The Incompetence of American Airlines and the Fate of Mr. X(dustincurtis.com)
dustincurtis.com
The Incompetence of American Airlines and the Fate of Mr. X
http://dustincurtis.com/incompetence.html
102 comments
> Everything that leaves corporate walls must be vetted by legal
Hardly. If Sun can, then sure AA can too:
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2009/10/16/I-Just-Wan...
Sun was one of the first companies to open the blogging floodgates, officially. [...] I note, with some pride, that we’ve had maybe ten thousand person-years of blogging since we launched, and we’ve never had any material disclosures or legal trouble. Nor have I heard of any over at IBM or Microsoft or Oracle or any of the other companies who empower their people.
Hardly. If Sun can, then sure AA can too:
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2009/10/16/I-Just-Wan...
Sun was one of the first companies to open the blogging floodgates, officially. [...] I note, with some pride, that we’ve had maybe ten thousand person-years of blogging since we launched, and we’ve never had any material disclosures or legal trouble. Nor have I heard of any over at IBM or Microsoft or Oracle or any of the other companies who empower their people.
But what is really weird is that Mr X and AA.com come off pretty well in the email. A bit of humility and a focus on the future. I even liked AA a little bit more after reading it..... until I realised they fired him for sending it.
Thanks, this is a great reminder: Work email is strictly for work, personal email for everything else.
I can't help but think that this approach cannot work anymore in the current communicational golden age. We really have social media, twitter, blogs. Content accessible to the public is not constrained by publishers anymore. If you're a big organization, people want to hear things from your employees directly and not from the usual boring PR channels, and they find a way to do so because it's so easy.
I believe companies have to embrace allowing their employees to communicate independently while making it clear that what they say is not the official position of the corporation. There's simply no other way, the age of controlled communication channels is just over. A good example is MSDN blogs - anyone at Microsoft can launch his or her blog and talk about whatever they want (except, of course, confidental information).
I believe companies have to embrace allowing their employees to communicate independently while making it clear that what they say is not the official position of the corporation. There's simply no other way, the age of controlled communication channels is just over. A good example is MSDN blogs - anyone at Microsoft can launch his or her blog and talk about whatever they want (except, of course, confidental information).
Yes, the guy is clearly not a "team player", not a "loyal" employee, he had to go.
Ouch. I have top-tier status on AA, and they will be getting a note from me about this. Not cool.
That said, I am still confused as to why Dustin thinks AA's website is so relevant to its business model. Their website is not very Web 2.0, it's true. But, they make up for that... I can fly non-stop from Chicago (my home airport) to thousands of cities around the world on AA quite cheaply. They have three-class international service, which means I can use frequent flyer miles to get a really nice seat once in a while. They have lounges. They have international partners where my status benefits can be used. I get free domestic upgrades to first class. They have customer service that cares. (I have never been greeted by name on Southwest, but it happens rather frequently on AA.)
So anyway, the legacies are not totally incompetent. I fly at least every month and I would never even consider WN or JetBlue. The fare is about the same, and I have no chance of receiving anything other than a middle-seat on the back of a 737. No thanks. Perhaps the website UX is nice, but the rest of the trip won't be. And when I'm in a metal tube for 18 hours, I don't really give a damn about how much AJAX the website had.
(I am a little defensive here, I know. AA has been really nice to me, so I feel that they deserve some compliments for that.)
That said, I am still confused as to why Dustin thinks AA's website is so relevant to its business model. Their website is not very Web 2.0, it's true. But, they make up for that... I can fly non-stop from Chicago (my home airport) to thousands of cities around the world on AA quite cheaply. They have three-class international service, which means I can use frequent flyer miles to get a really nice seat once in a while. They have lounges. They have international partners where my status benefits can be used. I get free domestic upgrades to first class. They have customer service that cares. (I have never been greeted by name on Southwest, but it happens rather frequently on AA.)
So anyway, the legacies are not totally incompetent. I fly at least every month and I would never even consider WN or JetBlue. The fare is about the same, and I have no chance of receiving anything other than a middle-seat on the back of a 737. No thanks. Perhaps the website UX is nice, but the rest of the trip won't be. And when I'm in a metal tube for 18 hours, I don't really give a damn about how much AJAX the website had.
