How I got fired from my job, and what I learned

How I got fired from my job, and what I learned(andrewlynch.net)

22 points by vincentbarr 10 years ago | 22 comments

ChrisDutrow 10 years ago |

He was set up to fail in this scenario. Lack of oversight and prompt feedback when he started slipping caused this situation to snowball.

Some personality types can handle this amount of autonomy, but most people cannot. Most people need more structure than what existed here. I also think highly creative people are even more likely to slip.

This is a reason why startups are so hard, it's really hard to put together an organization where people can be productive together.

I have three remote workers and I check in daily. When someone inevitably starts slipping, I try to let them know immediately. Otherwise it's my fault when I have to fire them and destroy value that I worked to create. It's throwing money down down the drain in the form of training, familiarity with the organization and acquired skills.

ArkyBeagle 10 years ago | |

IMO, you have to be a bit... "spiky" ( as Eddie Izzard might say ) to work independently. It's worth being a bit paranoid about expectations. This means you have to manage expectations, design deliverables very carefully and perpetually review them.

And if you don't hand in progress reports, do them anyway and keep them for audit - you'll need them eventually whether there's any conflict or not.

It's nearly impossible to describe just how ambiguously most people communicate. I've been places where I was in-house and it got to the point where I simply made it a point to be as irritating and lawyerly as possible, not long before I left. It at least communicates "I'm not the one giving up here..."

ChrisDutrow 10 years ago | | |

This is a really good point. When I think of the people who I've worked with who are successful without structure are usually a little bit paranoid/neurotic. Even if no one has checked on them for months, in the back of their head, they are still concerned about the repercussions of slacking off.

I should note that people without this personality trait can be successful too. But in their case, the repercussions for slacking off must be real and immediate (usually just being verbally called out). As a business you must have systems in place to know when this is happening.

There is another type of person who cannot be successful at all in this scenario. They will do everything in their power and intellect to get away with slacking off. ...Oftentimes because they cannot stop themselves from slacking off so their options are either: quit, get fired, or try to get away with it. Most people don't quit.

thelynchmob1 10 years ago | |

Author of the article here -- I think you're right to some extent, but if you can't handle that amount of autonomy, you shouldn't be working in a remote role at a startup. Also, I did a pretty good job of performing just at the level where I wouldn't get fired (in the short-term), but that I wouldn't have to work that hard either.

Cartwright2 10 years ago |

It's a crazy world we live in where someone would post such a candid article about their own under-performance. This article is embarrassing to the individual, and more importantly, to the company that fired him. I think people need to think more carefully about what they post online especially when using real names. This is permanent now. Any potential employer who searches this man on the internet will see this and I don't think that's a good thing. While some might not be turned off by this person's honesty, I certainly would not hire him having read this article. If anything it shows a lack of a diplomatic filter, not only a lack of discipline.

invaliddata 10 years ago |

We all have shortcomings. It is hard to work with people who refuse to acknowledge their shortcomings and then try to remediate or at least work around them. Even worse are those who seek to blame others for their circumstances or and arr not willing to admit anything personally embarassing.

I applaud the author and although I'm not in a position to hire anyone, I'd be more likely to hire him (ceteres paribus) because he's put this out there.

thelynchmob1 10 years ago | |

Author of this article here: thanks, that means a lot to me. I completely agree with you -- I'd much rather work with someone who acknowledges and admits their issues, so we can find a way to work around them, or make them non-issues. That's much easier than working with people who ignore problems, or try to patch over them, or try to mitigate all of their weaknesses without ever focusing on maximising their strengths.

itsmemattchung 10 years ago |

I really enjoyed the article, thanks for sharing it. As a remote worker, many of the points you mentioned resonate with me.

thelynchmob1 10 years ago | |

Hey, I wrote this article. Thanks - really glad you liked it. Remote jobs are fantastic for a lot of people, but they're not the be all and end all. Sometimes, they REALLY suck. Especially if you're not an introvert, and need other people around to recharge.

shambulatron1 10 years ago | | |

Signed up specifically to reply to this comment, and to add my thanks for your blog post :)

I'm going through a lot of exactly the same thing at the moment, though sans startup environment. I'm intrigued to read that you consider the root cause to be extroversion. I wouldn't call myself an extrovert at all, and would ascribe most of what you write about to anxiety (for which I've recently started seeing a CBT counsellor).

Do you think that having your coworkers available in-person would have changed things because 1) having them around would have "recharged your batteries", i.e. the extrovert theory, or 2) having them around would have added the pressure to counterbalance the procrastination (my situation a lot of the time), or 3) something else?