3 ms·

Dustin, It is always easy to say that things are easy to fix on an outsider's perspective. In reality, it isn't. I have worked for a big company before and cha

by dannyr 17y ago

Dustin, It is always easy to say that things are easy to fix on an outsider's perspective. In reality, it isn't. I have worked for a big company before and changing things, even the obvious ones, are often difficult. You may not like the user experience of the site but it is possible that conversion is still high. There is definitely management problem based on their finances. Redesigning their site may not be in their top priority now.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
pyre 17y ago
> It is always easy to say that things are easy to fix on an outsider's perspective. In reality, it isn't. I have worked for a big company before and changing things, even the obvious ones, are often difficult. Let's call a spade a spade here though. In a lot of these large companies the barriers are artificial. Especially when your redesign will 'encroach' on someone's little fiefdom that they've cultivated over the years. I've heard stories of people that were left to their own devices (even in a small company) and when it became a dictate that he/she had to open up to others in the company they quit rather than give up their little 'kingdom.' These barriers are not there to protect the company in any way, shape, or form. They are there due to petty politicking and stuff that should best be left on the 3rd grade schoolyard. Sure we have to deal with them if we are going to exist in 'corporate culture' but they don't need to be there. This happens in large companies because at some point it becomes harder to control/eliminate, not because it's a necessary part of being a large company.
- mattm 17y ago
  Maybe they are artificial but they are still there. It doesn't really change anything. Like the parent poster, I too have worked in a large company. I was hired mainly to re-develop the intranet (it looked like it was designed in 1995). When I resigned 9 months later I still hadn't done any work on it. Now I had access to the files. I could have just changed it myself but there would have been an uproar and I probably would have been fired. In fact, just making minor changes such as cleaning up the CSS got me in trouble because other people used Dreamweaver to edit some pages and my changes made things look different in Dreamweaver. I imagine the people responsible for the AA website are in a similar boat. They have access to change things but there are these barriers - artificial or not. Now I've worked at some different sized companies and I've realised that is the way things were supposed to be at that company. This company handled people's pensions and needed to be conservative. The systems in place were DESIGNED to slow things down to make sure that everything was done right. Startups have their own speed of work and large companies have a much slower pace. There are reasons for both.
- cschneid 17y ago
  As optimistic as you are, saying that politics and self-promotion inside large companies is stupid, you have to remember the environment. By definition, a large company has LOTS of people, and lots of people involved in a project like changing a website design. They all have their own goals, their own direction and ways to do their job correctly. They won't always line up. The developers want to do whatever makes their work easier, while the ops people want to be sure the servers are stable. The graphics guys want to go with a stunning new design, but the marketing people want to put up a banner with their newest trips to europe. There are lots of cross-cutting concerns. Everybody can do their job perfectly, and without malice, and still have lots of friction in a change. It's not all about "big egos want their feifdoms"

by dannyr 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

pyre 17y ago

> It is always easy to say that things are easy to fix on an outsider's perspective. In reality, it isn't. I have worked for a big company before and changing things, even the obvious ones, are often difficult. Let's call a spade a spade here though. In a lot of these large companies the barriers are artificial. Especially when your redesign will 'encroach' on someone's little fiefdom that they've cultivated over the years. I've heard stories of people that were left to their own devices (even in a small company) and when it became a dictate that he/she had to open up to others in the company they quit rather than give up their little 'kingdom.' These barriers are not there to protect the company in any way, shape, or form. They are there due to petty politicking and stuff that should best be left on the 3rd grade schoolyard. Sure we have to deal with them if we are going to exist in 'corporate culture' but they don't need to be there. This happens in large companies because at some point it becomes harder to control/eliminate, not because it's a necessary part of being a large company.

mattm 17y ago
Maybe they are artificial but they are still there. It doesn't really change anything. Like the parent poster, I too have worked in a large company. I was hired mainly to re-develop the intranet (it looked like it was designed in 1995). When I resigned 9 months later I still hadn't done any work on it. Now I had access to the files. I could have just changed it myself but there would have been an uproar and I probably would have been fired. In fact, just making minor changes such as cleaning up the CSS got me in trouble because other people used Dreamweaver to edit some pages and my changes made things look different in Dreamweaver. I imagine the people responsible for the AA website are in a similar boat. They have access to change things but there are these barriers - artificial or not. Now I've worked at some different sized companies and I've realised that is the way things were supposed to be at that company. This company handled people's pensions and needed to be conservative. The systems in place were DESIGNED to slow things down to make sure that everything was done right. Startups have their own speed of work and large companies have a much slower pace. There are reasons for both.
cschneid 17y ago
As optimistic as you are, saying that politics and self-promotion inside large companies is stupid, you have to remember the environment. By definition, a large company has LOTS of people, and lots of people involved in a project like changing a website design. They all have their own goals, their own direction and ways to do their job correctly. They won't always line up. The developers want to do whatever makes their work easier, while the ops people want to be sure the servers are stable. The graphics guys want to go with a stunning new design, but the marketing people want to put up a banner with their newest trips to europe. There are lots of cross-cutting concerns. Everybody can do their job perfectly, and without malice, and still have lots of friction in a change. It's not all about "big egos want their feifdoms"