(I am a little defensive here, I know. AA has been really nice to me, so I feel that they deserve some compliments for that.)
"Their website is not very Web 2.0, it's true."
One of the original reasons why I disagreed with Dustin. Slick Web 2.0-y goodness does not imply a better user experience. Copious amounts of whitespace is easy on the eyes, but also doesn't automatically imply discoverability or readability. I know first-hand of at least one top-50 website that is very Web 1.0 but absolutely excels at what it does.
One of the original reasons why I disagreed with Dustin. Slick Web 2.0-y goodness does not imply a better user experience. Copious amounts of whitespace is easy on the eyes, but also doesn't automatically imply discoverability or readability. I know first-hand of at least one top-50 website that is very Web 1.0 but absolutely excels at what it does.
Amazon?
Google!?
Hacker News?
Craigslist?
RyanAir (especially apropos, albeit not top 50)
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Drudge Report
I think this is less about AA being crap and more about you being a frequent flyer with ANY full service airline.
Agreed. Although I do think AA beats the other US airlines on paper, which is why I haven't tried any others.
(I have flown on Southwest. Once. I got to the airport two hours early for a domestic flight. Waited in line for an hour and 45 minutes to check my bag and get a boarding pass. The boarding pass was "the wrong one" and security wouldn't let me through. Ticket agent didn't care. Gate agent didn't care. I then ran around the airport like a crazy person, "oh, you can connect in Kansas City, go to gate whatever". "She told you that we had room? HA! Try Oakland." Then I was stuck in Oakland for 6 hours.
This was before I was a frequent flyer and perhaps I was being stupid. But I have missed a fair share of AA flights and have never had any problems.)
(I have flown on Southwest. Once. I got to the airport two hours early for a domestic flight. Waited in line for an hour and 45 minutes to check my bag and get a boarding pass. The boarding pass was "the wrong one" and security wouldn't let me through. Ticket agent didn't care. Gate agent didn't care. I then ran around the airport like a crazy person, "oh, you can connect in Kansas City, go to gate whatever". "She told you that we had room? HA! Try Oakland." Then I was stuck in Oakland for 6 hours.
This was before I was a frequent flyer and perhaps I was being stupid. But I have missed a fair share of AA flights and have never had any problems.)
I've never had that type of experience at Southwest. Ever. It's my choice airline for domestic but I can see how it's not for everyone. I like the early-bird-gets-the-worm approach to their seating, and I print my ticket before I leave because.......
And you checked "a" bag in? On a domestic flight? If I can't carry-on on a domestic flight, then I cut down my packing so I don't look like a woman taking my closet.
When the two are combined, you only need to show up ~:30 minutes before a domestic flight assuming security isn't a mess.
And you checked "a" bag in? On a domestic flight? If I can't carry-on on a domestic flight, then I cut down my packing so I don't look like a woman taking my closet.
When the two are combined, you only need to show up ~:30 minutes before a domestic flight assuming security isn't a mess.
Southwest is a fantastic business and a competent airline. The business-hacker in me gets thrilled by all the little refinements one can see in the Southwest process.
Things that let them offer better service significantly more affordably than their competitors. Processes to make due with fewer attendants, for example.
All I know for certain is that I can fly a 1.5 hour Southwest flight, check my bag for free (if I so desire), get a free soda (or 2), and a free snack.
Things that let them offer better service significantly more affordably than their competitors. Processes to make due with fewer attendants, for example.
All I know for certain is that I can fly a 1.5 hour Southwest flight, check my bag for free (if I so desire), get a free soda (or 2), and a free snack.
This is really off-topic, so I apologise to everyone, but I really have to point this out to my American 'Net neighbours:
The expression is "to make do", not "to make due". Ask anyone from an English-speaking country that doesn't pronounce "due" and "do" the same (ie, not in North America).
Thankyou.
The expression is "to make do", not "to make due". Ask anyone from an English-speaking country that doesn't pronounce "due" and "do" the same (ie, not in North America).
