GitHub reviews

Many senior managers aren't setting direction for their teams or for the organization. Setting strategy is meaningless without the ability to execute. Team members aren't empowered to do their best work because the legacy flat organization means team members need to get buy-in on a massive scale to get things gone. It isn't efficient, and it burns people out. Really talented and respected people are let go for political reasons, which is devastating to those left behind. There's a culture of fear -- of coming off as stupid -- which stifles people from learning and asking questions, since they wonder if they'll be next to leave.

Kind of like Animal Farm, in company form…? Convoluted internal politics and history, heavily skewed against empowering remote employees to have influence on decisions or visibility into context. Lots of backchannel communication. Zero clarity for career progression and upward (or sideways) mobility. Poor feedback systems (both positive and critical), with very little meaningful action resulting from feedback processes. Many managers with poor people skills, and/or unmotivated to be good managers. No consistent management philosophy. Management is explicitly and actively discouraging community involvement.