Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

The Curious Case of CP&I (A Masterclass in Chaos)

All of GT may be a dumpster fire, but CP&I somehow manages to be the main attraction. At this point, logic has officially resigned. JS’s directs and their teams are sprinting in every possible direction like headless chickens, enthusiastically throwing work at the wall with zero business alignment and even less clarity.

My engineering manager now treats strategy like a daily horoscope - every morning comes with a brand-new “priority,” allegedly inspired by whatever whim floated down from JS overnight. Meanwhile, CP&I is aggressively hiring engineers for teams where absolutely nothing is happening… while simultaneously loaning people out to PLM because, surprise, that’s where the work is.

In a truly impressive feat of leadership gymnastics, JS laid off all contractors, declared a noble shift to a 100% FTE “engineering excellence” model, and then - plot twist - brought in external vendors to help with engineering development. One can only marvel at the cost of this enlightenment.

As for ITC, it’s probably best described as a very expensive travel club. A leadership group of about ten makes frequent pilgrimages there, producing no visible outcomes except invoices. Rough estimate: ~$200K burned for vibes and frequent-flyer miles.

All in all, CP&I remains a fascinating social experiment. With VA now inheriting Technology, I’m genuinely curious to see whether this saga ends in transformation… or just a bigger, better-funded mess.


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| 1604 views | | 7 replies (last December 22) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1kcw42vra

7 replies (most recent on top)

I'm all for complaining which is why I'm curious why OP's being downvoted. It doesn't take a genius to see that all threads on the main page are being upvoted except for the 2 about Tech and CP&I. I can't help but wonder if it's people from Tech and possibly CP&I that are doing all the complaining about Nike yet not allowing others to complain about Tech.

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Post ID: @pt+1kcw42vra

@fz So let me get this straight: You’re lurking on an anonymous layoff forum, analyzing voting patterns on every thread, but you’re judging us for being here? The irony is pretty thick. We’re just fine if you’re wondering.

If you want toxic positivity and corporate cheerleading, go back to LinkedIn.

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Post ID: @gp+1kcw42vra

In this anonymous board where all threads trashing Nike in one way or the other gets upvoted except for the one criticizing CP&I. It seems people that frequent this board are against everything and everyone at Nike but CP&I. One can't help but wonder which teams the frequent complainers are from.

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Post ID: @fz+1kcw42vra

What do they do, CP&I? My understanding is that they are wasting money trying new things that don't work and fail most of the time.

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Post ID: @em+1kcw42vra

I’m not sure I agree with the 'zero alignment' take. For the first time in a while, it feels like we’re actually shipping things that matter rather than just churning. Regarding the vendors it looks like a standard 'burst capacity' move to me. My understadnding was that we had use-it-or-lose-it budget to burn to hit deadlines faster. As long as they keep opening FTE reqs (which they are), I don't see the vendor thing as a pivot, just a temporary bridge.

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Post ID: @ac+1kcw42vra

CP&I is pure chaos. JS brought Amazon's cut throat culture with him. It hired hundreds of new FTE's in one year resulting in directors fighting with each other for work and for opportunities to impress JS. What JS may not realize is Amazonians put up with it during Amazon's growth years because their stocks were appreciating. Nike doesn't pay enough for top talent to be willing to put up with this.

As OP mentioned, we abruptly let go of all ETW's working on legacy tools earlier this year. This resulted in FTE's having to learn to develop in legacy tools. Now we're spending lots of energy and money hiring external agency to work on new software. It would have been more efficient to just keep previous ETW's or, at the very least, slowly ramped them down.

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Post ID: @ab+1kcw42vra

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