

Jack Dorsey Cleaning House At Twitter: 4 Key Product Guys Are Out - Jsarokin
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/20/twitter-cleaning-house-product/

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staunch
I think the Return of Jack Dorsey is going to end up being yet another stumble
in Twitter's disastrous management history.

It's so pathetic that a company as successful as Twitter needs to settle for a
part-time effort from Jack Dorsey rather than a dedicated person in their most
important position.

~~~
earl
There was a techcrunch story a while ago -- my apologies for not having the
link -- that basically claimed Google made counteroffers that couldn't be
refused to some product managers that Twitter had tried to hire. So I think
they're at least trying hard, but if G offered someone $10+MM of a _sure
thing_ , you'd be a fool not to take it.

Edit: actually, _goddamn_. TC says G offered up to $150MM. [1] That's
generational wealth. From the article: "Google may have paid as much as $150
million in stock grants to retain key product employees Sundar Pichai and Neal
Mohan, say multiple sources."

[1] [http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/06/google-said-to-have-high-
le...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/06/google-said-to-have-high-level-mole-
at-twitter-makes-massive-counteroffers-to-retain-employees/)

~~~
joshu
Sundar is a long-time Googler who I am sure has contributed that much value to
the company given his roles.

Not sure what this has to do with Twitter.

~~~
AdamTReineke
Twitter tried to hire them (for Dorsey's role) but Google paid them big money
to stay.

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olivercameron
I wonder how many of the departed will end up at The Obvious Corporation?

~~~
arthurgibson
I feel like I am waiting for the punchline. (Isn't it obvious?)

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ceejayoz
Were any of them responsible for the Dickbar?

~~~
shaggyfrog
Possibly. And FWIW Dick Costolo is still CEO.

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jamesshamenski
If Jack really is the prognosticator of web products like I keep hearing, he
will have to put new talent in place. Twitter is really a special product but
it's going to work - it must have Jack's vision seen through every pixel,
without compromise.

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danilocampos
Can any of the new product folk at Twitter do something to prioritize anti-
spam measures? The feebleness of Twitter's spam efforts, relative to the
simplicity and tenacity of the spammers, borders on contempt for the user
experience.

Go on and tweet "iPhone" or "iPad." Often you'll get a couple spam tweets
within a minute. Almost guaranteed within a couple hours.

~~~
djb_hackernews
They have 30 people dedicated to fighting spam and other abuse[1] as of April.

Pretty easy to identify a lot of spammers, there is a clear pattern if you
watch any trending topics.

[1] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/07/twitter-
int...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/07/twitter-internet)

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freejack
Twitter has some serious UX issues to overcome. If this sacking is a step
towards finally dealing with those issues, then Twitter Inc. will only be
stronger. If its just some part of a power play or structural re-alignment,
then I fear that Twitter may be at risk of losing the plot. They've got an
awful lot of work to do to start rationalizing the sharp edges on their
service or risk alienating the next wave of Twitter adopters. The UX and value
proposition is way to arcane for most people and I view this as Twitters
biggest challenge to continued growth.

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gaius
TBH I'm not even sure what a "product manager" is/does.

~~~
gyardley
Differs widely from company to company.

Identifying and brainstorming new products, talking with users and potential
users, figuring out if the product makes financial sense, writing up
requirements (with widely varying levels of detail), working with developers
to ensure the product being built matches the requirements, keeping people
across the company informed about the product's status with the appropriate
level of detail, describing the product to and then training sales, coming up
with longer-term plans (the 'product roadmap'), creating marketing materials
for the product, chatting with the media about the product -- I've done all of
those things as a product manager at a variety of places.

Product managers become useful when a company grows, people specialize their
functions somewhat, and everyone no longer knows everything about what
everyone else is doing. Good product managers do their best to eliminate
surprises.

It's the sort of job where you learn by doing, and in my experience there's a
lot of terrible product managers out there.

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keke_ta
Great move. In addition to Biz and EV, 4 key product guys are out. Do Dorser
try to reinvent twitter? I'm really looking forward to this.

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zackattack
My respect for Dorsey grows day by day. Rationale: because he's a powerful
man.

Fun Rationalizations:

\- New Twitter was an awful decision and represented poor judgment. Better
product intuition will lead to more usage of the Twitter platform. If you wish
to refute this then you must cite relative statistics of social engagement
that are better proxies than growth and uniques: one challenge I invite is for
someone in the know to contrast Time on Site for Facebook & clients vs. Time
on Site for Twitter & clients (vs. potential engagement on Twitter platform).

\- An ally of your enemy is not your friend. This move will create cultural
stability and reduce confusion.

\- Jack has the potential to create an incredible alliance between Twitter and
Square, ushering in the new payment protocol, ready to fully embrace a
technology like Bitcoin when the moment becomes appropriate.

\- Twitter has potential to be the ultimate payment protocol platform because
it maps exactly relations between leaders and followers. Money is a metric of
social value; so is the leader/follower dichotomy ("Following" people on
Twitter, ReTweeting to signal alliance [the same function as laughing], etc.
[I don't really know what I'm talking about.]).

~~~
ianhawes
You had me until you said Bitcoin.

~~~
corin_
Really? He lost me as soon as he suggested that "a powerful man" automatically
deserves respect.

~~~
simonw
He lost me when he called New Twitter an "awful decision".

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ddemchuk
WHEN IS TWITTER GOING TO TURN A PROFIT??? NO ONE CARES ANYMORE UNTIL THEY
ACTUALLY BECOME A BIG BOY BUSINESS AND TURN A PROFIT

------
antiterra
Deckchairs, Twittanic: Burning through investor money at Willenium bubble
speed, still not scalable, googlepluh on their heels.

Have they even found a _theoretical_ revenue model that can match the speed in
which they burn through capital?

