Тугая упаковка, или Бизнес-роман о роботах, алгоритмах и о складе без людей

Today is likely my last day in the office.

Many of you know me. I've been one of the longest-term Symbots and made a few crucial contributions to our technology.

I wish it could be in better circumstances. But alas, the writing is on the wall. It's very simple: there is no hope for Symbotic under the current top management.

I am not telling a secret. Many of you know it, and still more suspect as much. Others heard it from so many people who left recently. Yet somebody needs to state the obvious.

It is not about a serious but isolated flaw in an otherwise amenable picture. The failure is massive and all-accompassing. It starts with the character. Despite their ostensibly grandiose boasts and lies, the current Symbotic leadership is a shockingly small-minded, petty and vindictive clique.

Today they are failing on all fronts, desperately clutching at straws. But they don't even understand which ropes to grab, because they drove away people who would know that, and made others indifferent or unhelpful.

It would have been half as bad if they were just a gang of incompetents they are. Worse, they are active poisoners, fouling ambient air. When a septic tank bursts nearby, the whole place becomes disgusting. One doesn't want to move around, to touch any wet spot, to glance at an innocent sparkling droplet. This is what became a familiar pattern at Symbotic. Great work would not be appreciated, and even insulted instead. Blame would be arbitrarily pushed around just as long as it doesn't touch top executives. Spying and petty snitching is instituted as an almost official policy.

What we have now in top management is a trifecta of technical incompetence, personal nastiness, and a preposterous level of hubris.

– They can't tell innovation from geese droppings in the Research Drive parking lot. On the most difficult technical challenges facing Symbotic they are out of their depth as a bathtub ducky float in the middle of an ocean.

– They genuinely don't understand there is a difference between inspiration and intimidation. «People skills» without quotes would cause a spellcheck error in reference to this bunch.

– They act bizarrely as if they almost invented all the Symbotic technology themselves. In truth they contributed nothing, and the only dwindling stream of innovation at Symbotic happens despite their meddling.

One could almost admire it in an utterly perverse way. It is not easy to put together a malodorous bouquet of the worst cliches from the «Dilbert», the «Office Space», and the «Horrible Bosses» in a real workplace. It is rare that nepotism is at a level that makes one recall inbreeding jokes. It is almost unique how quickly they managed to turn a vibrant organization into a tinpot totalitarian fiefdom.

There were and still are many people at Symbotic capable and willing to work hard, achieve and innovate. They could do it for the fun of interesting work, for personal fulfillment, for the promise of better things to come. But certainly not for a dismissive smirk of an obnoxious buffoon.

Two and a half years ago Symbotic was struggling, yet dynamic and promising company. Today it is an overgrown hollowed husk, with dead layers slapped incongruously together. The only slim hope lies in total removal of the current leadership, the root cause of failure. Otherwise, everybody else should leave and find better things to do, as many of the best people have done already.

With much regret,

Kirill