Situation: When I replaced the VP of Engineering at BloatCo, it had 4,000 engineers, producing a mediocre social media product that was roundly criticized for

Situation: When I replaced the VP of Engineering at BloatCo, it had 4,000 engineers, producing a mediocre social media product that was roundly criticized for such failures as being unable to edit posts and having no control over online harassment. Task: Cut costs and get the product and feature pipeline flowing. Action: Implemented a thorough review of functional teams, engaging both front-line management and customer representatives to distinguish the individual and practices that were delivering value from those who weren’t. Established a customer council, including social activist and freedom of speech advocates, to advise on anti-harassment policies. Result: After a painful transition lasting two quarters, we are reviving public kudos on new features and our reputation as a tool for scumbags has been turned around. Our burn rate is down by 40% in engineering, proving that sometimes, you can cut costs and increase production. post scriptum: Alas, this did not increase any advertising revenue, so the company was sold to Yahoo, who fired me and are rewriting everything in Perl 6. But fixing those problems were outside of the scope of my authority.