5 ms·

> blame is merely a function of the job title Marissa Meyer's name is indelibly linked to the Flickr fail. She promoted herself as a UX expert, then "improved"

> blame is merely a function of the job title Marissa Meyer's name is indelibly linked to the Flickr fail. She promoted herself as a UX expert, then "improved" Flickr and ended up f??king it up. Excerpt from NYT story: “My focus at Google has been to deliver great end-user experiences, to delight and inspire our end users,” Ms. Mayer said in an interview. “That is what I plan to do at Yahoo, give the end user something valuable and delightful that makes them want to come to Yahoo every day.” https://www.wired.com/2013/04/flickr/ https://www.wired.com/2013/04/flickr/ https://gizmodo.com/flashback-how-yahoo-killed-flickr-and-lost-the-interne-508852335 https://gizmodo.com/flashback-how-yahoo-killed-flickr-and-lo... https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/technology/marissa-mayer-hopes-to-brighten-user-experience-at-yahoo.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/technology/marissa-mayer-...

dpark 5y ago
Flickr had already failed before Mayer ever showed up at Yahoo. They pretty much ignored it after the purchase aside from forcing yahoo logins. Mayer’s failure with Flickr is the same as SmugMug’s: an inability to revive a dying product. At least she tried. But also Flickr was hardly the biggest problem at Yahoo.
- petilon 5y ago
  > At least she tried. There are no participation trophies in business. This isn't kindergarten. Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. If she made the wrong call she alone is responsible for the mistake. > They pretty much ignored it after the purchase aside from forcing yahoo logins. Not true. They fully revamped the user experience, and Marissa Mayer was actively involved in the project.
  - dpark 5y ago
    > There are no participation trophies in business. This isn't kindergarten. Thanks for the regurgitated platitudes. Your stern appraisal of CEOs is duly noted. > Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. If she made the wrong call she alone is responsible for the mistake. On what basis do you assume Flickr’s revamp was an expensive project? I have no idea what it really cost, but to a multi-billion dollar company, I doubt it was really that much. Sure, she owns the failed revamp though. > Not true. They fully revamped the user experience, and Marissa Mayer was actively involved in the project. “They” referred to the company prior to Mayer becoming CEO. Yahoo owned Flickr for 7 years before Mayer took over. Flickr felt stagnant for most of that time. It’s really weird to be ratholing on Flickr as if it was the reason for Yahoo failing. If Mayer had ignored Flickr like the previous 2 CEOs, Yahoo would have failed just as surely and Flickr’s decline would have been just as rapid.
    - petilon 5y ago
      > Sure, she owns the failed revamp though. Thank you! That's the most important point. > It’s really weird to be ratholing on Flickr as if it was the reason for Yahoo failing. Flickr is the topic of this thread. I don't think Flickr is the reason Yahoo failed, but I do think Marissa Mayer hastened Flickr's demise, and I do believe Ms Mayer's incompetence was the reason Yahoo couldn't be turned around. If you believe Ms Mayer was brought in to "manage a burning building" as opposed to turning it around, please read this story: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-when-marissa-mayer-tried-to-be-steve-jobs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-wh...
      - dpark 5y ago