Thankyou.
I checked my bag so I wouldn't have to buy 3 ounce plastic bottles.
I still check my bag, even though I "know better", because unpacking at the checkpoint is a big pain. I don't think I carry anything on that doesn't have to be taken out of my backpack.
I still check my bag, even though I "know better", because unpacking at the checkpoint is a big pain. I don't think I carry anything on that doesn't have to be taken out of my backpack.
Does security still prohibit >3oz bottles? I've flown domestic and international out of LAX this year, and they never bothered asking or checking.
Also, I have to open my bag anyways, it has my laptop in it.
Also, I have to open my bag anyways, it has my laptop in it.
> so I don't look like a woman taking my closet.
Could you please reconsider your phrasing? Thank you.
Could you please reconsider your phrasing? Thank you.
I missed an AA flight in Munich, and they were complete assholes. Actually, I guess it was their 'partner', BA, but even the people we got on the phone were completely unhelpful. My wife, parents in law, and I ended up on three separate flights to Portland, Oregon.
OTOH, on the way back, the nice person at the AA ticket counter saw there were problems with one of our connections, and put us all on a Lufthansa direct flight to Frankfurt.
OTOH, on the way back, the nice person at the AA ticket counter saw there were problems with one of our connections, and put us all on a Lufthansa direct flight to Frankfurt.
So why did you miss the plane? Was it your fault or the airlines?
If it was your fault, what do you expect to happen? If you travel by TGV in France and miss your train, your place is also gone and you have to buy a new ticket.
If it was your fault, what do you expect to happen? If you travel by TGV in France and miss your train, your place is also gone and you have to buy a new ticket.
I once overslept and missed my NYC -> Australia flight on a dirt cheap lowest-of-the-low economy Qantas ticket. Called them up, fearing the worst, and think I was going to have to pay crazy sums to fly out the next day by buying a last minute ticket.
Because I was calling at a weird hour, my call got routed to Qantas in Australia. Guy answers, I tell him in a panic about my situation and he's like "Yeah, no worries mate. Changed your ticket to tomorrow. How's New York? OMG! Have you seen the Statue of Liberty?!" Ha!
Because I was calling at a weird hour, my call got routed to Qantas in Australia. Guy answers, I tell him in a panic about my situation and he's like "Yeah, no worries mate. Changed your ticket to tomorrow. How's New York? OMG! Have you seen the Statue of Liberty?!" Ha!
We expected to have to pay something to fix the situation because it was "our fault" (there was a big accident and an hour long wait on the autobahn), but we also expected them to work with us a bit to try and fix things in some way. We did, after all, still have return tickets that we wanted to use, rather than buying a complete new round trip. Indeed, we finally did get a hold of someone on the phone and they managed to patch things up with roughly 100$ each, which wasn't that bad, all things considered, and seemed 'fair' to us. The problem was that they should have done that at the beginning (in other words, the person working at the terminal) rather than basically just telling us to get lost.
The difference really came down to how we were treated - a little bit of sympathy and trying to work with someone goes a long way to take the sting out of a bad situation.
The difference really came down to how we were treated - a little bit of sympathy and trying to work with someone goes a long way to take the sting out of a bad situation.
Agreed. Dustin just comes off as whiny and self-important, though I don't think the employee should have been fired considering the content of his email.
Also, booking flights is very straightforward on aa.com. Dustin could have provided some substantive comments on usability, but instead simply called it ugly and slapped together a minimalist southwest.com knock-off. The only thing that really annoys me about the site is how confusing it is to get a list of your current reservations.
A majority of the public only shops based on price and availability. Unless the website is so bad that they can't figure out where to put their credit card number, it doesn't matter.
Also, booking flights is very straightforward on aa.com. Dustin could have provided some substantive comments on usability, but instead simply called it ugly and slapped together a minimalist southwest.com knock-off. The only thing that really annoys me about the site is how confusing it is to get a list of your current reservations.
A majority of the public only shops based on price and availability. Unless the website is so bad that they can't figure out where to put their credit card number, it doesn't matter.
