Being of two Minds

The day-job has been getting progressively more bizarre, to the point that sometimes I feel like I'm living in some crossover world half way between Dilbert and Zippy. You see, there's a rolling "reduction in force" underway, and each week brings with it the sudden disappearance of some co-worker, perhaps known casually from email or phone-conference, but occasionally someone from down the hall who we've worked with for years. Over time, we suspect as many as a fifth of us will silently disapppear, leaving an empty office and, perhaps, a "bye, all" email on some internal mailing list.

As one might expect, management is particularly closed-mouth about this process, vainly trying to "maintain business as usual during this transition period." Unfortunately, it isn't working. Critical programs are stalling as their hard-working teams wonder "what's the use, for all we know the project will be cancelled next month," while busy-workers try to appear relevant by churning out status reports, weekly meeting minutes, and revised schedules for projects that never quite get around to being completed.

Even in the best times my role is driven by the necessitites of getting a product out the door and into the customer's hands, so a part of me buys into the "business as usual" mantra. After all, we've got goods ready to sell and people who want to buy them right now, so why worry about what next quarter's plans may be? Sure, it's awkward not having Dave or Sue backing us up anymore, but we'll muddle through.

Unfortunately, another part of me is simultaneously viewing all of that as utter garbage. "Our customers have read the press reports about us, and they're not fools. Who would buy a product that might be discontinued right after they've ordered it?" Am I really serving them well by championing enhancements planned for future releases that may not ever happen?

This Orwellian 'double think' is driving us all a bit mad. I see my co-workers doing the mental math on how many weeks of severance pay they'd receive, versus how many months it might take them to find a new job. Optimize your chances by calling that head-hunter now, or stay focused on your current work in the hopes it will make you more likely to be retained?

Unfortunately, I've been through enough of these cycles to have far too many historical examples to draw analogies from. DEC, who went into a downward spiral, never to recover? HP, who's 'boomed' and 'busted', only to come back to 'boom' again? IBM, who managed to reinvent themselves, or Xerox, who never did?

No clever resolution here......just a "stay tuned, and let's see what happens next."