

Marissa Mayer and Yahoo's telecommuting: Right motivation, wrong execution  - chrisyeh
http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2013/03/marissa-mayer-and-yahoos-telecommuting.html

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fusiongyro
My impression from reading about the "brouhaha" here on HN is that people were
mainly talking about the flaws of the policy itself. A lot of friction and hot
air, but fundamentally, taking away a major employee perk isn't going to be
easy even if it's obvious-in-black-and-white better for everyone, and this one
is very grey. The one thing most people seem to agree on is that Yahoo! is not
in a great position to be making stern pronouncements—after all, there are
better companies hiring on both sides of the debate.

I see very little of this as having anything to do with Mayer-as-Mayer or
Mayer-as-a-woman and almost all the reaction here having to do with Mayer-as-
a-technology-CEO. Can't speak for the greater world, though I think my
coworkers would agree out here in the middle of nowhere.

But I'm really here to bellyache about the format of this content. There are
so many blog posts that read "Paragraph 1. In this post I'm going to tell you
X. Paragraph 2: X! Paragraph 3: In conclusion, I think X." The length here is
an improvement but I'm not sure a three page essay really warrants a table of
contents of five parts.

~~~
jaggederest
> There are so many blog posts that read "Paragraph 1. In this post I'm going
> to tell you X. Paragraph 2: X! Paragraph 3: In conclusion, I think X."

This is a classic persuasive writing/speaking technique, and often quite
effective when used well. I think people try to shoehorn an otherwise
expository or short-form post into that form because it's worked for them in
the past.

To be clear, it's most effective when working with a subject matter lengthy
enough to exceed the standard short-term attention span of ~5 minutes or so.

~~~
fusiongyro
In this response, I'm going to tell you that I think it's pedantic and
wasteful, and mainly done to take up extra space.

It's my honest opinion that people do this because they want to take up extra
space, and because they vaguely remember someone in school telling them
"that's how you should write an essay." But that doesn't mean it's
appropriate. In many cases, it simply adds bloat. Unnecessary scaffolding upon
which nothing hangs but empty air.

In conclusion, I disagree with you, because I think the form is overused and
leads to pervasive snoring. It could be used well, but if it were I wouldn't
be complaining about it. I have now explained why I think this is and now I
invite you and/or the reader to draw your/their own conclusion/s.

~~~
jaggederest
You have _extremely_ poor reading comprehension if you think I was disagreeing
with you. As I said, it doesn't work well in very short examples.

~~~
fusiongyro
Oh come on, that was comedy gold.

------
Julianhearn
This is the reason for staff slacking off:

Google's mission: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful.

Facebook's mission: Facebook's mission is to make the world more open and
connected.

What is yahoo? Yahoo! makes the world's daily habits inspiring and
entertaining. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we
keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around
the globe. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with
the audiences that build their businesses.

<http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/faq.cfm>

Note: if you do a google search for yahoo mission, nothing is found on yahoo
itself. The lack of a big hairy goal is not motivating.

~~~
vellum
I don't think you need a unifying mission. Take Apple, for example. They just
make great product lines.

Their mission statement [1]:

 _What is Apple's mission statement?

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X,
iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music
revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the
mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the
future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad._

Yahoo could do the same by paring their offerings into a set of great
products.

[1] - <http://investor.apple.com/faq.cfm?FaqSetID=6>

~~~
Julianhearn
Having a mission like "the best personal computers in the world" sounds like a
pretty hairy mission to me.

------
digitalengineer
I feel the decision to kill remote-work would have been less harsh if Yahoo
opened up a daycare departement for all the employees' kids. Now the CEO does
not work remote, but gets to have her kid in the room next door. She's paying
for it herself, so thats smart. Why not give other employees that option? Give
them the option to pay for an in-company daycare centre together.

------
tyang
I don't see how you make Yahoo! a great company again without having employees
work hard (not just smart) and work side-by-side, physically.

Whatever percentage of Google or Facebook works from home, I'd argue the
percentage at Yahoo! should be less.

It's clear Marissa is on a mission to make Yahoo! succeed at playing catchup
and righting the ship.

Folks who wish to work from home should go to more established, relaxed
institutions.

This isn't your daddy's Yahoo! anymore.

Go long Marissa Mayer.

~~~
chrisyeh
I don't see how you can get employees to work hard unless they want to do it.

I do see value in getting rid of dead weight (productive employees hate
slackers more than just about anything) but this telecommuting ban is a
terrible way to get rid of dead weight.

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huhtenberg
Who is this guy and why should I read his multi-page armchair analysis of
Yahoo! PR releases and leaked memos?

~~~
peacewise
Not necessarily an unbiased article, since the author is the VP of Marketing
at PBWorks; an online collaboration tool. <http://pbworks.com/about-us>

~~~
davidandgoliath
VP of Marketing at what? Haven't heard of them. He should get back to doing
his job instead of slinging mud at third party entities.

------
t4nkd
Personally, I've seen a lot of qualitative analysis and anecdotal evidence to
support remote working, specifically when it comes to technology companies.
I've worked with a notable company who almost exclusively used remote
employees and, from that experience, would never advocate remote work on a
regular basis. It certainly has a place, for specific people of good standing
and character who are put in an extraneous circumstance; but I've consistently
observed what I believe Mayer has: smart people in the same space day after
day will breed a more innovative, collaborative culture.

Most of the criticism that I've observed regarding the announcement seems to
reek of the opinion that telecommuting is a "Good Thing" and that anyone who
can't see that is missing the forest for the trees. This usually goes in hand
with laughable academic braying and vaunted statistics about (some number less
than 40) hour work weeks.

Forgoing my inclination to rant about how that kind of opinion is generally
cancerous to an organization trying to change the landscape of it's industry
through creativity, I think that Yahoo! is in a position where it can't afford
to treat their employees like a productive group. And to that effect, it's
much easier to identify shit employees who show up an hour+ late and leave
with the herd at 5pm when you(or your managers) can observe that behavior
regularly. Regardless of their output, I've observed that people who can't be
bothered to adhere to simple routine will become an abrasive factor in a fast
moving, creative culture; and tend to inevitably diminish the effectiveness of
their peers. That kind of situation is the last thing that Yahoo! needs at the
moment.

If Yahoo! can get out from under it's own sense of prior accomplishment and
entitlement, and I remain confident that Mayer can do this for them, I'm sure
she would consider a situation like remote working when it comes to top
talent. But, until that happens, everyone there should be treated like a rich
son in a boarding school -- assume the worst about most of those individuals
and the one's who are weighing down the company will start to show their true
color.

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hardwork
Totally agree: "I don't believe that treating employees fairly requires
treating them identically". Also I don't think "hallway and cafeteria
discussions" are the paradigm of hard work.

~~~
chrisyeh
I'd much rather people plan out a working session, provide materials in
advance, and then push to a resolution than rely on random serendipity.

That being said, I generally prefer working in the office to telecommuting,
despite the distractions.

