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> I guess we are finally getting an answer. We will get to see whether the layoffs effect the technology and the development pace, although a lot of the real in

> I guess we are finally getting an answer. We will get to see whether the layoffs effect the technology and the development pace, although a lot of the real information will leak out through rumors. Except it won't take effect immediately. It's not like Twitter will only load 50% of the pages or it will be 2x slower the day the layoffs kick in. I think the main hypothesis is that Twitter will have an S-curve decline. Since so much work in a large org is communication, if they're able to do layoffs effectively and actually cut out the least productive people - 50% could take a while to have any visible external impacts. That's my guess at least. Sad for the people that lost good jobs, but I'm excited we get an opportunity to witness a massive cut like this and learn from it.

sdwr 4y ago
There's a sense in which leaders don't actually make decisions, just tell people what's already happening. From one perspective Elon is doing what Zuck doesn't have the balls to pull off. The product is mature, has passed peak enthusiasm already, time to stop growing+exploring, and start battening down the hatches?
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  My suspicion (and I think main stream?) is that 50%+ of the company is necessary just to stay afloat, sustainably. Sure, in the very short term you could probably fire 80% of people and make the other 20% work 7-16s. But that's not going to end well.
- matthewdgreen 4y ago
  The major threat to Twitter right now is twofold: that (1) the mild user downturn it’s been experiencing since 2020 turns into a full-on death spiral, and (2) other social networks step in and pull a TikTok by gobbling up Twitter’s users. Both of these things could probably be averted by smart new leadership. Neither of these things is helped by loading the company up with debt and moving into layoff/cash extraction mode to service it.
saagarjha 4y ago
> I'm excited we get an opportunity to witness a massive cut like this and learn from it. We've seen a lot of these, what do you plan to learn from this specific one?
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  What moderately healthy large tech company cut half of its employees before?
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    Twitter does not look moderate healthy at the moment.

sdwr 4y ago

There's a sense in which leaders don't actually make decisions, just tell people what's already happening. From one perspective Elon is doing what Zuck doesn't have the balls to pull off. The product is mature, has passed peak enthusiasm already, time to stop growing+exploring, and start battening down the hatches?

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
My suspicion (and I think main stream?) is that 50%+ of the company is necessary just to stay afloat, sustainably. Sure, in the very short term you could probably fire 80% of people and make the other 20% work 7-16s. But that's not going to end well.
matthewdgreen 4y ago
The major threat to Twitter right now is twofold: that (1) the mild user downturn it’s been experiencing since 2020 turns into a full-on death spiral, and (2) other social networks step in and pull a TikTok by gobbling up Twitter’s users. Both of these things could probably be averted by smart new leadership. Neither of these things is helped by loading the company up with debt and moving into layoff/cash extraction mode to service it.

saagarjha 4y ago

> I'm excited we get an opportunity to witness a massive cut like this and learn from it. We've seen a lot of these, what do you plan to learn from this specific one?

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
What moderately healthy large tech company cut half of its employees before?
- saagarjha 4y ago
  Twitter does not look moderate healthy at the moment.