agree that these are issues worth thinking about and mitigating.

One thing I’ve started doing at work is documenting workflows in various ways: not just docs but talks and screencasts where a new engineer could see my workflow. (I also give new engineers advice to keep a digital notebook! I still learn tons by doing this.)

For the isolation bit I just wonder what we will see replacing that. It’s possible we never see anything and everyone just deals with it but I hope shared office spaces or something similar picks up. I get plenty of socialization elsewhere but little breaks in the workday to not focus on productivity and just chitchat were nice and maybe important some days.

Just another way to do layoffs without calling it that.

It’s interesting because he originally said he was buying Twitter because of the bots, and then later tried to nuke the deal claiming the proliferation of bots had created a material change in the business.. either way you’d expect that to be a priority for him to fix.

I think he believed it would be an easy project and a funny meme to own it, and it will soon be repossessed by Morgan Stanley.

In addition the roles are all RTO-enforced (implying his current one is not), so it may be impossible for him to take those roles.

Yeah the hungry young workers are the meat in the grinder! Do we think they don’t notice that role?

It sounds to me like they need to flush out incompetent management.

They didn’t get immunity, they just haven’t been sentenced yet.

I was gonna make a comment saying “yeah but those MBAs aren’t dictating minutiae about how they complete their tasks (in the way software CEOs are assured we work better in an open-office shared desk hours from our homes)”

But actually there’s a ton of micromanagement in medicine too. It’s equally insane there though and transparently driven by profit motives over patient wellbeing.

Real estate portfolios must really be in trouble.

That’s correct. I have the smallest offering from the manufacturer you linked and it’s super portable (30lbs) but the ride is bumpy even on relatively smooth road.

You do get used to it but never feels quite as safe as a bike.

> The reality is they need office attendance to meet tax agreements with the cities they’re located in.

I don’t disagree, but that doesn’t explain these actions right? Amazon would be free to have a policy which was not enforced by badge tracking — leaving things up to managers and establishing a culture norm of in-office work with flexibility was pretty much standard pre-COVID. Surely the city isn’t asking for attendance records.

I guess it’s likely a confluence of factors (tax breaks, monetary incentives, old-guard management, real-estate portfolio losses, resentment toward engineers they perceive to be lazy) pointing in the same direction.

My theory is that they need attrition, and they need managers to be managing out employees at a higher rate than they’ve historically been comfortable. So they won’t typically fire someone directly for attendance (yet) but they will give the managers permission to do so. That’s what these memos are meant to convey.

Maybe we’ll see something similar from other big tech cos in the near future, since they all use the same consulting firms for these decisions.

albendazole will

Honestly the commute trumps all of this for me. Sure open office is a pain but whatever I’ll make it work. Can pack a lunch if necessary, and shit at home.

Two hours one way? I’m not sure I can do it. Could I at least be located in the office closest to my house? No, that won’t be possible, how could you possibly communicate with your team. Just a giant middle finger.

I think you’re right, and there are multiple reasons executives don’t see office space as a “sunk cost.”

A small part may even be that they value work done in-office more than work done remotely. But just pointing out it’s not the most plausible objection to remote work.

TFA suggests these companies hold large amounts of commercial real estate as long-term investments, so “let the lease expire” is likely not an option.