When I talk about Alteryx it’s like having a discussion about a dear friend who has recently lost his way.
Simply put, engineering is plagued by the worst management I have ever witnessed (particularly at the Director level). This is not hyperbole. Many of us are sitting here wondering which bad decision it will be that will make it necessary for action to be taken on what we perceive as abundant examples of poor leadership.
One would think that, with our company’s goal of becoming a billion dollar organization, we would want to double down on the culture that got us to the big leagues and, at the very least, be careful with whom we choose to be our leaders. In particular, it’s important to insure that when we bring leaders into our company externally that those individuals not bring the same bad practices that plagued the organizations they are presumably fleeing. Since 2016, our director has taken a wrecking ball to nearly everything that made Alteryx a great place to work. Important decisions are made in back rooms about tools, technologies, and processes without the council and expertise of the people who are affected by these decisions. Now, you are more likely to hear about what your team will look like or what tech stack you’ll be using from your manager than you are to be asked about what the best next move is. Confusion is rampant across all teams about what our next gen strategy is after two years of knowing that a next gen platform is imminent. We don’t know how to advance our careers and move up. We do know not to mistake an open door for an opportunity to speak the truth. We are people persecuted and furloughed for dissenting and being honest. You toe the line, present a unified front, or you sit down and shut up.
Management is upside down - it presumes to know what’s best for contributors and has lost sight of the fact that they are public servants. Could we please have leaders who didn’t constantly trip over their own egos, hush people in meetings, and misinterpret the fortune of being lucky enough to lead incredibly intelligent people to mean that they have divine wisdom or insight that allows them to rule people instead of serve them? It would be incredibly refreshing to have one of our leaders stand up and say, “OK, now I know I can find a lot of people who will agree with what I’m saying, but I want to hear from those who don’t” It doesn’t take much to surround yourself with and trumpet feedback from people who always agree with you and pretend like dissent doesn’t exit or, worse, not even know it exists.
If the now dozens of talented, experienced, tenured employees that have parted ways with us isn’t enough for us to wake up and realize something foul is amiss, what about the people who have voluntarily stepped down from leadership roles? How much more will we need to hear about it “just being growing pains” or the “transition from small company mindedness” to “big company mindedness” or it taking a special person to be a leader rather than a contributor? When are we going to address the elephants in the room?
When did Alteryx become fixated on being so utterly average, like every other corporate American company? We have an opportunity to be different. To do things our way. To be servants to our employees and customers first, and to our investors third. Shouldn’t “a billion” really just be a bi-product of being an awesome place to work and having great customers who love us? Our employees should feel excited to come to work because they are certain that their opinions and contributions matter. No one wants to be dictated to and told after a big decision has been made.
Meanwhile, I’ll just be sitting here hanging on a little bit longer. The Alteryx I knew is worth it.
