Elon Musk wants every Twitter employee sending weekly updates via email(theverge.com)
theverge.com
Elon Musk wants every Twitter employee sending weekly updates via email
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/21/23472372/elon-musk-wants-every-twitter-employee-sending-weekly-updates-about-their-work-via-email-now
8 comments
That's too much micro management :(
It always interesting to see the different interpretations of micro-management within different or similar jobs. My observation is that this level of detail is required in the beginning as someone is coming up to speed. I would also utilize this for a few weeks to gain an understanding of how managers are reporting status or problems to me then comparing that with what is submitted via the group or individual doing the work. I don't think it is unusual to have a high degree of skepticism of what is being reported when you first take on a project unless you have previously worked with a group or person before and have that working history. With this however there needs to be an understanding that if this isn't the normal reporting workflow work might be slowed down a bit adjusting to the new process.
Long term this is what project/program managers, ticketing systems, demo and planning, etc are for. You embed the stakeholder in the project and they can directly control the direction and status. If a project isn't going as planned as a manager or owner you should re-evaluate whether you actually understand the problem/solution or if you have not communicated it clearly.
Depending on your organizations size I would question a manager that can't give a fairly up-to-date status on what their people are working on without depending on a daily report to be given to them. Maybe if they just started there would be some leeway but if you aren't getting your own daily process together to make yourself more efficient, what value are you providing your team? You can't anticipate roadblocks if you don't know where you are in the plan, you can't start reaching out to other teams when co-ordination is needed, you can't give mentorship or guidance when things need to pivot because you won't be ahead of things and most importantly you may fail to see where your group aligns with the current objectives/mission which is one step toward irrelevancy.
Long term this is what project/program managers, ticketing systems, demo and planning, etc are for. You embed the stakeholder in the project and they can directly control the direction and status. If a project isn't going as planned as a manager or owner you should re-evaluate whether you actually understand the problem/solution or if you have not communicated it clearly.
Depending on your organizations size I would question a manager that can't give a fairly up-to-date status on what their people are working on without depending on a daily report to be given to them. Maybe if they just started there would be some leeway but if you aren't getting your own daily process together to make yourself more efficient, what value are you providing your team? You can't anticipate roadblocks if you don't know where you are in the plan, you can't start reaching out to other teams when co-ordination is needed, you can't give mentorship or guidance when things need to pivot because you won't be ahead of things and most importantly you may fail to see where your group aligns with the current objectives/mission which is one step toward irrelevancy.
A boss asking you what you did all week, once a week isn't micro management. Can you think of any job where you don't update your boss at least once a week.
Is the hierarchy totally flat apart from Musk now? I don’t email the CEO of the multinational that I work for weekly updates.
Right.
But then most multinational companies haven't been loosing millions of $ every day.
I've worked for two multinational companies (or ones I would consider such). I was on a first name basis with both CEO's. They weren't overbearing, but I knew them as people I could go to if I really needed to.
He's more hands on than most CEO's.
Don't get me wrong, working for Musk sounds like hell for someone who gives a crap about his work/life balance. But, I don't find the idea of emailing a status report weekly, overbearing.
But then most multinational companies haven't been loosing millions of $ every day.
I've worked for two multinational companies (or ones I would consider such). I was on a first name basis with both CEO's. They weren't overbearing, but I knew them as people I could go to if I really needed to.
He's more hands on than most CEO's.
Don't get me wrong, working for Musk sounds like hell for someone who gives a crap about his work/life balance. But, I don't find the idea of emailing a status report weekly, overbearing.
My day job requires daily updates, where we do the same. It's part of working remote.
I also have to write about what I'm planning on doing on the given day.
I also have to write about what I'm planning on doing on the given day.
If you don't mind elaborating i'm curious about this workflow / perspective.
1. What are the daily updates/planning providing to other team members / management? Are they stored like a git log somewhere for people to reference?
2. If you use a ticket queue/system would this seem redundant as your boss could just look at the queue, ticket comments, git commits, etc?
3. Do you have a project you support regularly or if a new project comes online how would management relate your update to the progress of the project?
4. Does the industry you work in have some strict bounds that you can pre-determine what you are going to do day-by-day? Otherwise what purpose do the daily updates + the write up on your plan for the next day serve?
5. If you have an issue that spans multiple days are you just giving a high-level overview or something else?
1. What are the daily updates/planning providing to other team members / management? Are they stored like a git log somewhere for people to reference?
2. If you use a ticket queue/system would this seem redundant as your boss could just look at the queue, ticket comments, git commits, etc?
3. Do you have a project you support regularly or if a new project comes online how would management relate your update to the progress of the project?
4. Does the industry you work in have some strict bounds that you can pre-determine what you are going to do day-by-day? Otherwise what purpose do the daily updates + the write up on your plan for the next day serve?
5. If you have an issue that spans multiple days are you just giving a high-level overview or something else?
1. yes.. They are stored and can be read by any team member. They sort of replace the standup. I can (and do) look at what others are planning for the day. Sometimes I ask to jump in and pair.
2. My direct boss can look at this (ticket/git), but his boss cannot, because he's not tech, so looking at git commit isn't helpful.
3. I work on a pile of projects, which is part of why the update works. Not all my tickets are on the same board. - the progress on projects is based on the tickets in those projects. This email/journal is not an indication of progress.
4. Nope (no industry bounds). I'm mostly just guessing at what I'll be doing for the day. Sometimes I don't do anything I planned, because something came up, or I have a sucky day and get blocked.
4.1 What's the use? I can see what others are planning and sometimes I can pair, or even ask them to hold off, because I'm working in that area. Oh... I'm an Elixir dev, so I can also telegraph what API features I'm building to the JavaScript team.
5. It's all just a high level overview. It's sort of like an offline daily standup.
2. My direct boss can look at this (ticket/git), but his boss cannot, because he's not tech, so looking at git commit isn't helpful.
3. I work on a pile of projects, which is part of why the update works. Not all my tickets are on the same board. - the progress on projects is based on the tickets in those projects. This email/journal is not an indication of progress.
4. Nope (no industry bounds). I'm mostly just guessing at what I'll be doing for the day. Sometimes I don't do anything I planned, because something came up, or I have a sucky day and get blocked.
4.1 What's the use? I can see what others are planning and sometimes I can pair, or even ask them to hold off, because I'm working in that area. Oh... I'm an Elixir dev, so I can also telegraph what API features I'm building to the JavaScript team.
5. It's all just a high level overview. It's sort of like an offline daily standup.