Is he whiny? He's a designer, this is his 'blogazine' about design, of course his post is going to be about AA's design. Later after posting from a result of his and Mr. X's actions Mr. X go fired. If I was Dustin I would have been concerned and outraged too and dam well would have written about it.
I hope Virgin hires this guy and makes a media event out of it. I will now never fly American Airlines ever again in my life. This sincerely pissed me off.
Spare the boycott for a cause which merits it. AA just lost a competent and passionate employee and announced themselves as a lousy place to work for creative people.
Why spare the boycott? It's not like it's difficult to avoid buying American Airlines tickets, and frankly, it sucks to fly with them anyways.
Rickety old planes and charging for things that are free on other airlines (headphones, drinks). What's not to love? Did I mention the competent and attractive staff?
> Did I mention the competent and attractive staff?
I realize that you're just trying to rag on AA, but I don't like the implication that 'unattractive' people shouldn't be airline employees.
I realize that you're just trying to rag on AA, but I don't like the implication that 'unattractive' people shouldn't be airline employees.
It's not the physical attractiveness of the staff I'm talking about, it's the lack of enforcement of a dress-code/personal hygiene policy. AA is the Walmart of airlines.
They lost me as a customer after 2 consecutive miserable flights. Midwest Express has yet to show me anything less then a fantastic experience. Though I've recently been gaining confidence with Air Tran, its the in flight wifi.
Clearly AA prioritizes the wrong things. I'm betting the guy broke some policy, but is it really a firing offense? Are they going to sack the middle-management bonehead who blew this up into a much more embarrassing spectacle?
Like I really needed another reason not to fly AA. These days, its Jet Blue or Virgin America if at all possible.
Like I really needed another reason not to fly AA. These days, its Jet Blue or Virgin America if at all possible.
On the other hand, when I flew from Puerto Rico to Florida with my dog this spring, JetBlue not only didn't have facilities to fly my dog, they had no answer to my dilemma at all. And instead of refunding my ticket, they gave me credit, with JetBlue, who ... can't fly my dog. And then they said, "Well, have a nice day." No help, no money back, no nothing. It took them fifteen minutes even to tell me that they couldn't do it because they didn't have cargo facilities that could handle dogs.
I have a year to fly anywhere I need to, with JetBlue, except I needed to fly from Puerto Rico to Florida.
American flew me, and my dog, to Florida, no difficulties at all, on the spot. So maybe their corporate culture is screwed up, like many companies in this world, and maybe they're so big that there are a whole lot of people to screw up their Web design.
But when it comes to actually flying somebody somewhere with a dog, well, they appear to be an airline. Between AA, whose staff knew what they were doing, and JetBlue, whose staff came off as clueless, I'll continue to take AA.
I have a year to fly anywhere I need to, with JetBlue, except I needed to fly from Puerto Rico to Florida.
American flew me, and my dog, to Florida, no difficulties at all, on the spot. So maybe their corporate culture is screwed up, like many companies in this world, and maybe they're so big that there are a whole lot of people to screw up their Web design.
But when it comes to actually flying somebody somewhere with a dog, well, they appear to be an airline. Between AA, whose staff knew what they were doing, and JetBlue, whose staff came off as clueless, I'll continue to take AA.
I don't wish to be rude but did it not occur to you to check they could handle your dog when booking?
I do this when I fly musical instruments like my bass guitar (for which I haven't managed to purchase a hard-shell flight case, bah) to evade having a damaged instrument at my destination. Some airlines will let you store these things in the bulkhead compartment forward, and others require you to purchase an additional ticket.
So, yes, checking the airline's policies would've been top priority. With JetBlue, this is amazingly easy: http://help.jetblue.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/webisapi.dll?New,Kb=ask...
So, yes, checking the airline's policies would've been top priority. With JetBlue, this is amazingly easy: http://help.jetblue.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/webisapi.dll?New,Kb=ask...
