Pros
The CKM team is quite diverse and especially so by technology industry standards. While the office culture declined recently, I genuinely made new real friends during my time at CKM. Some of the formal and informal social events around the office are enjoyable. CKM has also been a decent entry point into the industry. Many at CKM are new to the areas of data science and development and manage use this as a launchpad for their career. The industry is still ripe with opportunity and with the right leadership that can restore a functional operation against a clear mission there’s a lot of room in the market for success so the potential for the company is still there.
Cons
The current vision and direction of the company is unclear and the new leadership structure is dysfunctional and lacks a defined focus. The company reorganized from a relatively flat structure into a very hierarchical structure with one of the partners taking charge as the CEO. Since that change and under the new org CKM has experienced a significant decline and the company has performed poorly. There is little client work and a constant stream of projects that we are told are about to start and then don’t materialize and are never to be spoken of again. The vibrant culture from earlier days is also gone. Previously CKM saw very few resignations, but under the new structure people are fleeing with a steady stream of very good people leaving for better opportunities elsewhere. One thing driving the departures is that CKM is now very confused about what it wants to be. The leadership always talks about how we are now a product company, but the whole organizational structure is broadly aligned and run like a consulting company with everything revolving around a staffing function that staffs people on various short term engagements. Leadership insists we're not a consulting company and gets angry if someone mentions the word consulting and then they run the place like a consulting company. Communication on central plans or key issues ranges from poor to non-existent. Much of what is said from the top of the house either doesn’t materialize or isn’t followed through. As such there is broad confusion over what the direction and purpose of the current company is. The overabundance of management layers and a culture that increasingly values process and org structure adherence over results means that very little actual output happens. There is strong potential but the current organization and overcontrolling style of the leadership often smothers out the usual energy found in smaller successful companies. CKM used to have that energy but under the new org structure that all feels gone.