Thread regarding T-Mobile layoffs

Does anyone know who came up with the Area model to begin with? I'm trying to find out who proposed it and who pushed it along.

Resetting Sites comment , yes, agreee, because most times a radio reset does the trick.. a whole site or e/gnodeb reset is typically overkill.

@1csb+1opSBRro

Interesting. Pointing fingers up to SLT and down to local leaders. OK Regional guy.

But yeah, agreed, SLT su-ks too.

Also, the RTP team - “ Real Time Performance” team doesnt know squat. They just reset sites left and right. They aren’t engineers. They don’t know the real meaning of any KPI. My 10 year old nephew can do what they do. Directors think the RTP team can replace RF Engineers in the Area Model. What a joke.

I've worked in both Area Model and the new Market Model, and can say that Market Model wins over Area Model. Unfortunately, the larger the Area, the further folks get from the customer. The only way to get the Area Model to work is, create smaller sub-teams in the AM, mimicking the Markets. Very ironic, isn't it?

Many of your local leaders conceived the area model idea and shaped it I to what it is so far. Area model discussiona started long before we started laying off folks last year.

What is true though is that zero local or regional leaders supported any more layoffs. These directives came from the top and everyone below that has had to do their best to carry out the mandated reductions. It fu----g su-ks and it hurts to have to cut this deep, knowing it will have real impacts to livelihoods and will only hurt outlr ability to deliver results. Our top executives seem to think they can cut out way out of our current financial state and propel us into growth. They're obviously wrong and they're also wrong to think that we're still a growth company, raising earnings guidance every damn quarter. This C-Level team will not stop trying to insist we're growing and they will cut headcount until we're able to convince the board and shareholders as much.

So all this talk about the area model or other structures, while impacting people, is not the root of the problem. It's our C-level SLT, period. Also, it's doubtful that we'll lean super heavy into outsourcing operational activities because the pressure to be extremely efficient with opex is too great.

100% this. Downsizing. At this point just bypass the BS and go right to unmanned switch sites and Ericsson/Amdocs working site TTs. I’m sure this is the end goal anyway. I’ll even give some of the management credit, not all of them buy this sh-t, but have to do their jobs pushing the fecal matter being delivered by Regional leadership. You’ll never hear me say a bad thing about local leadership, they are in the trenches and are generally awesome people. It’s the Directors, Market Managers, and regional VPs that are rubbing each other off from their pink offices over this. “C’mon guys, how can we sell this to the markets?” Even if Sr leaders wanted to keep their teams at this point, it’s too late. Look at the attrition rate this has caused even before the RNEO layoff. It will continue after the layoff. The people they keep are still going to leave. Last person out turn off the lights

“You are a complete fool if you think the area model had anything to do with customer experience and not a downsizing of the workforce. If you are in management and you believed the area model was to improve customer experience, you are just an id--t incapable of thinking for yourself and should not be in management.”

You are a complete fool if you think the area model had anything to do with customer experience and not a downsizing of the workforce. If you are in management and you believed the area model was to improve customer experience, you are just an id--t incapable of thinking for yourself and should not be in management.

So far I have asked Sr Managers, Managers, Directors and VPs. No one, absolutely no one was able to tell me fully what on earth the Area Model really is. They just go too deep into how it will streamline process but I was never able to get a proper answer of how it will be implemented. If the people in South and Central are saying how awful it is, West and NE are waiting to be royally wrecked with the model.

They aren’t remaining with the market teams from my spot though. Ops is crossing into other market’s work. If you are on a SWOPS “performance team”, you are working in multiple markets in your area. Same with FOPS, they are working on sites from other markets. Maybe not where you are, but here they are. That is 100% my point, there is no single Area Model to “learn”, it is complete chaos across all the regions and markets which is why it is a management failure. It should have been fully developed before disseminating to the teams, but it wasn’t. All the questions should have been anticipated by leadership. Instead it was multiple ambiguous slide presentations with no answers to real questions. Can’t tell you how many times I heard “well we’re not sure yet” or “that is still being determined”. Then don’t roll it out yet! Maybe it makes sense where you are at, fine. Here, it makes zero sense and is negatively impacting the team to where people are quitting. That is at very least a communication problem for leadership to own.