Actually, no. I'd never flown with a dog before and was a rank amateur; it didn't occur to me that dog crates might be a different category of luggage/cargo. I freely admit that this was my fault (in a way), and I'm not saying they should have flown the dog anyway - but the way they handled it was not good. Instead of just saying, "I'm sorry, we can't fly dogs because they're a different category of luggage we're not permitted to handle here" and refunding my money, they were very strange about it and didn't refund my money.
yeh I agree that how they treated you was bad, it's odd that they refused a refund :(
Good idea. Let's consign everyone who flies with a dog to a particular airline, so the rest of us can avoid them.
I'm sure my dog down in the baggage area was a terrible trial for everyone exposed.
When I flew from the UK to the US with my cat (in cargo) I think the other passengers got annoyed with the flight attendant coming up frequently to reassure me that my cat was (probably) fine. It was a really bumpy flight - worst i've been on. Full marks to Virgin Atlantic for the pet cargo service. They really go above and beyond for long haul pet travel: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/passengerinformation/tr...
And when said kitty needed to come from Boston to Toronto, it was in AA in the cabin. They were nice but largely indifferent about it. I'm guess they see plenty of pets every day. The normally surly TSA metal detector guys were really patient with me though.
Yay for globe trotting kitty!
And when said kitty needed to come from Boston to Toronto, it was in AA in the cabin. They were nice but largely indifferent about it. I'm guess they see plenty of pets every day. The normally surly TSA metal detector guys were really patient with me though.
Yay for globe trotting kitty!
did the TSA guys examine your kitty?
Kitty's bag needed to go through the x-ray machine. Kitty came through the metal detector with me. I was worried he was going to be nervous and leap out of my arms, but he was scared and holding on for dear life at that point, and jumped straight back in to his bag as soon as it emerged from the machine.
Actually he travels pretty well, as long as you stay next to him and he knows you're around. If you want away from him he gets plenty upset though.
Actually he travels pretty well, as long as you stay next to him and he knows you're around. If you want away from him he gets plenty upset though.
TSA always examines pets; they did check my dog.
Hmm .. maybe this will catch Virgin attention if all of us do it?
http://twitter.com/hwijaya/status/5436741226
http://twitter.com/hwijaya/status/5436741226
i would be down for organizing something to help make this happen.
AA searched their exchange database for the text I posted, found the guy, and fired Mr. X on the spot.
As upsetting as this is, it's just not that big of a surprise. Some companies take non-disclosure very seriously. Why didn't Mr. X just use gmail? I can't imagine discussing any company's internals on their own email system.
OTOH, maybe Mr. X just committed corporate suicide by email. That's one way to escape the insanity.
Thanks for the update, Dustin. I sure hope Mr. X lands on his feet fairly soon and I applaud your contribution. I like to think that integrity still trumps idiocy.
As upsetting as this is, it's just not that big of a surprise. Some companies take non-disclosure very seriously. Why didn't Mr. X just use gmail? I can't imagine discussing any company's internals on their own email system.
OTOH, maybe Mr. X just committed corporate suicide by email. That's one way to escape the insanity.
Thanks for the update, Dustin. I sure hope Mr. X lands on his feet fairly soon and I applaud your contribution. I like to think that integrity still trumps idiocy.
I wondered that as well and assumed he used his corporate account to make his identity claim more credible.
He could have emailed Dustin from gmail then told Dustin to make a throw away email that he would email "hey Betsy, hope the trip went well. Did you bring me back any chocolate from Switzerland?" Done. Verified and completely secure.
This however is an idea usually reserved for hindsight.
Its amazing how someone so obviously passionate can be completely screwed over by such bureaucracy. Do HR departments ever have humans running them?
Sadly, the sole purpose of an HR dept. is to keep a company from getting sued. The bigger the company, the more that's their sole focus.
This guy admitting anything but the most perfect of environments and purity of process, while not a firing offense to normal folk, opened a vector for the possibility of the hint of something bad being done. So he had to go.
This guy admitting anything but the most perfect of environments and purity of process, while not a firing offense to normal folk, opened a vector for the possibility of the hint of something bad being done. So he had to go.
Sadly, the sole purpose of an HR dept. is to keep a company from getting sued.
