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This reminds me of the meme of Margaret Thatcher: "And There is No Alternative" - a way to justify the policies she desired to implement and attempt to preempt

by taurath 8mo ago

This reminds me of the meme of Margaret Thatcher: "And There is No Alternative" - a way to justify the policies she desired to implement and attempt to preempt any other view. We're supposed to believe Jack is a victim of circumstance. He hired all those people, and now he has no choice but to fire them - he wasn't clairvoyant to the future when he hired all those people, or else he'd known he would have had to fire them. But now since he is clairvoyant to the future, he knows he must fire them. We are all as childrens playthings right now.

lr4444lr 8mo ago
I dislike Jack going back several years, but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility between weighing the risk of doing this vs. not doing this. Maybe morale will tank anyway and the company will hold on, but be out-innovated by competitors that invested in growth. There are future outcomes that could prove he made the wrong call, and I any time layoffs are announced, there is a tacit mea culpa about past over-hiring.
- Lammy 8mo ago
  It reads as hypocritical because he frames it as himself making a sacrifice when what he's really taking responsibility for is choosing the outcome that makes himself the most money. He owns 1 million Class A shares and 79.7%(!!!) of Block's Class B shares: https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001512673/0cb664ca-b2dc-4645-ad7f-1c65e62c3667.pdf#page=63 https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001512673/0cb664c...
- taurath 8mo ago
  > admitting that he's taking responsibility Its funny how for him, he is enriched by this option as the stock price rises, and its couched in words like responsibility. I was taught when I failed at something that responsibility meant making amends to the people wronged. His reputation taking a hit doesn't come even close to the loss of 4000 people's livelihoods - he will not lose one of his presumably many houses. > tacit mea culpa This is the opposite of a mea culpa, this is saying there is no choice and the decision is inevitable, and he is only allowed (by the very framework he constructed) to do it fast or slow.
- NicuCalcea 8mo ago
  It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".
  - HDThoreaun 8mo ago
    He's also giving out massive severance packages
    - NicuCalcea 8mo ago
      Is four and a half month's pay considered massive in the US? What do you normally get when you're made redundant?
      - HDThoreaun 8mo ago
        Id say 2 months is about normal for non tech maybe 3.5 at solid companies. This also adds a week per year at the company so plenty of people will be getting 5 months+ and $5k on top of that
        NicuCalcea 8mo ago
        Fair enough. It's nothing crazy by UK standards, you'd usually get your notice period paid off (2-3 months), plus another few months negotiated by your union, plus the statutory week's pay for each year worked (1.5 weeks if you're over 40). You don't normally get to keep your devices, I guess.
        nothrabannosir 8mo ago
        Double counting the notice period is unfair IMO. You already pay for the notice period by having the notice period when you want to quit. Companies having to pay you the notice period when they fire you is symmetrical and IMO is not a severance package. Maybe that's just my assumption, but IMO a severance package is the asymmetrical pay-out when one party quits an agreement, not the communal wager you both put down when you enter the contract. Put another way: if both parties agree on a shorter or longer notice period, I wouldn't expect that to affect any potential severance package. It's just the notice period.
- poszlem 8mo ago
  Insert Michael Scott shouting "I AM DECLARING BANKRUPTCY" meme. Change that to "I AM TAKING RESPONSIBILITY".
- wiseowise 8mo ago
  > but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility What kind of responsibility is he taking, exactly? Has he stepped down? How much money has he lost when stock rose 23%?
raincole 8mo ago
> since he is clairvoyant to the future AI software development is the present, not the future. You don't need to be a clairvoyant to see AI replaced (some) developers.
- skywhopper 8mo ago
  Nah, if AI were truly revolutionary, those developers would all be twice as productive. So why would you fire them?
  - jckahn 8mo ago
    Because productivity doesn't scale linearly with quantity of developers. There's a point where it plateaus or even descends as quantity of developers goes up.
    - frankzinger 8mo ago
      The quantity of devs is not changing though. If AI really makes the existing devs more productive then the plateau should become higher.
  - raincole 8mo ago
    Because Block is a mature company now and they don't need the extra productivity. It's not just better for Block but also for the whole society that these developers leave for more innovating companies. AI writes code. It doesn't fix organizational problems.
    - frankzinger 8mo ago
      But there were no organisational problems according to Jack. Also do you really believe Block has reached peak productivity? Does any company ever reach it?

by taurath 8mo ago

lr4444lr 8mo ago

I dislike Jack going back several years, but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility between weighing the risk of doing this vs. not doing this. Maybe morale will tank anyway and the company will hold on, but be out-innovated by competitors that invested in growth. There are future outcomes that could prove he made the wrong call, and I any time layoffs are announced, there is a tacit mea culpa about past over-hiring.

