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> Is the rate of executives departing greater than at a similar-sized tech company? This seems like a big stretch. Can you name a company that has lost its "he

> Is the rate of executives departing greater than at a similar-sized tech company? This seems like a big stretch. Can you name a company that has lost its "head of comms, president, head of AI Labs, VP of growth and SVP of engineering" and now the VP of Global Vehicle Programs? Not that they should be held to the same standard, but the allegations in the parent are based only on suspicions without any factual foundation - we'd be very disappointed in journalism that did the same.

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whatusername 9y ago
Just because the Junior Vice President of CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet has left - does not mean there's a problem with the org itself. For one -- you'd have to know how many other VP's there are in the org.
- traskjd 9y ago
  Well, in the case of CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet, it would be a problem since the Junior Vice President was the only employee :)
eddieroger 9y ago
Well, head of AI and SVP of engineering could be representative of an internal shift in focus, so relatively easily explained - maybe they weren't moving fast enough with autonomous vehicles? Head of comms is easy too - lots of press recently, so this could be anything from vanilla burnout to a replacement of someone who can handle it better. VP of Growth could also be as simple as they're not growing at the rate expected, so someone has to take the hit. Could all of it be related to the same thing, and that thing being their culture? Sure. But couldn't it also just be that these things happen, and everyone is so focused on Uber that it's getting an inappropriate amount of attention and analysis for things that really do just happen on their own from time to time? I'd argue yes.
- tyingq 9y ago
  The SVP Engineering departure, though, didn't appear to be planned at all. Uber found themselves in a scandal, then a previously undisclosed scandal of the same nature came to light. They had to act, or find themselves in a deeper hole.
  - eddieroger 9y ago
    What would "appear to be planned" look like from the outside? Maybe if they were spotted meeting with execs elsewhere or something, sure. But if it was a termination, that's slow and wouldn't be apparent from outside, and if he just chose to leave, it would be more abrupt, but we still don't, and probably never will, know the reason, and until he says it everything is conjecture.
    - tyingq 9y ago
      Sorry, I'm confused. It was widely reported. Are you saying the news stories about the nature of Amit's departure were all pure conjecture? They did appear to use unnamed internal sources, but it would be odd to go out that far on a defamation limb if you didn't have credible sources. Edit: Or ignoring all that, the short tenure implies unplanned all on its own.
  - eddieroger 9y ago
    What would "appear to be planned" look like from the outside? Maybe if they were spotted meeting with execs elsewhere or something, sure. But if it was a termination, that's slow and wouldn't be apparent from outside, and if he just chose to leave, it would be more abrupt, but we still don't, and probably never will, know the reason, and until he says it everything is conjecture.
- hackuser 9y ago
  > easily ... easy ... vanilla ... simple ... these things happen ... I disagree that all these high-level departures are normal - again, name another company where this is happening (and where it wasn't failing) - or easily explained. And in fact, some of those departing did point to problems within Uber. > could be ... maybe .. could be .. Could all of it be ... couldn't it also just be ... There is no basis for the parent post. It could be that someone poisoned all these executives, or that they run a human trafficking ring and retired on the income, or that Kalanick secretly reports to Putin and Putin wanted them out. Without a factual basis, it's all similarly meaningless.

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whatusername 9y ago

Just because the Junior Vice President of CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet has left - does not mean there's a problem with the org itself. For one -- you'd have to know how many other VP's there are in the org.

traskjd 9y ago
Well, in the case of CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet, it would be a problem since the Junior Vice President was the only employee :)

eddieroger 9y ago

Well, head of AI and SVP of engineering could be representative of an internal shift in focus, so relatively easily explained - maybe they weren't moving fast enough with autonomous vehicles? Head of comms is easy too - lots of press recently, so this could be anything from vanilla burnout to a replacement of someone who can handle it better. VP of Growth could also be as simple as they're not growing at the rate expected, so someone has to take the hit. Could all of it be related to the same thing, and that thing being their culture? Sure. But couldn't it also just be that these things happen, and everyone is so focused on Uber that it's getting an inappropriate amount of attention and analysis for things that really do just happen on their own from time to time? I'd argue yes.

tyingq 9y ago
The SVP Engineering departure, though, didn't appear to be planned at all. Uber found themselves in a scandal, then a previously undisclosed scandal of the same nature came to light. They had to act, or find themselves in a deeper hole.
- eddieroger 9y ago
  What would "appear to be planned" look like from the outside? Maybe if they were spotted meeting with execs elsewhere or something, sure. But if it was a termination, that's slow and wouldn't be apparent from outside, and if he just chose to leave, it would be more abrupt, but we still don't, and probably never will, know the reason, and until he says it everything is conjecture.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    Sorry, I'm confused. It was widely reported. Are you saying the news stories about the nature of Amit's departure were all pure conjecture? They did appear to use unnamed internal sources, but it would be odd to go out that far on a defamation limb if you didn't have credible sources. Edit: Or ignoring all that, the short tenure implies unplanned all on its own.
- eddieroger 9y ago
  What would "appear to be planned" look like from the outside? Maybe if they were spotted meeting with execs elsewhere or something, sure. But if it was a termination, that's slow and wouldn't be apparent from outside, and if he just chose to leave, it would be more abrupt, but we still don't, and probably never will, know the reason, and until he says it everything is conjecture.
hackuser 9y ago
> easily ... easy ... vanilla ... simple ... these things happen ... I disagree that all these high-level departures are normal - again, name another company where this is happening (and where it wasn't failing) - or easily explained. And in fact, some of those departing did point to problems within Uber. > could be ... maybe .. could be .. Could all of it be ... couldn't it also just be ... There is no basis for the parent post. It could be that someone poisoned all these executives, or that they run a human trafficking ring and retired on the income, or that Kalanick secretly reports to Putin and Putin wanted them out. Without a factual basis, it's all similarly meaningless.