Forgetting the Lessons of the Phalanx: Zooming In Does Not Work for Some
September 14, 2021
I read a write up from the Android mobile of Captain Obvious. The title? Here she be: “Study of Microsoft Employees Shows How Remote Work Puts Productivity and Innovation at Risk.” Ground breaking!
The article explains without a trace of Saturday Night Live humor:
A new study finds that Microsoft’s companywide shift to remote work has hurt communication and collaboration among different business groups inside the company, threatening employee productivity and long-term innovation.
To make the academic goodness of the report even more credible, the write up explains that the research report was:
published Thursday morning by Microsoft researchers in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. It coincides with Microsoft’s announcement that employees won’t be returning to the office Oct. 4 as previously expected.
I circled this quote nestled in the article:
The desire of employees to have both flexibility and connection with others is what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calls the “Great Paradox.” The company is also announcing new features in Teams, LinkedIn and other products meant to address some of the challenges revealed by the data.
War fighters employing the reliable phalanx figured out that Zooming in to a battle was not a reliable way to win. Teaming in, even with new features, is unlikely to yield better results.
Perhaps the lack of togetherness at Microsoft makes life easier for those exploiting the security peculiarities of Microsoft systems and software? No, hold that thought, please. Microsoft’s Windows 11 is a Covid era product. The Microsoft Exchange Server and Azure issues are from PC time; that is, the pre Covid period.
Perhaps the already present communications and togetherness issues have been present for many years. The work from home approach just amplified them.
Paradoxical? Nope. Management acting as a 50000 watt AM radio station. Static, anyone? Will Microsoft employees do the Thermopylae thing to defeat Microsoft’s antagonists? Sure, just via Zoom and one hopes a functioning Teams with extra features.
Stephen E Arnold, September 14, 2021
IBM: The Master of Motivation Sets a High Bar for Professionalism
September 2, 2021
I sure don’t know if the information in this story is accurate:
The headline is catchy but the message seems like one I have seen before.
I noted this statement in the article:
according to this latest lawsuit and many others, IBM does not keep its payment commitments. Since 2018, the complaint says, Big Blue has successfully argued in court that its IPL is not a contract and it does not have a contractual obligation to pay specified commissions. As IBM doesn’t have any other contract with its California-based salespeople who earn commissions, the company maintains it doesn’t have to pay them what it said it would pay them. Predictably, this has prompted sales reps to sue to recover what they contend they’re owed.
The source article cites laws and regulations.
My thought is that IBM is taking steps to motivate its sales professionals to take action. What specific action? Looking for a new job perhaps? Looking for a lawyer? Sharing details about Big Blue with those interested in fading technology giants’ management methods?
Let’s ask IBM Watson, shall we? Will the answer be, “Let’s exploit the Pavlovian and insecure sales professionals”?
Stephen E Arnold, September 2, 2021
Management Moments: Googley Decider Methods
August 27, 2021
We wonder whether writer Bernard Marr has been watching the same Google we have. His piece at the SmartDataCollective declares “Analytics at Google: Great Example of Data-Driven Decision-Making.” Who looks at the company’s handling of the Timnit Gebru matter, the series of employee protests, the discontinued Town Hall meetings, and the management transition at DeepMind and thinks these are indicators of an intelligent company?
Without a shred of irony, Marr uses an example from the HR department to illustrate his point. Google once wondered whether managers were actually necessary and implemented Project Oxygen to find out. Using data from performance reviews, employee surveys, manager interviews, and employees’ “Great Managers Award” nominations, the company discovered the mind-blowing reality—bad managers make for bad results, but good managers can make a positive difference. Imagine that. Google assessed what made for bad or good managers and implemented certain policies based on the results. Marr summarizes:
“An Intelligent Company
Google is a great example of how good decision-making should be supported by good data and facts. Google clearly followed the five steps I outline in my book ‘The Intelligent Company: Five steps to success with Evidence-based Management’:
1. Defining the objectives and information needs: ‘Do managers matter?’ and ‘What makes a good manager within Google?’
2. Collecting the right data: using existing data from performance reviews and employee surveys and creating new data sets from the award nominations and manager’s interviews.
