Though their heart is in the right place, Rackspace could use some work. Rackspace's infrastructure is sorely lacking. The Rackspace culture is manic, dysfunctional, and reeks of cronyism. When management talks about "friends and family," it means they get to hire their incompetent pals without any checks or balances. I need a "Rackers Anonymous" meeting. The place is filled with people with "manager" or "director" in their title, without any clear indication of what they actually do. The best leaders at Rackspace tend to get their wrists slapped for not lining up with "core values" and tend to get lost in the chaos. The least effective leaders are encouraged to perpetuate the "let's talk about this forever without getting anything done" syndrome. Lots of managers use the core values to stifle innovation, speaking out, and risk-taking. For instance, I've seen more than one person get ousted for speaking up in meetings, for being innovative and proactive, for actually getting work done, or for being a self-starter. Rackspace promotes "group think" - if you don't line up with the ineffectual way they do business, you are accused of not conforming to core values or being a team player. They claim to value fanatical support - meaning, employees should feel empowered to do whatever it takes to do a great job - however, the culture disempowers employees and forces them to shape up (to the core values) or ship out. Rookie-O - a weeklong indoctrination camp disguised as an orientation - gives you a good idea of what's ahead. Lots of red tape for a place that claims to eschew it. Thank god that San Antonio is a warm place because the emperor is definitely naked.
