While everything is rumor or innuendo on here we have learned several things this week.
First, there were no lay offs actually announced. Sad though because we know they are coming. In the meantime we all sit and wonder “Is it going to be me ?” Excruciating and literally team crushing agony. Please excuse yourself if you are saying it’s everyone else but me or my area. Virtually no one should or could be exempt
Some branches are closing. If you are in a branch, I am sorry. This will be about 15,000 jobs or so. My guess is these are simply smaller branches that really drag efficiencies down. The 15,000 or so jobs (maybe more) will relieve some pressure for the need to get to 40k or so jobs. Why 40-50k? Because that’s the magical number that puts the math to help us with the efficiencies needed to be competitive from our current 42 % to about 29-30% like BOA or others frequently listed. We are far and it’s gong to hurt but it’s needed to survive. There will be more and we all know they are coming.
The mid year reviews will be used to justify and hammer people with. Just know that going in. It’s too obvious. Stack rankings ? They are and can be useful but are also dangerous and dangerous to real culture.
Some things appear to signal to us all that culture will become more toxic before it’s better. People jockeying for position to either look better and not be cut or cutting our neighbors legs off so he can’t take our job. I don’t fault anyone for doing it but it’s the consequences that are so hard for everyone to deal with. While some may keep their jobs this way, they will emerge as hated when this is over. I see it all over already. It’s a poison.
We are going to see many jobs going to India. If you are seeing a few team members placed here or there or agile squads being partial to India the handwriting is on the wall. They will go there. It’s just the way water flows. If each of your own bonus and LTI depended on it, you would move the jobs their way as well. I’m sure of it. So I don’t fault them but we are forced to deal with it.
To me this overhaul is long long over due. But what is the solution ? For me, it is we are simply too bureaucratic. We need less layers. Less over duplication. Less oversight. Less. Just because someone says it’s a SHARP doesn’t mean it really is. Some of these weighty processes are just k–ling us. Sometimes we find risk where there is none. This is what happens when there are people who feel like if they don’t find it, they are not doing their job. In the absence of constantly creating “risk mitigation” doesn’t mean that actual risk has increased. Please stop the silliness. I see how we got here but this is the proverbial albatross. Stop it please.
IT Is fat. Risk is fat. But worse than fat is to become what many imply as non value added dictators. Of course there are some value add or we would not have them. But to the level of control they have in making our lives miserable is mind numbingly silly.
The real question is if a department could go around and use an external IT SOURCE would they? Or vice versa are we only working with you because we have no other choice ? I know of no one that really enjoys working with the dictators in IT. WE can’t go around them and they know it. You would think they would have an attitude of service and help but does it really take 12 days to get a report from them ? Why can’t we get our own self service reports ? Does it really take 2 weeks to add a field to a screen? I know what they say but the troops have pitch forks for them and we can go nowhere. What outcomes from IT are we stuck with? Software that is archaic and in the stone ages. They are solely responsible for this one.
When combined with risk they are literally crippling things.
It will get worse before it gets better but in the end we can see that maybe if the right folks are eliminated and we are truly led from the top, the culture and level of uselessness by teams that don’t add value can change.
What things would you change ?