Success from shear luck - total short term thinking
Pros
Free beer and snacks. A lot of great people. Good location. Lots of potential.
Cons
Where do I begin? Wayfair’s success has all been a result of shear luck and good timing. I’ve heard execs admit this. There is no strategy or long term thinking here. The company only plans one quarter ahead and it all mostly revolves around short term bandaids (in an effort to tout speed to value). No one seems to realize that this short sighted incremental approach slows us down big time. And if anyone L4 and below speaks up, it only hurts them. The systems are a mess, there is more tech debt than the national debt, and we keep shooting ourselves in the foot by continuing to “brainstorm” what the next bandaid should be to get us through the quarter. It is awful. The politics are horrible. The gossip is at a level I’ve never seen (mostly because there are way more employees than work; a lot of bored people). HR doesn’t take complaints of sexual harassment seriously. Managers force people to resign without batting an eye. This place is soulless. I can go on and on and on. But the lack of a clear strategy or North Star is troublesome. And the insane amount of hiring (in order to keep up with the rapid revolving door) is causing a ton of disruption. I honestly don’t know anyone who is happy at Wayfair. We’re all just trying to get through another week. Most people are looking elsewhere or are forced to stay because of their work visa.
