Slashdot Mirror
Elon Musk Shakes Up SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Division By Firing a Bunch of Managers (reuters.com)
schwit1 shares a report from Reuters: SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk flew to the Seattle area in June for meetings with engineers leading a satellite launch project crucial to his space company's growth. Within hours of landing, Musk had fired at least seven members of the program's senior management team at the Redmond, Washington, office, the culmination of disagreements over the pace at which the team was developing and testing its Starlink satellites. Known for pushing aggressive deadlines, Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California to replace a number of the managers he fired. Their mandate: Launch SpaceX's first batch of U.S.-made satellites by the middle of next year, the sources said.
The management shakeup followed in-fighting over pressure from Musk to speed up satellite testing schedules, one of the sources said. SpaceX's spokeswoman Eva Behrend offered no comment on the matter. Culture was also a challenge for recent hires, a second source said. A number of the managers had been hired from nearby technology giant Microsoft, where workers were more accustomed to longer development schedules than Musk's famously short deadlines. "Rajeev wanted three more iterations of test satellites," one of the sources said. "Elon thinks we can do the job with cheaper and simpler satellites, sooner."
The management shakeup followed in-fighting over pressure from Musk to speed up satellite testing schedules, one of the sources said. SpaceX's spokeswoman Eva Behrend offered no comment on the matter. Culture was also a challenge for recent hires, a second source said. A number of the managers had been hired from nearby technology giant Microsoft, where workers were more accustomed to longer development schedules than Musk's famously short deadlines. "Rajeev wanted three more iterations of test satellites," one of the sources said. "Elon thinks we can do the job with cheaper and simpler satellites, sooner."
On the other, I am concerned about rushed deadlines and schedules
I finally got more than a single persons limited feedback on the software i'm developing. I had another day of updates in, and was going to roll another point rev for tomorrow to incorporate that feedback while the customer was just getting started using the software.
I started on the changes only to hear, well none of that is getting used. Go to the other lab and help approve the previous version the customer hasn't given any feedback on. In short go backwards, ignore feedback so I can check my box. In theory they can eventually file bug reports (I tried to, so we will see what happens), but by the time action is taken they will be past the first phase of use.
Blindly following a schedule can allow one to make more apparent progress, well up till something really bad happens. For myself, I hate promising I will fix these issue to a customer, only to get smack by, "No you will not. The process we have largely been ignoring for six months is now absolute."
This is the kind of crap that happens when schedule not engineering is your primary driver. Of course for a satellite, you have to follow processes more rigidly or bad things happen, but for the work I had, me having to go back and do an additional patch was the worst case scenario of rapidly implementing minor customer changes, while the worst case scenario of forcing additional bureaucracy and delay is the customers hating the whole mess.
I think Elon just has this magical view about computers. He seems to have a pretty decent at understanding the limitations of mechanical systems. He hasn't proposed anything rocket based that was not compliant with existing technology. And while the hyperloop has many, many details issues, it is not fundamentally unachievable. It's just that when he starts talking computers he seems to think the x86 in your desktop is a couple iterations away from being a monkey brain or something.
Now Musk has made the risky decision, everyone will be able to move forward knowing their necks are not so exposed if the gamble doesn't work out.
Oh sure, until that gamble rolls craps, THEN you are done too.
If the boss is willing to ignore his direct reports, fire a bunch of them because he doesn't like what they tell him about cost and schedule, you don't feel better, you polish up your resume and start looking for another job. Unless the upper management was just garbage and everyone knew it, everybody knows what this means, regardless of how possible something is or isn't, you deliver, on time, or you are given your walking papers.
This is absolutely the crappiest way to motivate labor and foster team work. Mustk has unwittingly created a dog eat dog world with CYA "I told you so" documentation flying off the printers at all levels. Nobody will want to be left holding the bag and everybody will be setting up to blame the other guy in hopes of keeping his job. Team work be damned.
You see the real "solution" (if there actually is one) is well motivated teamwork. Getting everybody pulling the same direction at the same time on the stuff that matters most. That kind of culture doesn't get built on firing folks. You build such a culture using carrots, not sticks.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
The sales guys took a project (and the awesome commissions) with a sick deadline - without engineering's input.
When we were told about it and complained, "It's not out deadline, it's the customers! And if we didn't take it, someone else would have! And if you don't think you can deliver, then maybe this isn't the job for you and you don't belong here."
Those that didn't put the stupid hours in got "didn't meet expectations" on their next review.
After a year of 12+ hour days 7 days a week, we missed the deadline. The company got (rightfully) sued, the stock crashed and many of us jumped ship because we couldn't take the bullshit.
My point? Musk takes on shit and makes deadlines that he knows he probably won't make but does it anyway. So, it is NOT the FCC's fault. You do NOT take work that you are not sure you can deliver.
I have worked with people with Microsoft, Google, AOL (when it was a thing).... And for the most part they are not any better then those guys who worked at small companies, or even in Government.
Actually people from small companies, are actually much better, because they know how to do more with less.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.