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Ooof. I think people are picking and choosing too many points to make it seem like this guy is an asshole and a toxic manager. I read that he wants people to:

Ooof. I think people are picking and choosing too many points to make it seem like this guy is an asshole and a toxic manager. I read that he wants people to: - Do their work - Provide value for their users - Get stuff done. vs - Work on flashy stuff to only get promotions - Be stuck with BAD employees that do very little - Have employees spend all day doing recreation Work/life is important to stay healthy but at the same time employees need to get their work done. He is saying that the pendulum has swung too far towards the recreation side of things. I think I am biased as I worked at a startup that was chasing Google level of perks. They were fantastic but caused a huge divide between the people that abused them and the people that worked their butts off. All I want is for people to be reasonable and get their stuff done...

EricE 6y ago
>I read that he wants people to: Yes! Most insightful post in this entire thread. Talk about shallow interpretations of what someone wrote from most of the other commenters.
Arainach 6y ago
As the head of Waze, the author was the one responsible for setting the OKRs that people were judged against. He also had final say in promotions. If people were getting promoted for the wrong things, it was directly their fault. >They were fantastic but caused a huge divide between the people that abused them and the people that worked their butts off. Who was forcing these people to "work their butts off"? There are some people who seem to always feel that nothing is good enough and who put in unreasonable amounts of hours. If that's demanded by management (say, by a CEO who things that working weekends is OK), that's a cultural problem. On the other hand, there's a uniquely American problem with fetishizing long hours and no perks. People in general aren't "abusing" perks, they're taking advantage of them. If people are having to "work their butts off" on a regular basis, then teams need to be better at setting cadence and expectations. Once in a great while some crunch time will happen, but in general people shouldn't be having to work more than 40 hours.
- cbushko 6y ago
  It was 100% toxic environment and a broken culture. My coworkers were fantastic but upper management was horrible. It was almost like highschool drama. I learned so much, 70 hour weeks will do that, but I also learned about balance and what was important to me. Getting my work done so that I can spend time with my family is more important than free food, yoga classes and beer on tap. It is cool if your priorities are different than mine and good on you for taking advantage of the perks. I will be at my desk working so that I can go home at 5.

EricE 6y ago

>I read that he wants people to: Yes! Most insightful post in this entire thread. Talk about shallow interpretations of what someone wrote from most of the other commenters.

Arainach 6y ago

As the head of Waze, the author was the one responsible for setting the OKRs that people were judged against. He also had final say in promotions. If people were getting promoted for the wrong things, it was directly their fault. >They were fantastic but caused a huge divide between the people that abused them and the people that worked their butts off. Who was forcing these people to "work their butts off"? There are some people who seem to always feel that nothing is good enough and who put in unreasonable amounts of hours. If that's demanded by management (say, by a CEO who things that working weekends is OK), that's a cultural problem. On the other hand, there's a uniquely American problem with fetishizing long hours and no perks. People in general aren't "abusing" perks, they're taking advantage of them. If people are having to "work their butts off" on a regular basis, then teams need to be better at setting cadence and expectations. Once in a great while some crunch time will happen, but in general people shouldn't be having to work more than 40 hours.

cbushko 6y ago
It was 100% toxic environment and a broken culture. My coworkers were fantastic but upper management was horrible. It was almost like highschool drama. I learned so much, 70 hour weeks will do that, but I also learned about balance and what was important to me. Getting my work done so that I can spend time with my family is more important than free food, yoga classes and beer on tap. It is cool if your priorities are different than mine and good on you for taking advantage of the perks. I will be at my desk working so that I can go home at 5.