4 ms·

Is there a template out there for these types of "farewell letters", it feels like every leaving CEO, every startup that pulls the plug and every company that i

by neals 9y ago

Is there a template out there for these types of "farewell letters", it feels like every leaving CEO, every startup that pulls the plug and every company that is bought by one of the big ones, these letters all have the same buildup and delivery.

McMini 9y ago
Could be a new business idea. Farewell Letters As A Service
- kdazzle 9y ago
  You know, a similar service never really panned out. Poor execution, I hear. Bummer the site isn't up, but here's the YC thread: Shutdownify is Shutting Down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10088229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10088229
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
praneshp 9y ago
I used to think the same about some things (like design docs). Then when I became slightly senior and started writing those, I realized that for such common things, following best practices can lead to template-like things (which is not bad, IMO. The goal of this letter or a design doc is to deliver information to you, constrained by company needs. Not to tickle your creativity or something).
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
  I understand the need to have departure announcements like this but still resent that this kind of boring corporate blather is the go-to thing to do in this situation. It’s a very robotic kind of action that dehumanizes everyone involved. The art of design is creativity, can’t we be a little more creative than shallow platitudes when we depart from something we built from the ground up?
  - sandstrom 9y ago
    Andrews letter is original and funny: https://www.jottit.com/v5wux/ https://www.jottit.com/v5wux/
    - praneshp 9y ago
      Yes, it was. I happened to be interviewing at Groupon as a fresh faced new college grad that day and it was super weird.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
      What a refreshing letter that serves as the perfect counter example to the above. Thanks for sharing. Just reading this kind of letter makes me have so much respect for this guy. This is the kind of human being and leader we should strive to be. Not because he failed, but because he showed humility and humanity and a touch of humor in his departure. If that isn’t the ultimate human response, I don’t know what is.
madeofpalk 9y ago
https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com
- Antimachides 9y ago
  Thanks for the laughs.
tzahola 9y ago
Reminds me of a nifty little tool I made as a teen: the breakup-text generator.
Bartweiss 9y ago
As I read this, it's the standard shorthand for "after a product setback, the board got worried that I'm too eccentric and not managerial enough, so they brought in an MBA". I mean, that's a bit harsh, but I don't think I'm wrong - the dot com bubble produced so many of these letters that they really are down to a standard template. If this isn't a respectability move after Soylent's recently quality struggles, I'll... drink a bunch of Soylent, I guess.
- otakucode 9y ago
  Are you referring to the fake problems with the delicious snack bars? Or something else? I don't keep close track of Soylent as I only consume their products now and then (its shelf life is one of the things I love about it... and now I fear they'll cut that because it stunts repeat sales and encourages the kind of consumer they don't want) but that's the last I know of. Was bummed when they discontinued them, I ate loads of them and never had an issue. When they accepted returns and proceeded to eat them to prove they were fine, I appreciated that response and felt it the appropriate one but I know they backed off of that and apologized.
  - kemiller 9y ago
    I can personally testify that the issues were not fake. It was awful. Maybe it was 1:1000 I don’t know but it totally happened.
  - Bartweiss 9y ago
    Not particularly - I never kept up with the snack bar controversy enough to even know what the complaint was. I was thinking foremost of the mold issues with liquid Soylent. That's fairly old (12+ months?) and seems to be solved, but it's a long-term reputation problem in the same sense as Chipotle. Less crucially, I'm also thinking about the digestive issues people have reported - that some people talk about nausea and terrible gas when consuming lots of Soylent. Neither of those things seems to be a "our product is nonviable today" issue, but both have raised a specter among the people I talk to of "Soylent is weird and maybe not healthy". Swapping the CEO to someone more mainstream seems like one step towards fighting that perception.

by neals 9y ago

McMini 9y ago

Could be a new business idea. Farewell Letters As A Service

kdazzle 9y ago
You know, a similar service never really panned out. Poor execution, I hear. Bummer the site isn't up, but here's the YC thread: Shutdownify is Shutting Down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10088229 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10088229
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

praneshp 9y ago

I used to think the same about some things (like design docs). Then when I became slightly senior and started writing those, I realized that for such common things, following best practices can lead to template-like things (which is not bad, IMO. The goal of this letter or a design doc is to deliver information to you, constrained by company needs. Not to tickle your creativity or something).

SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
I understand the need to have departure announcements like this but still resent that this kind of boring corporate blather is the go-to thing to do in this situation. It’s a very robotic kind of action that dehumanizes everyone involved. The art of design is creativity, can’t we be a little more creative than shallow platitudes when we depart from something we built from the ground up?
- sandstrom 9y ago
  Andrews letter is original and funny: https://www.jottit.com/v5wux/ https://www.jottit.com/v5wux/
  - praneshp 9y ago
    Yes, it was. I happened to be interviewing at Groupon as a fresh faced new college grad that day and it was super weird.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
    What a refreshing letter that serves as the perfect counter example to the above. Thanks for sharing. Just reading this kind of letter makes me have so much respect for this guy. This is the kind of human being and leader we should strive to be. Not because he failed, but because he showed humility and humanity and a touch of humor in his departure. If that isn’t the ultimate human response, I don’t know what is.

madeofpalk 9y ago

https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com https://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com

Antimachides 9y ago
Thanks for the laughs.

tzahola 9y ago

Reminds me of a nifty little tool I made as a teen: the breakup-text generator.

Bartweiss 9y ago

As I read this, it's the standard shorthand for "after a product setback, the board got worried that I'm too eccentric and not managerial enough, so they brought in an MBA". I mean, that's a bit harsh, but I don't think I'm wrong - the dot com bubble produced so many of these letters that they really are down to a standard template. If this isn't a respectability move after Soylent's recently quality struggles, I'll... drink a bunch of Soylent, I guess.

otakucode 9y ago
Are you referring to the fake problems with the delicious snack bars? Or something else? I don't keep close track of Soylent as I only consume their products now and then (its shelf life is one of the things I love about it... and now I fear they'll cut that because it stunts repeat sales and encourages the kind of consumer they don't want) but that's the last I know of. Was bummed when they discontinued them, I ate loads of them and never had an issue. When they accepted returns and proceeded to eat them to prove they were fine, I appreciated that response and felt it the appropriate one but I know they backed off of that and apologized.
- kemiller 9y ago
  I can personally testify that the issues were not fake. It was awful. Maybe it was 1:1000 I don’t know but it totally happened.
- Bartweiss 9y ago
  Not particularly - I never kept up with the snack bar controversy enough to even know what the complaint was. I was thinking foremost of the mold issues with liquid Soylent. That's fairly old (12+ months?) and seems to be solved, but it's a long-term reputation problem in the same sense as Chipotle. Less crucially, I'm also thinking about the digestive issues people have reported - that some people talk about nausea and terrible gas when consuming lots of Soylent. Neither of those things seems to be a "our product is nonviable today" issue, but both have raised a specter among the people I talk to of "Soylent is weird and maybe not healthy". Swapping the CEO to someone more mainstream seems like one step towards fighting that perception.