Back on Christmas Eve of last year there were some reports that Elon Musk was in the process of shutting down Twitter’s Sacramento data center. In that article, a number of ex-Twitter employees wer…

Back on Christmas Eve of last year there were some reports that Elon Musk was in the process of shutting down Twitter’s Sacramento data center. In that article, a number of ex-Twitter employees wer…

  • @dhorkEnglish
    26•1 year ago

    That manager, when asked to do it in 90 days, if s/he was competent should have said: I’ll do it, but you’ll have to accept a downtime risk.

    That is the correct take in general, but I’ve worked for managers a bit like Elon before, and that never would have worked. It would have been the equivalent of tendering that resignation, because he sees any pushback at all as insubordination, and not to be tolerated.

    The only way out of this is to suggest an alternative course of action, but make it seem like it was his idea all along. My favorite method was to tie it to some bullshit metric he previously set for no reason. “Yes, sir, we could do it right away, but it may have an impact on our ad throughput, and I know ad revenue is a key prioriry you have personally set for the company. If we take the time to transition our ad platform first we can keep our revenue consistent”. Then that time ends up identical to the amount of time needed to move things correctly.

    It still might not work, but at least you’ve stroked the Boss’s ego, which can keep you employed for a few more months while trying to find the exit ramp.

    • stopthatgirl7OP
      12•1 year ago

      Musk quite literally said it was equivalent of resigning:

      Over the years, Musk had been faced many times with a choice between what he thought was necessary and what others told him was possible. The result was almost always the same. He paused in silence for a few moments, then announced, “You have 90 days to do it. If you can’t make that work, your resignation is accepted.”

      • @dhorkEnglish
        12•1 year ago

        Exactly, and that’s why turning it into a risk assessment, which would work with competent management, would never work with him. The only way to make it work would be to find a way to stroke his ego.

    • @alvvaysonEnglish
      -3•1 year ago

      I know the type. Elon is different though.

      Yeah, he is overrated by many. But he’s not the typical stupid middle manager, who get brain freeze when presented a simple dilemma.

      Fuck, Elon would fail hard as a middle manager. This clock ticks different. I have worked with a lot of people, but I don’t think he fits in one of the common types.

      • blivet
        9•1 year ago

        I think “asshole” is a pretty common type.