        > Thank you! That's the most important point. It’s really not. Flickr was already circling the drain like the rest of Yahoo. Mayer’s revamp failed but it’s not why block Yahoo failed. It’s not even why Flickr failed. Your pinning of the broader Flickr failure on Mayer is revisionist. The whole reason it needed a revamp was because was already dying. > Flickr is the topic of this thread. It wasn’t the topic of the comment I replied to from glenstein. We had a whole sub thread about Yahoo in general. > I don't think Flickr is the reason Yahoo failed, but I do think Marissa Mayer hastened Flickr's demise, and I do believe Ms Mayer's incompetence was the reason Yahoo couldn't be turned around. If you believe Ms Mayer was brought in to "manage a burning building" as opposed to turning it around, please read this story: There’s something really off about claiming that Mayer hastened the demise of Yahoo! and then linking to an article essentially saying she should have gutted it sooner. (Maybe there was something buried at the bottom? I stopped reading because it was all old and well worn.)
  - acdha 5y ago
    > Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. What’s your experience turning failing businesses around? I’m not a huge fan but I find it conspicuous how successfully the CEOs who created the mess have shifted the blame to the one who was hired to fix what was known to be a failing business at the time.
glenstein 5y ago
I'm just going to note that, as pointed out by the other person, this interpretation is riddled with misinterpretations of the articles, and it's elevating this in a way that's out of proportion to the broader structural forces that led to Yahoo's decline. And, again, the analogy to Microsoft is confused and incorrect, and, again, your comments below suggest that attribution of failure is a function of business norms and not any underlying logic that would satisfy any rational evaluation. So, it's a good exercise in the confused and incoherent attempts to blame Marissa Mayer in particular for Yahoo's decline.
- dpark 5y ago
  Right. Imagine if a large passenger jet loses all 4 engines at cruising altitude and then the rudder also stops working. The plane starts gliding toward the ground and the pilot is having no luck at getting it flying again. The pilot finally gives up and says “I can’t fly this thing” and walks away (or is told to walk away). The same thing happens with the copilot. The passengers then select a couple of other passengers with flight experience but they also can’t steer the thing meaningfully. Meanwhile the plane is still rapidly falling out of the sky. Finally the passengers ask who else is willing to try. Someone steps forward and says, “I can do it. I’ve got experience with engine maintenance.” That person tries and fails to restart the engines and ends up crashing the plane into a field. Who’s responsible for the plane crash? Is it really the last person who tried to pilot the thing? They took over when the plane had already dropped to 3000 feet. Sure, they clearly failed at the job of flying the heap of busted scrap metal. Maybe they also made a mistake by focusing on engine #3 when engine #4 was more promising in hindsight. But also they stepped in to fly a plane that was about to crash. A crash was the expected outcome at that point by anyone with a clue. It’s wrong to pin it all on them just because they were the last to try. Especially when one of the previous pilots turned down an offer from a huge passing airship to safely bring everyone on board. And maybe that last person is a really incompetent pilot. I’m just not sure how you establish that from what happened here. (Can you tell that Mayer is the final pilot and Yang turned down the airship offer? It’s some subtle metaphor I’ve got going here.)

