Wow. Just wow.
There’s a lot of anger in this riveting piece, but don’t be quick to dismiss Morgan’s story. Lots of lessons learned, and I suspect you might recognize some of the behavior he encountered in people in your universe.
[H/T Khaled]
“Now that Google+ has been shuttered, I should air my dirty laundry”
I thought it was really petty to blame his coworkers for the grandmother thing. Maybe it was how early he was in his career, but if family stuff comes up and you work through it because you don’t tell your colleagues, that’s on you.
The section about being reprimanded by his boss and how it killed his morale is very, very reminiscent of Andy Hertzfeld own story. Which is interesting because Hertzfeld was at Google at this time and they bonded on this project.
Here’s Andy’s story:
https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Too_Big_For_My_Britches.txt
https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Leave_Of_Absence.txt
The section about being reprimanded by his boss and how it killed his morale is very, very reminiscent of Andy Hertzfeld own story. Which is interesting because Hertzfeld was at Google at this time and they bonded on this project.
Here’s Andy’s story from his site FolkLore:
“Too Big For My Britches”
“Leave Of Absence”
(boy it sucks I can’t post URLs to The Loop without them being held for moderation)
You’re ascribing a lot to the other side’s motives based on very limited information? Did Morgan ask to move the 9 AM meeting or was it just placed at 9 AM and accepted angrily? The former means a lot more than the latter. The meeting could have been scheduled first thing in the morning the next day just to get the discussion over with, with no visibility in how much work needed to be done.
If you always assume the worst motives about people based normal actions, don’t worry, I would never want to work on your team.
He describes a pattern of behavior on the part of specific people that suggests something other than what you might describe as “best motives.”
Hell of a story. I can certainly empathize with anyone who found himself part of a project that had neither genuine leadership nor clearly-stated goals. Especially at a company that boasts about its collective intelligence.
What an arrogant, self-righteous, self-centered prick.
Nuts. The point of that story was that his coworkers were passive aggressive, scheduled a 9am meeting for the very next day which they knew he’d have to work late to prepare for, went drinking, and then canceled the meeting due to hangover. That’s asshole behavior in the work place.
His point in mentioning his grandmother died that nite was to show how he made great personal sacrifices to get the work done. For the company. This level of commitment was not matched nor rewarded.
That’s the point of the story and thread. That you walked away with that summary is…”on you”. Good thing you’re not on my team.
I think it’s potentially petty to second-guess anyone who was hired for what he’d considered a dream job—with a false promise—and has a potentially valid story to tell.
“Blame his coworkers for the grandmother thing” is also reductive and inaccurate.
It’s really hard to make out anything from his story since he included so many superfluous details and it’s so one-sided while also unecessarily publicly calling out people he has no business calling out (even if he is now friends with some of them).
His story of the 9am phone call comes after he admitted to redesigning all of Jim’s work (which is not a great move… doesn’t sound like he was even asked to), not understanding Jim’s feedback, and wanting Jim to name other people who gave negative feedback. Instead of asking that of Jim, he could have solicited feedback from other people himself so he doesn’t have to put Jim in an awkward position, which he should have done anyways.
Also 9am could have been a “dick move” to him, but it was also a dick move to do to the other people who were invited to the meeting too. He could have just asked to do it another time. Same with his grandmother. It would have been understandable to ask to re-schedule because he had a family emergency. And if someone isn’t understanding of that, he should talk to his manager or HR, especially if it prevents better work from going through (which we don’t even know if it was better, just that he holed himself up and spent vacation time (???) redesigning other people’s work).
The conversation happened at the end of the day. His boss scheduled a 9am. Read between the lines.
He said the guy was “timid and generally kind” and yet he’s also the second coming of Niccolò Machiavelli? Also, contrary to what was stated below, he was, at the time, a peer. Like someone who I would describe as timid and kind would totally move a meeting.
Different guy. Try to keep track.