"Area Model is the worst thing ever to be done in the South Region."

How is the South doing the area model?

I see you mentioned Joe and that explains it. Good luck with that sh-t show. Also, I might be impacted this week, so I'm not some a--hole pushing an agenda. My only agenda is to prepare myself for separation.

Can you explain how customer experience will be impacted if Development Hard Cost, RF Performance and Optimization, Field Ops, and Switch Ops all remain with the market teams?

Your answer may show that you're in a region doing something different than that and if that's the case, you have some very valid points. I'm neutral on area model. I don't lead an area team, not am I a member of one.

F off. I wonder which sh---y manager you are that feels personally insulted about your Area Model. You’re definitely not front line because no Eng/Ops individual contributor would say something like that. Tons of questions have been asked for a YEAR but no one has an answer because it doesn’t make sense to start with. You can’t polish a tu-d and the area model is a giant steamy tu-d. It will sink the customer network experience because people are tuning out, signing off, and quitting. The real amazing customer experience came from market teams that loved their networks, took pride in their networks, knew every inch of their metworks. No person in St Louis is going to know or give a sh-t about an issue in Minneapolis. You, manager guy, will NEVER get buy in from your teams for this ridiculous idea. Ask any frontline person in any market, FOPS, SWOPS, RF, Dev….ask them anonymously, not one will say, “hey, yeah, that’s a great idea”. The longer you push this bullsh-t, the more the customers will suffer. Just accept that Joe and any other manager pushing this was wrong and save this network. Imagine, coming on a layoff board trying to sell some management idea to RNEO folks that are about to get laid off this week. F you, maybe you won’t be here past this week to even worry about it.

Again, someone that has no idea what the area model is. These teams were literally formed up from market teams. When people reference the"closer to the customer" concept, they mean relative to the regional teams and typically relates to moving more strategic planning and decision making from the region to the area.

Please folks, ask more questions. Be curious and actually try to understand the area model. Be one of the reasons it's successful instead of sh-----g all over it.

People in the Area Model say this, but they cannot be closer to the customer, than the people actually in the Market. Area Model folks cannot know the intricacies that Market folks, who have been there for many years, designing and operating their Markets areas, are aware of... it'll be too complicated for Area Model to work over multiple Markets... small teams close to the customer, that's how a company can be most effective...

Most of you posting are almost entirely clueless about what the area model actually is.

Area Model is the worst thing ever to be done in the South Region.

God I how they do reduce Switch Technician roles and mine is chosen. I don’t want to be the guy left behind just waiting for my turn.

The area model will be consolidating several markets and adding GCs for more tasks. This will make market engineers, market managers, and switch techs redundant and also reduce the need for T-Mo field techs. If I were in one of those roles I'd be cashing in my Appreciation Zone points this weekend just in case.

Area Model isn't going to work as well as before. Just slim down to 300 sites per Engineer, 150 sites per field Tech, stay on Market Model.... Slim down Regional and National offices... That would be the best plan to remain competitive with Verizon. Otherwise, we'll fail and go bankrupt just like Sprint did...

Central has already been implementing various iterations of the area model for some time now. The problem is that the leadership is so clueless that it keeps changing because unplanned issues that arise. The area model is a complete half-baked clown show that exposes the regional VPs and directors for the nitwits they are. Complete and utter failure of leadership and (lack of) logical planning. Everyone is already quitting because of it.

Area model will merge the market teams involved....mostly Design/HC/SC and all other activities that can be done "centralized"....I think Only Optimization and Customer TT will be done in "mkt level"...Each mkt with 5 design engineers...Area level with 3 mkts...for sure the new design team will not have 15 engineers....

How about Area model in regions like West and Northeast? They don't have that.

Area model is already implemented and it doesn't involve "merging" markets.