When that company is a US company, then yes, because of the sue-on-sight culture that has grown there. The same thing wouldn't have happened if this was Air France, Scandinavian Airlines or Iberia Airlines.
When that company is a US company, then yes, because of the sue-on-sight culture that has grown there. The same thing wouldn't have happened if this was Air France, Scandinavian Airlines or Iberia Airlines.
Yeah they do, but it's a tough situation for everyone. If the HR person didn't fire Mr. X, someone else more opportunistic and less scrupulous would've done it - and the original HR guy's head would've rolled with Mr. X's.
Things like this will keep happening so long as we're willing to trample all over each other in our race to the "top".
Things like this will keep happening so long as we're willing to trample all over each other in our race to the "top".
Bureaucrats don't want passion, they want repeatability - see Robin's new post about sports rules http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/11/sports-signals.html.
A bit off-topic, but Dustin Curtis' site really hurts my eyes reading on my MacBook pro... I have a really hard time reading his text, and when I look away, I have very pronounced stripe patterns in my vision.
I have the exact reverse here. I love sites and applications that use a dark background; bright backgrounds are like staring into a lamp. It probably depends on the environment you tend to read in; I usually read in a darker room.
I'm quite OK with a lot of dark sites, but this one produces an insane "buzzing" feeling. Might have something to do with the gray-ish text. I couldn't get through the entire article even if I wanted to.
I'm reading in a dark-ish room right now. I suspect it may have something to do with the type of monitor used to view the site, because on mine the physical effects are very pronounced.
I'm reading in a dark-ish room right now. I suspect it may have something to do with the type of monitor used to view the site, because on mine the physical effects are very pronounced.
I agree. I can't put my finger on it, but the white/red text on the page positively glows at me, not in a pleasant way either. It feels like I'm staring at a lit light bulb.
If he changed the background color to a very dark shade of grey rather than straight black, it would lessen the contrast and ease the strain on your eyes. If you're feeling buzziness from reading inverted type, there is also a good chance your screen is at an unhealthy brightness. Great for picking out contrast, but painful on the eyes. One trick my friend taught me was to place a light source off in the distance to the side, to break up the focused source of light from the screen. It cured his computer-induced headaches immediately, along with lowering his brightness.
I'd guess that it's a difference in screen brightness. Try turning down your brightness and see if that helps.
The lamp-effect depends on your monitor. I hated white screens when I was using a CRT. Now it doesn't make any difference to me with an LCD.
Yeah, this happens on some screens. I spend all day looking at and designing white websites, and I just enjoy playing with dark on my own site.
I feel I can take risks with my blog that I can't take elsewhere. Sorry if it bothers you.
I feel I can take risks with my blog that I can't take elsewhere. Sorry if it bothers you.
You certainly have that right :) It doesn't really "bother" me in an emotional sense as much as I just can't read much of it whether I'd like to or not -- I'm not complaining, just pointing out that fact.
But some people seem to find it more appealing, so I suppose it works both ways.
But some people seem to find it more appealing, so I suppose it works both ways.
I have the same issue with light text on dark background pages, I generally dislike them. It actually affects my vision for a few seconds after I look away from the page, before my eyes adjust again. That page could certainly do with a little more contrast between text and background at any rate. I recently created a site that does make some limited use of light text on dark background and found this post from a few years ago to be a good resource for looking at the issue from both sides (the comments are an important part):
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_d...
For as long as I can remember I have not liked reading large amounts of light text on dark backgrounds. It's always felt as if this was some kind of genetic predisposition for me. While for others, the opposite (i.e. strongly preferring light text on dark background) seems to be true.
I'd be really interested if anyone has heard of some solid research on why certain people prefer one over the other.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200608/light_text_on_d...
For as long as I can remember I have not liked reading large amounts of light text on dark backgrounds. It's always felt as if this was some kind of genetic predisposition for me. While for others, the opposite (i.e. strongly preferring light text on dark background) seems to be true.
I'd be really interested if anyone has heard of some solid research on why certain people prefer one over the other.
Same problems on my macbook pro as well - but http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ fixes it, of course.