dpark 5y ago

Flickr had already failed before Mayer ever showed up at Yahoo. They pretty much ignored it after the purchase aside from forcing yahoo logins. Mayer’s failure with Flickr is the same as SmugMug’s: an inability to revive a dying product. At least she tried. But also Flickr was hardly the biggest problem at Yahoo.

petilon 5y ago
> At least she tried. There are no participation trophies in business. This isn't kindergarten. Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. If she made the wrong call she alone is responsible for the mistake. > They pretty much ignored it after the purchase aside from forcing yahoo logins. Not true. They fully revamped the user experience, and Marissa Mayer was actively involved in the project.
- dpark 5y ago
  > There are no participation trophies in business. This isn't kindergarten. Thanks for the regurgitated platitudes. Your stern appraisal of CEOs is duly noted. > Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. If she made the wrong call she alone is responsible for the mistake. On what basis do you assume Flickr’s revamp was an expensive project? I have no idea what it really cost, but to a multi-billion dollar company, I doubt it was really that much. Sure, she owns the failed revamp though. > Not true. They fully revamped the user experience, and Marissa Mayer was actively involved in the project. “They” referred to the company prior to Mayer becoming CEO. Yahoo owned Flickr for 7 years before Mayer took over. Flickr felt stagnant for most of that time. It’s really weird to be ratholing on Flickr as if it was the reason for Yahoo failing. If Mayer had ignored Flickr like the previous 2 CEOs, Yahoo would have failed just as surely and Flickr’s decline would have been just as rapid.
  - petilon 5y ago
    > Sure, she owns the failed revamp though. Thank you! That's the most important point. > It’s really weird to be ratholing on Flickr as if it was the reason for Yahoo failing. Flickr is the topic of this thread. I don't think Flickr is the reason Yahoo failed, but I do think Marissa Mayer hastened Flickr's demise, and I do believe Ms Mayer's incompetence was the reason Yahoo couldn't be turned around. If you believe Ms Mayer was brought in to "manage a burning building" as opposed to turning it around, please read this story: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-when-marissa-mayer-tried-to-be-steve-jobs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/magazine/what-happened-wh...
    - dpark 5y ago
      > Thank you! That's the most important point. It’s really not. Flickr was already circling the drain like the rest of Yahoo. Mayer’s revamp failed but it’s not why block Yahoo failed. It’s not even why Flickr failed. Your pinning of the broader Flickr failure on Mayer is revisionist. The whole reason it needed a revamp was because was already dying. > Flickr is the topic of this thread. It wasn’t the topic of the comment I replied to from glenstein. We had a whole sub thread about Yahoo in general. > I don't think Flickr is the reason Yahoo failed, but I do think Marissa Mayer hastened Flickr's demise, and I do believe Ms Mayer's incompetence was the reason Yahoo couldn't be turned around. If you believe Ms Mayer was brought in to "manage a burning building" as opposed to turning it around, please read this story: There’s something really off about claiming that Mayer hastened the demise of Yahoo! and then linking to an article essentially saying she should have gutted it sooner. (Maybe there was something buried at the bottom? I stopped reading because it was all old and well worn.)
- acdha 5y ago
  > Before spending shareholder's money on an expensive project she should have checked if it makes sense to spend money on it. What’s your experience turning failing businesses around? I’m not a huge fan but I find it conspicuous how successfully the CEOs who created the mess have shifted the blame to the one who was hired to fix what was known to be a failing business at the time.

glenstein 5y ago

I'm just going to note that, as pointed out by the other person, this interpretation is riddled with misinterpretations of the articles, and it's elevating this in a way that's out of proportion to the broader structural forces that led to Yahoo's decline. And, again, the analogy to Microsoft is confused and incorrect, and, again, your comments below suggest that attribution of failure is a function of business norms and not any underlying logic that would satisfy any rational evaluation. So, it's a good exercise in the confused and incoherent attempts to blame Marissa Mayer in particular for Yahoo's decline.

dpark 5y ago
Right. Imagine if a large passenger jet loses all 4 engines at cruising altitude and then the rudder also stops working. The plane starts gliding toward the ground and the pilot is having no luck at getting it flying again. The pilot finally gives up and says “I can’t fly this thing” and walks away (or is told to walk away). The same thing happens with the copilot. The passengers then select a couple of other passengers with flight experience but they also can’t steer the thing meaningfully. Meanwhile the plane is still rapidly falling out of the sky. Finally the passengers ask who else is willing to try. Someone steps forward and says, “I can do it. I’ve got experience with engine maintenance.” That person tries and fails to restart the engines and ends up crashing the plane into a field. Who’s responsible for the plane crash? Is it really the last person who tried to pilot the thing? They took over when the plane had already dropped to 3000 feet. Sure, they clearly failed at the job of flying the heap of busted scrap metal. Maybe they also made a mistake by focusing on engine #3 when engine #4 was more promising in hindsight. But also they stepped in to fly a plane that was about to crash. A crash was the expected outcome at that point by anyone with a clue. It’s wrong to pin it all on them just because they were the last to try. Especially when one of the previous pilots turned down an offer from a huge passing airship to safely bring everyone on board. And maybe that last person is a really incompetent pilot. I’m just not sure how you establish that from what happened here. (Can you tell that Mayer is the final pilot and Yang turned down the airship offer? It’s some subtle metaphor I’ve got going here.)