3. Analyzing the data and turning it into insights: simply plotting of the results, regression analysis and text analysis.
4. Presenting the Information: new communications to the managers
5. Making evidence-based decisions: revising the training, measuring performance in line with the findings, introducing new feedback mechanisms.”
All that is true as far as it goes, but that scope is quite narrow. Surely Marr could find a better company to hitch his book’s wagon to. Perhaps one with a reputation for making good decisions regarding its workers.
Cynthia Murrell, August 27, 2021
Google and Personnel Management: Myth or Mess Up?
August 25, 2021
I am not sure if “Google’s Payments Team Is Seeing and Exodus of Executives and Employees” is spot on or wide of the mark. (This chunk of management memorabilia will cost you; the story is paywalled.) Google is an exemplary commercial enterprise: Profitable, profitable, profitable. Did I mention profitable? It follows that its approach to personnel management is top of the class. Summa cum laude territory.
From this write up I learned:
Dozens of employees have left Google’s payments team in recent
months.
And what about leaving with know how?
The stream of exits by top talent and recent reorg present another challenge for Google as it tries to get ahead in the digital payment space and launch a bank account integrated into Google Pay.
No problem. No myth, no mess up. Google has steady hands on the controls. What could be better preparation for taking on Amazon:
Under the watch of senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan, Ready has made a bigger ecommerce push in an effort to take on Amazon, which has included partnerships with Shopify, Square and others.
Just so Googley. Management excellence in action.
Stephen E Arnold, August 25, 2021
Apple: Change Is a Constant in the Digital Orchard
August 18, 2021
Do you remember how plans would come together at the last minute when you were in high school. Once the gaggle met up, plans would change again. I do. Who knew what was going on? When my parents asked me, “Where are you going?” I answered directly: “I don’t know yet.”
Apple sparked a moment of déjà vu for me when I read “Apple Alters Planned New System for Detecting Child Sex Abuse Images over Privacy Concerns.” The write up explained that the high school science club member have allowed events to shape their plans.
Even more interesting is what the new course of action will be; to wit:
The tech giant has said the system will now only hunt for images that have been flagged by clearinghouses in multiple countries.
How’s this going to work? Mode, median, mean, row vector value smoothing, other? The write up states:
Apple had declined to say how many matched images on a phone or a computer it would take before the operating system notifies them for a human review and possible reporting to authorities.
Being infused with the teen aged high school science club approach to decision making, some give the impression of being confused or disassociated from the less intelligent herd.
I have some questions about how these “clearinghouses in multiple countries” will become part of the Apple method. But as interested as I am in who gets to provide inputs, I am more interested in those thresholds and algorithms.
I don’t have to worry, one of the Apple science club managers apparently believes that the core of the system will return 99 percent or greater accuracy.
That’s pretty accurate because that’s six sigma territory for digital content in digital content land. Amazing.
But that’s the teen spirit which made high school science club decisions about what to do to prank the administrators so much fun. What happens if one chows down on too many digital apples? Oh, oh.
Stephen E Arnold, August 18, 2021
Apple and the New Worker Bee Buzz
August 16, 2021
Ah, the good old days. One would post a job, interview candidates, hire a person, and the individual would do what the company said. No more. It seems that the new worker bees want to buzz, clump, explore, and sting when a work task is not congruent with [a] world view, [b] social agenda, [c] perception of truth and justice, or [d] all of the above.
Google still sparkles with the brilliance of its management procedures; example: the Dr. Timnit Gebru method. Amazon has some struggles; example: managing the company’s union activity. Even Microsoft has demonstrated its acumen with the print nightmare thing – three, four times?
