High School Science Club Management Method: Protecting the In Crowd Culture
September 17, 2018
I read a quasi news / semi MBA write up with the clicky title “A Wave of News Leaks Is Triggering a Crackdown at Google and Causing Fears That the Culture Is Being Openly Destroyed.” You know my procedure. First, I check out the loaded words in a write up. Not too tough because “crackdown” and “fear” are front and center. But the keeper is “destroyed.” Not damaged. Destroyed. Yikes.
There is one word I hoped the write up would define. It is “culture.” This may be one of the “I will know it when I encounter it” terms. Here in Harrod’s Creek we have culture. When one wants to shoot a squirrel in a neighbor’s tree, one pulls the trigger. Squirrels are fair game no matter where they are. Neighbors? Hah. Should have spotted the critter first and nailed it.
I don’t think too many Googlers or Alphabeters think about squirrels. I assume that if a squirrel were to find itself in need at the Googleplex, a squad of high technology wizards with minors in animal husbandry would rush to aid the furry creature. Another group of Googlers with degrees in food science would debate the virtues of frying versus grilling the animal. A third group of Googlers might make signs and protest improper intervention into the life of the confused rat like creature.
Ah, Google.
The write up, however, does not address these issues, whether squirrely or not.
I learned:
The increasingly heated and contentious atmosphere within Google mirrors the highly politicized nature of the country. As on the political stage, behavior within Google that was once considered unthinkable is now occurring with increasing regularity.
Okay, no definition of culture. Not too much about the destroy and fear thing.
Maybe crackdown? I noted after a bit of chatter about employees who send Twitter messages during meetings:
“People who leak are hated” internally, one source said. “There’s a reasonably open culture that many feel is being openly destroyed…. “There’s a perception that if you leak you’re destroying communication,” the source said.”
None of that anonymous stuff. This is a “source.” Helpful.
There’s a new security measure too:
Google informed employees in a weekly email update that the TGIF meetings would no longer be available to be streamed on individual laptops. Instead, employees who were not at the main event at a cafe in Google’s Mountain View, Calif. campus, would need to show up at special designated locations within its satellite offices to watch a feed of the proceedings. Anyone working from home or wishing to tune in from their desk while working was now out of luck.
Okay, the high school science club management method of restricting meetings and keeping the non sciclub types out. Insiders only. But only insiders who are actually inside something.
So much for the legions of remote employees, those traveling, or the hapless consultants who are “sort of like” employees.
I will keep looking for more HSSCM methods. These are useful and informative. Almost as nifty as leaked videos and real time Twitter messages, the follow up real news stories, and the wild and crazy apologia which Silicon Valley pundits contribute to the Gray Lady.
And the squirrel? Not qualified to be a Google target yet. And what is “culture” anyway. If it is not defined, can it be destroyed?
Stephen E Arnold, September 17, 2018
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