Happy Halloween!

I showed my kids the Addam's Family movies from the 90s for the first time this week. They loved it and asked why they're so weird. I told them that they were sort of meant to be a parody of the American family by being total opposites. They love death and dark things instead of life and happy things. Morticia and Gomez are crazy about each other instead of being estranged. The kids love each other and enjoy their macabre activities together.

So with that. Let me present to you a vignette of the Addam's Corporation.

"Thank you again for another incredible quarter! We've made record profits, and you know what that means..." the CEO said, building up the anticipation. The new hire couldn't help but think that this means the executives walk away with a huge bonus, and in a few months, there will be talk of downsizing.

"Profit share," the CEO yelled with confetti cannons blasting. "For the new folks, we believe that company success should equate to your success. So we redistribute the majority of our profit back to you all as profit sharing. It looks like this quarter, the minimum will be $45,000. Not bad!"

The CEO went on to discuss the overall goals the company has been trending towards, celebrated the contributions and the failures alike, pointing out that growth and learning happen when we try something new, and that deserves recognition.

The new hire left the all-hands wondering what just happened, but didn't get to think on it too long before their manager called the teams together to talk about the new goals the CEO laid out.

"Alright, the challenge has been laid out, so now we have to figure out what we think our best guess is to get there. We need to be able to have a good guess with some sort of measurable outcome. You all know the drill. I'll get lunch ordered while you all discuss."

The new hire watched and ate as the team sat and talked about ideas and how they might move the company closer to the goals the CEO laid out. Nobody's rank seemed to matter, and there was way too much laughing. After a few hours, the teams presented their ideas, and the manager thanked them for their hard work.

A few days later, the new hire watched as one of the more senior people sat at their desk reading a book. At one point, a manager came by and asked if it was any good. After a brief discussion, the manager left saying, "If you get a chance to try that, let me know how it goes!" Not a word about how much work there was to do, or priorities, or that there wasn't time to read and learn.

The new hire submitted their pull request, and a few hours later, another person came by and said, "Hey, I reviewed your request, but I thought it'd be better to go over it in person." They spent two hours going through the request, cleaning things up, and talking about design. The reviewer assured the new hire that good work pays off, and it's all right to take time to do good work.

Music started playing as the alarm went off. This was one of those dreams they wanted to crawl back inside of, but they had to get to work. At work, there was an email celebrating that they are now an "AI first" company, and another email announcing that there will be strategic restructuring over the next three months.

Sincerely,

Ryan