I noted “Apple Faces Internal Revolt over Plan to Scan Users’ iPhones.” The write up points out:
A backlash over Apple’s move to scan customer phones and computers for child abuse images has grown to include employees speaking out internally, a notable turn in a company famed for its secretive culture, as well as provoking intensified protests from leading technology policy groups. Apple employees have flooded an Apple internal Slack channel with more than 800 messages on the plan announced a week ago…
I think Apple is playing catch up, but the allegedly accurate information in “Apple Acknowledges Confusion over Child Safety Updates” says:
Apple is ready to acknowledge the controversy over its child safety updates, but it sees this as a matter of poor messaging — not bad policy.
Close but no cigar.
The mild flap (well, maybe a large scale fire storm is more than a “flap”?) illustrates these modern management precepts:
- Operate from the position of god mode. By definition, the words are those of an omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent Super Mario who knows everything before it happens most of the time. (Hey, anyone can slip on a banana peel.)
- Convert the so-called employee revolt and confusion with a bad prose passage. Sorry, that doesn’t work for me.
- Illustrate what I call the “Google customer centric approach”; that is, who cares?
Net net: The high school science club management method has been implemented with a style that probably elicits the Sin of Envy from outfits like NSO Group.
Stephen E Arnold, August 16, 2021
Hiring Excitement: TikTok Helps Ensure Dedicated Applicants with Social Video Skills
July 30, 2021
Even before AI assistance, employers were considering applicants’ social media presence in the hiring process. According to Fast Company, that may be a good thing for companies and workers alike. Writer Tomas Chamorro-Premuzik describes “How Social Media Data Secretly Reveals Your Personality to Hiring Managers.” The premise is that embracing the phenomenon can lead workers into more satisfying careers. We’re told:
“A constant feature throughout this time has been organizations lamenting their inability to find the right talent, and, on the other side of the problem, too many talented people complaining about meaningless or uninspiring jobs. … Our notions of talent have not evolved to keep up with the times. When university credentials have become disconnected from job-relevant knowledge, hard skills quickly become outdated, and what we know is less important than what we can learn, organizations are often left looking for talent in all the wrong places. This also harms their desire to create a diverse and inclusive workforce. When your main talent currency is still the resume, and the value of a resume depends on outdated talent currencies like college qualifications or past experience, it is hard to avoid hiring the same type of people over and over again, optimizing for ‘culture fit’ rather than diversity. In this context, social media emerges as a promising alternative to the dominant currency for talent. Its data acts as a talent bitcoin capable of redefining human capital more inclusively and meritocratic. Our social media activity already reveals a great deal of information about our deep character traits, precisely the type of stuff employers need to know (and at times also want to know) before they decide to hire us.”
Chamorro-Premuzik gives some examples to support his premise, from Facebook and Twitter to TikTok and Spotify. He admits to the ethical and legal issues here, but suggests they could be addressed with transparency and an option for applicants to opt in. We wonder, though, how optional would that really feel (or be) for most job hunters. We are reminded this use of data is happening anyway, so we might as well welcome the process and make it official. It is true that old hiring methods are woefully out of touch, but the idea that this trend is the best solution may be a stretch.
Cynthia Murrell, July 30, 2021
More Management and PR Deftness at the Google
July 23, 2021
I read “Google Leader Quits, Alleging Corporate Racism.” As a stellar American baseball professional allegedly said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” The allegedly accurate real news story stated:
Ashley Ray-Harris, a project leader for Google content creation, quit the company, saying in an email to Google that she experienced “some of the worst bureaucratic, corporate racism” that she “ever experienced.” “At a certain point I realized that even if you find a team that makes you feel welcomed, we still work within a company that views Black women as lesser than even as we sacrifice our mental health and work/life balance for this company,” Ray-Harris wrote in her resignation letter, which she posted to Twitter on Friday evening [July 16, 2021].
Several observations:
- Recruiters representing may have to some convincing in order to attract certain talented individuals.
