4 ms·
It's a bit awkwardly worded, but I get their point (I think) - take your example and swap it, for instance: if you were to exchange all the employees at Faceboo
by sjm-lbm 8y ago
It's a bit awkwardly worded, but I get their point (I think) - take your example and swap it, for instance: if you were to exchange all the employees at Facebook for employees at Exxon, the company structurally and culturally would still be an energy/oil company even if the product they were making was software. Likewise, Tesla runs, structurally and culturally, like a software company, even though they are building cars.
- samfisher83 8y agoYou definitely don't want to "Move fast and break things" at an oil company. They have very defined procedures for everything. Now days safety is paramount. You can't just change procedures even if its better because they can't afford a blowout or leak or accident. At Exxon you have a manual for everything and deviating from it is frowned upon.
- wand3r 8y agoTo carry the analogy from above, Exxon moved fast and broke the Prince William Sound. Safety is important obviously but innovation has real costs and software companies seem to learn a lot more and innovate more when they break things vs energy companies-- at least that is the meme. Also, energy companies move slow and still break things like the environment.
- jackfoxy 8y agoIIRC The alcoholic master handed over navigation to a very inexperienced 3rd mate and left the bridge for him to navigate out the channel by himself. That's an individual screw-up that can happen in any organization's culture. I wouldn't say the whole organization (Exxon) moved fast and broke things.
- opencl 8y agoThe boat had a collision avoidance radar which had been non-functional for over a year because Exxon wouldn't spend the money to maintain it.
- fma 8y agoI'd prefer my car not to be broken, even at the cost of innovation. This is a product that protects my family going down a highway at 70mph, not an electronic device used to play candy crush.
- ams6110 8y agoI think this is it. Same reason traditional car companies are notoriously bad at software. Different mindset, different culture, different skills, different history and institutional knowledge.