Lammy 8mo ago
It reads as hypocritical because he frames it as himself making a sacrifice when what he's really taking responsibility for is choosing the outcome that makes himself the most money. He owns 1 million Class A shares and 79.7%(!!!) of Block's Class B shares: https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001512673/0cb664ca-b2dc-4645-ad7f-1c65e62c3667.pdf#page=63 https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001512673/0cb664c...
taurath 8mo ago
> admitting that he's taking responsibility Its funny how for him, he is enriched by this option as the stock price rises, and its couched in words like responsibility. I was taught when I failed at something that responsibility meant making amends to the people wronged. His reputation taking a hit doesn't come even close to the loss of 4000 people's livelihoods - he will not lose one of his presumably many houses. > tacit mea culpa This is the opposite of a mea culpa, this is saying there is no choice and the decision is inevitable, and he is only allowed (by the very framework he constructed) to do it fast or slow.
NicuCalcea 8mo ago
It's easy to take responsibility when all you have to do is say "I'm taking responsibility". Or, in his case, "i'm taking responsibility".
- HDThoreaun 8mo ago
  He's also giving out massive severance packages
  - NicuCalcea 8mo ago
    Is four and a half month's pay considered massive in the US? What do you normally get when you're made redundant?
    - HDThoreaun 8mo ago
      Id say 2 months is about normal for non tech maybe 3.5 at solid companies. This also adds a week per year at the company so plenty of people will be getting 5 months+ and $5k on top of that
      - NicuCalcea 8mo ago
        Fair enough. It's nothing crazy by UK standards, you'd usually get your notice period paid off (2-3 months), plus another few months negotiated by your union, plus the statutory week's pay for each year worked (1.5 weeks if you're over 40). You don't normally get to keep your devices, I guess.
        nothrabannosir 8mo ago
        Double counting the notice period is unfair IMO. You already pay for the notice period by having the notice period when you want to quit. Companies having to pay you the notice period when they fire you is symmetrical and IMO is not a severance package. Maybe that's just my assumption, but IMO a severance package is the asymmetrical pay-out when one party quits an agreement, not the communal wager you both put down when you enter the contract. Put another way: if both parties agree on a shorter or longer notice period, I wouldn't expect that to affect any potential severance package. It's just the notice period.
poszlem 8mo ago
Insert Michael Scott shouting "I AM DECLARING BANKRUPTCY" meme. Change that to "I AM TAKING RESPONSIBILITY".
wiseowise 8mo ago
> but I think in this instance he's admitting that he's taking responsibility What kind of responsibility is he taking, exactly? Has he stepped down? How much money has he lost when stock rose 23%?

raincole 8mo ago

> since he is clairvoyant to the future AI software development is the present, not the future. You don't need to be a clairvoyant to see AI replaced (some) developers.

skywhopper 8mo ago
Nah, if AI were truly revolutionary, those developers would all be twice as productive. So why would you fire them?
- jckahn 8mo ago
  Because productivity doesn't scale linearly with quantity of developers. There's a point where it plateaus or even descends as quantity of developers goes up.
  - frankzinger 8mo ago
    The quantity of devs is not changing though. If AI really makes the existing devs more productive then the plateau should become higher.
- raincole 8mo ago
  Because Block is a mature company now and they don't need the extra productivity. It's not just better for Block but also for the whole society that these developers leave for more innovating companies. AI writes code. It doesn't fix organizational problems.
  - frankzinger 8mo ago
    But there were no organisational problems according to Jack. Also do you really believe Block has reached peak productivity? Does any company ever reach it?