- High school science club management principles are remarkably effective at generating publicity around high profile experts who quit on the very high school-centric service Twitter.
- SHRM might be able to do a session about the Google HR methods.
As the wise Yogi Berra allegedly said: “How can you think and hit at the same time?”
Another strike called.
Stephen E Arnold, July 23, 2021
Google Explains Censorship: Disambiguation Not Included
July 23, 2021
Navigate to this Google “documentation” page: “Abuse Program Policies and Enforcement.”
Now a quick exam to determine how Googley you are. Keep your answers brief because you don’t want to exceed Google storage limits.
What do these words mean?
- Sites
- Positive
- Abide
- Artistic
- Scientific
- Considerations
- Delete content
- Abuse.
I think these mean censorship. What do you think? More important, I assume, is what Google thinks. Wait, does Google think? It is a giant corporation which used its intellectual capabilities to craft what I call the Timnit Gebru strategy?
Stephen E Arnold, July 23, 2021
Three Here and Now Amazon Management Milestones
July 21, 2021
July 21, 2021, is a day of Amazon management milestones. In my newsfeeds this morning, I noted three items. Obviously none or some or all of these “real news” stories could be falsification from the fecund multi-verse. Who knows? Perhaps the error corrected Google quantum computer’s “supremacy” or IBM Watson can answer the “know” question. What do you think?
ITEM 1: More Competitive Zing
“Build a SQL-Based ETL pipeline with Apache Spark on Amazon EKS” states:
The Arc processing framework strives to enable data personas to build reusable and performant ETL pipelines, without having to delve into the complexities of writing verbose Spark code. Writing your ETL pipeline in native Spark may not scale very well for organizations not familiar with maintaining code, especially when business requirements change frequently. The SQL-first approach provides a declarative harness towards building idempotent data pipelines that can be easily scaled and embedded within your continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) process. Arc simplifies ETL implementation in Spark and enables a wider audience of users ranging from business analysts to developers, who already have existing skills in SQL. It further accelerates users’ ability to develop efficient ETL pipelines to deliver higher business value.
Remember Elastic, the open source search champion? What about Lucidworks? Oracle, anyone? Amazon wants to get the ingest, normalize, and analyze market in the AWS environment. Will these just named outfits be invited to the celebration of open source life? I don’t need a super smart DeepMind Alpha gizmo or the outstanding IBM Watson to answer this question.
ITEM 2: Big Rocket, Big Boat, Big or Small Body Dysmorphic Disorder
I missed the launch of the brilliantly named Blue Origin. I know. The story was everywhere. I live in rural Kentucky and the power was out. I did read “Jeff Bezos Says His Launch to Space Gave Him Greater Appreciation of Earth’s Fragility.” If true, maybe Green Origin would have been a more poetic name. Have those Bezos delivery trucks, servers, and automated warehouses gone green? Once again, no smart software like Sagemaker is needed. The answer is, “Maybe in one’s imagination” like an expensive amusement part ride powered by solar energy.
ITEM 3: Sensitive Human Resource Management
I spotted “Amazon Denied a Worker Pregnancy Accommodations. Then She Miscarried.” I did some quick checks, and this “real news” item is not too popular in the technology feeds I monitor. The write up states:
Patty Hernandez, a 23-year-old Amazon warehouse worker in Tracy, California, miscarried after pleading with her manager and human resources for lighter duty… Amazon’s human resources denied Hernandez’s doctor’s note, according to Hernandez who said the denial was communicated verbally by a human resources rep. “[HR] just told me there was no specific area for light work that wouldn’t require over 15 pounds of lifting, or for me to be off my feet,” she said.
To sum up: Brilliant competitor tactics management, outstanding management messaging about the environment, and the human resources management approach. Should I mention that some of NSO Group’s processes were allegedly running on AWS servers? Nah, probably just a rumor like Amazon being in the policeware and intelware business itself.
Stephen E Arnold, July 21, 2021
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