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> I personally appreciate LI management's ability to be clear-eyed about whether the ROI was there. Kind of confusing statement as they threw away tens of mill

> I personally appreciate LI management's ability to be clear-eyed about whether the ROI was there. Kind of confusing statement as they threw away tens of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to migrate.

richbell 3y ago
At least they canceled the project when it became apparent things weren't going to work out as expected. I've seen massive projects that have been train wrecks since day one pushed through until the bitter end because management can't admit failure.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  We have that going on in Norway right now. Our state hospitals are switching several aging systems to some Epic-based monstrosity, and so far it's been a complete shit-show[1]. A major hospital has been running it for a year with lots of issues, some which has certainly affected patients gravely. It was rolled out despite heavy protests from doctors and nurses who had seen or experienced the new system at the smaller pilot hospitals. Yet management is pushing on, and just decided the next big hospital should get the new system this spring, despite the many severe issues that are still unsolved. [1]: https://www.nrk.no/emne/helseplattformen-1.15838445 https://www.nrk.no/emne/helseplattformen-1.15838445
- hasty_pudding 3y ago
  That's not good management though. Recognizing you fucked up and only cost the company tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions is "Not Terrible" management.
  - prepend 3y ago
    It’s not perfect, but it’s good. Or better than spending more.
    - hasty_pudding 3y ago
      Id like to be your financial manager.
thenewwazoo 3y ago
The sunk-cost fallacy is a brutal one. Better to cut your losses than throw good money after bad.
- hasty_pudding 3y ago
  Sunk cost doesn't necessarily mean good management. It actually means the opposite. Instead of management identifying a boondoggle ahead of time they got the company into a mess.
  - lallysingh 3y ago
    It was MS buying LI and then wanting them on Azure. There's a huge Azure branding play here that - I'm guessing - drove this work. A distant second was some cost savings in the far future. The hit to Azure's brand for this is probably significant. Who was looking at a migration to Azure before who's now discouraged?
    - hasty_pudding 3y ago
      > was MS buying LI and then wanting them on Azure. LinkedIn's been extremely independent of Microsoft and still are just like GitHub and openAI. This was a 100% internal LinkedIn management decision.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - lallysingh 3y ago
        Could LI have selected a competitor?
        hasty_pudding 3y ago
        LI is a monopoly in professional social networking. there are no competitors
brightball 3y ago
Any amount of employee time spent exploring options that aren’t pursued could be framed that way. I think it’s a pretty successful operation when you can make the exploration and come to the conclusion that it’s not a going to work, then pivot. Sticking to the decision no matter what would be much worse.
- hasty_pudding 3y ago
  Id like to be your financial manager.
  - brightball 3y ago
    All a matter of perspective. Did you lose $10 mil to avoid losing $1 billion in wasted effort? Totally worth it. Your entire org also learned in the process.
    - hasty_pudding 3y ago
      Its like buying both Blockbuster and Radio Shack stock while their stock was in freefall then selling right before they declare bankruptcy and being proud at how good of an investor you are for not losing more money?
      - brightball 3y ago
        I feel like you’re reaching really hard to make this work. Companies, teams and people do research and test projects all the time to determine direction. Making a decision like moving the entire LinkedIn data center is just a larger version of that.
        hasty_pudding 3y ago
        a management decision lost tens of millions of dollars. you're saying they're good managers because they didn't lose billions. going by your "logic" its literally impossible for management to make a mistake because there's always some slippery slope they didn't slide down. """we put the company out of business but at least we didnt cause the collapse of matter into a black hole! we deserve some bonuses!!""" this is how people who work at monopoly tier companies actually think lol

richbell 3y ago

At least they canceled the project when it became apparent things weren't going to work out as expected. I've seen massive projects that have been train wrecks since day one pushed through until the bitter end because management can't admit failure.

magicalhippo 3y ago
We have that going on in Norway right now. Our state hospitals are switching several aging systems to some Epic-based monstrosity, and so far it's been a complete shit-show[1]. A major hospital has been running it for a year with lots of issues, some which has certainly affected patients gravely. It was rolled out despite heavy protests from doctors and nurses who had seen or experienced the new system at the smaller pilot hospitals. Yet management is pushing on, and just decided the next big hospital should get the new system this spring, despite the many severe issues that are still unsolved. [1]: https://www.nrk.no/emne/helseplattformen-1.15838445 https://www.nrk.no/emne/helseplattformen-1.15838445
hasty_pudding 3y ago
That's not good management though. Recognizing you fucked up and only cost the company tens of millions instead of hundreds of millions is "Not Terrible" management.
- prepend 3y ago
  It’s not perfect, but it’s good. Or better than spending more.
  - hasty_pudding 3y ago
    Id like to be your financial manager.

thenewwazoo 3y ago

The sunk-cost fallacy is a brutal one. Better to cut your losses than throw good money after bad.

hasty_pudding 3y ago
Sunk cost doesn't necessarily mean good management. It actually means the opposite. Instead of management identifying a boondoggle ahead of time they got the company into a mess.
- lallysingh 3y ago
  It was MS buying LI and then wanting them on Azure. There's a huge Azure branding play here that - I'm guessing - drove this work. A distant second was some cost savings in the far future. The hit to Azure's brand for this is probably significant. Who was looking at a migration to Azure before who's now discouraged?
  - hasty_pudding 3y ago
    > was MS buying LI and then wanting them on Azure. LinkedIn's been extremely independent of Microsoft and still are just like GitHub and openAI. This was a 100% internal LinkedIn management decision.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - lallysingh 3y ago
      Could LI have selected a competitor?
      - hasty_pudding 3y ago
        LI is a monopoly in professional social networking. there are no competitors

brightball 3y ago

Any amount of employee time spent exploring options that aren’t pursued could be framed that way. I think it’s a pretty successful operation when you can make the exploration and come to the conclusion that it’s not a going to work, then pivot. Sticking to the decision no matter what would be much worse.

hasty_pudding 3y ago
Id like to be your financial manager.
- brightball 3y ago
  All a matter of perspective. Did you lose $10 mil to avoid losing $1 billion in wasted effort? Totally worth it. Your entire org also learned in the process.
  - hasty_pudding 3y ago
    Its like buying both Blockbuster and Radio Shack stock while their stock was in freefall then selling right before they declare bankruptcy and being proud at how good of an investor you are for not losing more money?
    - brightball 3y ago
      I feel like you’re reaching really hard to make this work. Companies, teams and people do research and test projects all the time to determine direction. Making a decision like moving the entire LinkedIn data center is just a larger version of that.
      - hasty_pudding 3y ago
        a management decision lost tens of millions of dollars. you're saying they're good managers because they didn't lose billions. going by your "logic" its literally impossible for management to make a mistake because there's always some slippery slope they didn't slide down. """we put the company out of business but at least we didnt cause the collapse of matter into a black hole! we deserve some bonuses!!""" this is how people who work at monopoly tier companies actually think lol