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Ask HN: Bare minimum to keep Twitter running
People are saying that many people left Twitter today.
Which brings the question, what is the bare minimum number of humans needed to keep the website running?
No customer acquisition, no new features etc.
- pdw 4y agoLooks like payroll is going to be a problem. https://twitter.com/HaysKali/status/1593425305464541186 https://twitter.com/HaysKali/status/1593425305464541186
- nothrowaways 4y agoI think payroll is one of the easiest to outsource
- firstSpeaker 4y agoIt depends! If there are perks and special rules and so on that applies to different levels/types of staff at twitter it wont be that easy to migrate to an external provider (that is if they are running payroll internally).
- nothrowaways 4y agoI will go first. A sys admin to keep network running, a person in server room to change disks, power guy, a DBA.
- nothrowaways 4y agoConcierge, that's critical.
- drones 4y agoAt this point? A carrier pidgeon with a couple USB sticks.
- nothrowaways 4y agoAnd running it on AWS?
- drones 4y agoAnd a SSH server with an append-only .txt file. Figure out the rest later once things are more under control.
- ggeorgovassilis 4y agoAs they do have paid services, they also need to run a customer service department, although that can be outsourced. Serving data requests by authorities probably also requires a few people.
- BarryMilo 4y agoI wonder if there's some precedent for an app of this scale? I can't think of one. One thing to think about is you're talking in technical terms. 100 dudes could "do the job" maybe. But an equally interesting question arises: of all the people who left, how many were managers? If there are more strategists than "doers", you got a top-heavy organization. Those usually can't sustain themselves because no matter how good the plan is, things actually need to get done. A fascinating case for future business classes in any case.
- nothrowaways 4y agoTrue. Can be seen both ways. Those 100 dudes can easily hire new guys who can execute the plan. But right now, as we see it, strategists are not needed rn.