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All those one offs sound like technical debt that businesses are borrowing on. For example: -- environmental disasters are the result of under investment in pr
by malandrew 11y ago
All those one offs sound like technical debt that businesses are borrowing on. For example:
-- environmental disasters are the result of under investment in preventing environmental disasters.
-- security breaches are the result of under investment in security.
-- restructuring is the result of under investment in continually adapting the organization to a changing reality
-- layoffs are often the result of under investment in hiring to make sure you don't hire bad performers and under investment in cleaning out poor performers continuously. The only layoffs that aren't like technical debt are those caused by external forces like a recession.
There is nothing wrong with under investing over time and then paying the piper when the time comes, but any one off expense that could have been prevented if things had been managed differently should not be excludable.
The litmus test should be along the lines of asking, "Is this cost our fault?"...
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoI can agree with the first two. But layoffs are more often the result of incompetent management failing to find a profitable use for the existing workers. Or sometimes they're caused by management playing the "Let's cut costs to increase returns so we earn more from our shares" game. Big layoffs are a management failure, not a hiring failure. Realistically, how likely is it that a company that's been running profitably for years suddenly discovers that thousands or tens of thousands of staff were a poor hire?