Thread regarding SAS Institute layoffs

Here is a GCC coping mechanism for SAS peeps:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/T6DNn4b9W6pqd1ua/?mibextid=D5vuiz

Over on the other thread, @jpq+1u2ZwtzZ noticed that R&D and Marketing are making similar complaints.

Y'all must be using an Agile methodology 😅.

this kind of absolute garbage exists out here in the real world, too

GCC is the pits and it needs to go away.

The GCC is the single worst idea to ever come out of sas marketing in the entire history of the company. The waste of time and energy on endless powerpoint slides and teams meetings with 30-50 people in them and reporting and presenting and recording.... what is the point if any of it?

There are no additional people to do any actual work. The few people who do produce work have less time to produce it. Because they are spending all their time messing around with slides and then reading their slides in meetings that are recorded for people several levels above them.

it's August now. what has been the net effect of this massive reorg and all these meetings and all this so-called planning?

nothing.

less work is being produced than ever before. more people are weighing in with their opinions which complicates everything. And a move to show that the marketing people in the regions can do just as good as a job as the marketing people in the US has failed miserably.

personally I am hoping that someone will acknowledge this and put in end to all this crazy. I have never seen such an obvious and complete waste of time and resources in my life. please make it stop. we are all exhausted.

@8tqh+1tG645j1

Others are now on "smirk alert". The gossip networks will go nuts.

"They have mandated decisions like using shapes that look like pills"

Perhaps subliminal symbolism of a deployed suppository to address the constipated Viya pipeline?

Smirk next time you see those "pills" in a presentation! Bonus: scan the room to see who else is smirking. Have fun with The Power to Know!

Let's hear more coping tips!!!

It says branding and design so of course it's in marketing. Sorry R&D, but there actually are other parts of the company. I know it's tough to remember they exist.

"In Marketing or R&D?"

No way they're talking about the one in R&D. Doubt JY is a blood relative lulz. How many centers of excellence does SAS have?

"It's a very small group headed by a person who shall remain nameless but who is a blood relative of the top dog at this company.

This very small group has spent several years pondering and dictating branding and design. They have mandated decisions like using shapes that look like pills in videos and powerpoint slides and ads and signs, and making the main SAS brand color blue again."

In Marketing or R&D?

The Center of Excellence mentioned here is probably not even known about by most employees. It's a very small group headed by a person who shall remain nameless but who is a blood relative of the top dog at this company.

This very small group has spent several years pondering and dictating branding and design. They have mandated decisions like using shapes that look like pills in videos and powerpoint slides and ads and signs, and making the main SAS brand color blue again. The latter has pretty much put the corporate branding back to where it was 10 or 15 years ago, lulz.

This very small group includes yet another person who was made a director straight from individual contributor bc of who she's pals with. A director with zero direct reports, natch.

Another IC and friend of the same relative will soon claim the creative director title surreptitiously vacated by a Voldemortian person last year. don't say that name or this whole discussion will be deleted.

"The Center of Excellence functions as another management tier, involving individuals from multiple departments who govern branding."

Back in the day, didn't one person did all that?... JD

@6hvd+1tG645j1

The Center of Excellence functions as another management tier, involving individuals from multiple departments who govern branding.

@4erd+1tG645j1

Did anyone post an answer? It is a reasonable question.

there is a popular book called "Bullsh-t Jobs" - I'm sure making a whole entire group (and then a reorg and another reorg of it) of bullsh-t jobs is covered in there.

How's the Center of Excellence different from the Enterprise Excellence Center??

“Motion does not always equate to progress...”

Attempting to sound profound does not always equate to meaningful communication

Is there a net revenue success story with GCC?

If not, then SAS should know who to lay off next.

"What is the "Center of Excellence" and what do they do?"

Motion does not always equate to progress...

Nobody I know has anything positive to say about it. Everyone grumbles about all the extra work it's creating. It's like doing a school play every quarter. you stand up and recite your lines and smile, hoping for a gold star when you're done.

What is the "Center of Excellence" and what do they do?

Never seen such a waste of time. The number of meetings I have has increased by a factor of 5. The amount of time I spend messing around with powerpoint is 10x more now..

This GCC thing is the opposite of agile or getting more done or whatever SAS is claiming to be this week.

oh oh oh don't go there. the people in the CoE are not public figures, tsk. name one and the whole discussion will get deleted. we know. it can be seen.

Perhaps someone will mention the Center Of Excellence? Whoops, I just did.

Good division to shove all the DEI hires to meet quota. Straight from the Microsoft, Google, and big tech playbook. The harder it is to measure performance, the less performance matters, and SAS stopped rewarding performance years ago. .

Ha ha ha I wondered when someone would bring up the GCC mess on this site. Quick everyone look busy and present some made up metrics. All these powerpoint presos will impress potential investors right? If you said yes I have a bridge I want to sell you.

"customer success just tells us things we don't want to know about viya or how new users (there aren't any) can get started."

Unfortunately, customers have been singing that chorus a long time. A damned shame an egotistical academic nerd having no business experience got the ear and the customers did not.

That came at the most unfortunate time for SAS. The market was going through a revolution and SAS was bent on evolution. Time - and opportunity - has passed us by.

SAS might prove to be like a used car. The longer it sits unsold on the lot, the more it depreciates, and the less likely it will sell for anywhere near initial expectations.

Whatever it is they need to roll it back like a walmart price. Things weren't great before but this giant spider web of people and meetings and slides slides slides slides is totally ridiculous.

What was the point of this GCC business? All it does is waste everyone's time. If the company paid for someone to think this up that makes it even worse.

on the customer side now. customer success just tells us things we don't want to know about viya or how new users (there aren't any) can get started. our environment is very slowly changing to the cloud, and our vendors have had plenty of time to make plans for this shift, but our legacy sas tools aren't being adapted to work well with our new platforms as far as i can tell. if you were making these changes, those are things your marketing should be trumpeting as loudly as possible.

No, that's not true! It will work this time!

There is not a single marketing initiative that can fix SAS’ decline. What a clown show 🤦‍♀️ and utter waste of money.

[mis+1tG645j1]
"What's an artifact?"
"A person over 60 years old who still works at sas, haha!"

@mis+1tG645j1 again with the art department?

Someone over 60 years old who still works at SAS is not safe, unless they lead the Art Department (which is safe).

An "artifact" is an Anthropology term that describes work products.

Dilbertian fer sure. There's nothing more dangerous than a useful id--t.

SAS PAID FOR THIS MESS??

Incredible.

Hmmmm how many people in this reorg mess got a promotion out of it? bc you know it's so tough to get by on a director salary. rookie numbers! Gotta pump those up to principal lead of this and senior director of that. While so many others had to drop down in title to move internally. Yah that's fair and equitable.

@mis+1tG645j1 again with the art department?

What's an artifact?

A person over 60 years old who still works at sas, haha!

I think somebody said it came from Forrester? Like we paid for them to come up with this.

It isn't working and everyone I know hates this GCC cr-p. All it does is overburden people with meetings and slides and constant novels in Teams channels.

If one more person says dRoP a ____ eMoJi iN tHe cHaT sO I kNoW yOu sAw tHiS i'm gonna lose it.

didn't someone say something about the Titanic recently? this GCC cr-p is the rearranging of the deck chairs for sure .

General rule: The fancier the name the more pontificating. If the name contains the word "global", that usually means meetings ad nauseum. Result? Likely no net revenue production.

Paralysis by analysis. Saw way more of that behavior my final five years at SAS. Yuck.