Okay.
The thing about running a software company is that your main product is an incredibly complex system that requires years of hands-on experience to understand fully. And I don’t mean from an end-user standpoint, here. I mean it takes years to learn all the little pieces that are going into the product, how they all work together, their little quirks and oddities, and how to make the whole thing keep working and make changes that don’t blow it to smithereens. Your coders are not just line workers, hammering out upgrades to order; they are the collective intelligence of your company. And when they start leaving in droves--voluntarily or otherwise--it’s time to worry.
Recently at DSI a change in management has put the company in charge of someone who came up through sales. Now, the dynamic in sales is no doubt very different, and moving people in and out more fluid. But in the last year or so, the development team has been stunned, watching their coworkers being swept out the door in no-notice layoffs. They’ve seen raises and the bonus plan ebb away into nothingness, even as they were assured the company was doing better than ever.
The message they have received is that they are not valued, that they are seen as interchangeable cogs rather than, as is the case, the institutional memory of the company. They have seen what loyalty gets them--the door. A sharp programmer can always find someplace that will value their skills, and when that’s the case, why hang around? In short, the people who Know How It All Works are leaving. And when that happens, there is an inevitable downward spiral. The next wave of people, seeing the top-tier people gone, bail out themselves. And on down the line until you get to the point where the only people who haven’t left are the ones who have nowhere else to go. Now, what sort of a job do you think is going to be done at that point?
I’m afraid at DSI the tipping point has already been passed. When I left, I left the development floor half-empty, and those remaining wondering what is to happen next. Whether the 12th (executive) floor has quite caught on to the magnitude of what is happening is anyone’s guess. The departure of one of their key people for a job with Apple at least should have raised some alarms. But even if it did--and there is no guarantee it did--it honestly may well be too late. I very much fear DSI is in for a talent slump that it will take years to recover from.
