poor product management led to mass layoffs (~75% of staff)
Pros
- the people are truly the only important aspect of PB. most folks there are passionate and dedicated, and the staff pool is one of the most diverse I've seen.
Cons
- poor management. I've seen people with zero management training getting promoted into managers, suddenly expected to manage 4+ people and providing little to no support for their team. I didn't have any opportunities for career growth, my manager didn't have time for me aside from putting out fires. - terrible communication between departments & products. quiet incompetence is a serious issue here. I know of several cases where people were not doing their jobs and somehow getting away with it for years. - they held a meeting in Aug 2023 explaining that layoffs were likely coming. it was transparency that a lot of other companies don't provide, however it absolutely ruined morale for the next 6 months. - another company where connections mean more than doing a good job. layoffs came in January 2024 and an entire product was sunset (Storyloom). however, people on the product that was still going (Choices) were let go to make room for specific Storyloom employees to be retained. even though they had zero experience working with the product. it was insulting.
