original publish date: 13th March, 2010
decades on …
I know that the comic ignores the optics side of the strategy. You don’t want to be seen hiring new people while letting others go. I get it, but it’s so operationally incoherent otherwise that it still makes my brain hurt.
The optics are a constraint to be managed, not the whole plan, dammit.
transcript
Manager: We need to reduce headcount so I’ve cancelled all roles we’re currently recruiting for.
FTE #1: Is that because you think the vacant roles are coincidentally the roles we least need, or that any new hires would somehow be our poorest performers anyway?
Caption: Attrition is not a strategy.