HACKER Q&A
📣 danielovichdk

Which roles in your org could you lay off to increase productivity?


I will start.

I would kick out any person that did not take active part in delivery of our products in a hands-on fashion, on a daily basis.

I would also kick out 50% of the technical staff all together since most tech orgs has a tendency to be simply oversized. I wouldn't matter which 50% because the other 50% would learn and adapt.

  👤 logicalmonster Accepted Answer ✓
> Which roles in your org could you lay off to increase productivity?

Human Resources

> I wouldn't matter which 50% because the other 50% would learn and adapt.

This might work in some professions, but seems pretty silly in tech where some people are ridiculously productive in key areas compared to others.

👤 mytailorisrich
If you're saying that you can take a tech org, get rid of half the technical staff (effectively at random), and still get the same output, then by recursion it means that the optimal size of the technical staff is always 1.
👤 bell-cot
> I would kick out any person that did not take active part in delivery of our products...

So, unless your org is all-virtual and micro-sized, that nixes Accounting, Facilities, HR, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Security, ... That may not end well.

> ...also kick out 50% of the technical...

Reminds me of an old guy I knew in the early aughties. His employer had been merged / acquired a few times, and the "MBA's at 10k feet" had downsized critical departments to 50%...25%...12.5%...6.25%... Let's say that the sh*t was really starting to hit the fan.