I have to admit, looking at Dustin's site, I thought "huh, interesting choices from a UX designer." I also found it hard to read now that you mention it...
cmd+opt+ctr+8 unless you're not on a Mac in which case too bad for you.
If you're using GNOME and Compiz, this feature is buried in the settings (run 'ccsm' aka 'Compiz Config Settings Manager'). It's called 'negative' or something like that. I don't recall off-hand if it is enabled/disabled by default or what the default keybinding is, but it's there.
From http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html (struck-out): "Fire your entire design team, if you have one."
I guess AA took some of that advice to heart here.
I can only hope this guy does land a job someplace where the company culture isn't completely and utterly fucked all across the board, all the way from the hangar to the board room.
I guess AA took some of that advice to heart here.
I can only hope this guy does land a job someplace where the company culture isn't completely and utterly fucked all across the board, all the way from the hangar to the board room.
More interesting to me, the email that got the guy fired: http://dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html
An articulate explanation of how good intentions at big companies can often be implemented only slowly.
An articulate explanation of how good intentions at big companies can often be implemented only slowly.
Dialog from Makers, by Cory Doctorow http://craphound.com/makers/Cory_Doctorow_-_Makers.htm
This dialog comes near the end, Lester and Perry discussing the paradox of working for a big company. According to Cory's bio, he never worked in a big company, but he nails it here.
gvb
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Lester: "They said that they wanted me to come in and help them turn the place around, help them reinvent themselves. Be nimble. Shake things up. But it’s like wrestling a tar-baby. You push, you get stuck. You argue for something better and they tell you to write a report, then no one reads the report. You try to get an experimental service running and no one will reconfigure the firewall. Turn the place around?" He snorted. "It's like turning around a battleship by tapping it on the nose with a toothpick."
Perry: "I hate working with assholes."
"They’re not assholes, that’s the thing, Perry. They’re some really smart people. They’re nice. We have them over for dinner. They’re fun to eat lunch with. The thing is, every single one of them feels the same way I do. They all have cool shit they want to do, but they can’t do it."
"Why?"
"It’s like an emergent property. Once you get a lot of people under one roof, the emergent property seems to be crap. No matter how great the people are, no matter how wonderful their individual ideas are, the net effect is shit."
"Reminds me of reliability calculation. Like if you take two components that are 90 percent reliable and use them in a design, the outcome is 90 percent of 90 percent - 81 percent. Keep adding 90 percent reliable components and you’ll have something that explodes before you get it out of the factory.
"Maybe people are like that. If you’re 90 percent non-bogus and ten percent bogus, and you work with someone else who’s 90 percent non-bogus, you end up with a team that’s 81 percent non-bogus."
"I like that model. It makes intuitive sense. But it’s depressing. It says that all we do is magnify each others’ flaws."
"Well, maybe that’s the case. Maybe flaws are multiplicative."
"So what are virtues?"
"Additive, maybe. A shallower curve."
This dialog comes near the end, Lester and Perry discussing the paradox of working for a big company. According to Cory's bio, he never worked in a big company, but he nails it here.
gvb
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Lester: "They said that they wanted me to come in and help them turn the place around, help them reinvent themselves. Be nimble. Shake things up. But it’s like wrestling a tar-baby. You push, you get stuck. You argue for something better and they tell you to write a report, then no one reads the report. You try to get an experimental service running and no one will reconfigure the firewall. Turn the place around?" He snorted. "It's like turning around a battleship by tapping it on the nose with a toothpick."
Perry: "I hate working with assholes."
"They’re not assholes, that’s the thing, Perry. They’re some really smart people. They’re nice. We have them over for dinner. They’re fun to eat lunch with. The thing is, every single one of them feels the same way I do. They all have cool shit they want to do, but they can’t do it."
"Why?"
"It’s like an emergent property. Once you get a lot of people under one roof, the emergent property seems to be crap. No matter how great the people are, no matter how wonderful their individual ideas are, the net effect is shit."
