I work for a rather large technology company that’s working to downsize themselves to the new reality of their market. This is a perfect example of how NOT to manage a project for the betterment of the company.
They decided that it was necessary to have a reduction in force of several thousand people. OK, we won’t get into the fact that a layoff usually hurts the rank and file while those that made the decisions and got the company into the mess are insulated from the damage.
Anyway.
This company decided to let everyone know that they were going to RIF these several thousand but couldn’t give any more information. So guess what????
Everyone stopped working! Yep, While before it would take a lot of work just to schedule a conference room, now they’re mostly empty. Forward planning is halted by all the product teams pending the results of the formal RIF announcement…when it comes. Everything has been placed on hold.
What project management rules have been broken by this company and how much damage have they caused themselves because of the way this project is being handled?