"Reminds me of reliability calculation. Like if you take two components that are 90 percent reliable and use them in a design, the outcome is 90 percent of 90 percent - 81 percent. Keep adding 90 percent reliable components and you’ll have something that explodes before you get it out of the factory.
"Maybe people are like that. If you’re 90 percent non-bogus and ten percent bogus, and you work with someone else who’s 90 percent non-bogus, you end up with a team that’s 81 percent non-bogus."
"I like that model. It makes intuitive sense. But it’s depressing. It says that all we do is magnify each others’ flaws."
"Well, maybe that’s the case. Maybe flaws are multiplicative."
"So what are virtues?"
"Additive, maybe. A shallower curve."
Also a good argument for never putting someone's email up directly on the Web - you've got to paraphrase if you think anyone might ever object to it.
And, yes, that's depressing.
And, yes, that's depressing.
Also a good argument against using company email for personal correspondence.
"AA searched their exchange database for the text I posted, found the guy, and fired Mr. X on the spot."
"AA searched their exchange database for the text I posted, found the guy, and fired Mr. X on the spot."
And try not to use a company computer for anything except work. Big corps usually have spyware installed on their computers so they can track everything you do.
The last place I worked had software that took a screenshot of your desktop every so often, and the boss could remote into your machine to see what you were up to. I didn't find out till my last day, it explained why he was so good at busting us when we were on facebook
The last place I worked had software that took a screenshot of your desktop every so often, and the boss could remote into your machine to see what you were up to. I didn't find out till my last day, it explained why he was so good at busting us when we were on facebook
While poor intentions appear to be able to be enacted very swiftly.
But doing the design isn’t the hard part, and I think that’s what a lot of outsiders don’t really get
That's always the way with any non-trivial undertaking. Recognizing this is the hallmark of actual experience.
That's always the way with any non-trivial undertaking. Recognizing this is the hallmark of actual experience.
This is nothing but positive, actually. Someone who is passionate, thoughtful, and caring about his trade will have a _much_ greater impact, career, and reward at a different organization than the one described by
http://dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html
From the point of view of the management - this is someone who wrote an article about the company having big time bureaucracy, lot of teams that don't talk to each other and hinting that the company culture is all messed up. well, what can one expect.
And firing him obviously confirmed that notion. AA just got Streisand'd
its ironic that he signed the reply off with
Very truly yours (and hoping I don’t get fired for being completely incompetent),
IMHO, any employee not on the customer service team that reaches out to customers should be awarded not punished, given that it's done somewhat reasonably. In most cases filing a complaint with the customer service people would get you nothing - you need to talk to the ux designer.
Maybe AA's customer service or PR team is unionized, and this was just a CYA maneuver? (I realize that this is a huge stretch, just saying...)
And this, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is a lesson in why establishing a brilliant culture in your company is of utmost important. It's amazing to me to see all the praises in this thread for JetBlue and would be interesting to see a case study comparing the differences in culture between the two brands.
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I'm not sure why no one's mentioned this but isn't Dustin responsible for having Mr X fired?
It seems the proper thing to have done would be to make the email untraceable to Mr X rather than just anonymizing the name.
It seems the proper thing to have done would be to make the email untraceable to Mr X rather than just anonymizing the name.
There's a common attribute that makes for good designers, good engineers, good employees, and good companies. For a long time, I couldn't figure out what it was. Was it practice? Was it skill? Was it innate ability? Turns out, it's none of those. It's taste.
Steve Jobs also cited 'taste' as the fundamental difference between Apple and Microsoft. His high-and-mighty attitude almost made me want to puke, as Dustin's does here.
Steve Jobs also cited 'taste' as the fundamental difference between Apple and Microsoft. His high-and-mighty attitude almost made me want to puke, as Dustin's does here.
Like it or not, at Bigco International, everything is a press release.
Personally, I would have given the guy a warning. What he said was quite harmless and almost certainly common knowledge, but we don't know the whole story here. He may have been warned before, or AA burned by this type of thing before or both. Its unfortunate, but understandable. In the name of tolerance and acceptance, we've built one of the most intolerant and litigious societies ever. This is just one of the many sad side effects.