Thread regarding Ford layoffs

@bj

Oh wait guys lemme take this one..

This is the part where we can point at the scoreboard with a negative 10s of billions on it and walk away. Look at where that plan has put us buddy...

Still up there in recalls, only spike in sales was because of tariff panick, and FNV4 failed waaay too late. I gotta hand it to you bud. You keep showing up for this abuse on this board. But like a SoF buddy of mine says "If you're gonna be stupid, you'd better be tough."

@dt+1jwrcwt7s Believe it or not, the management really thinks that they are much better and superior than us (engineers). They have the rights to blame others and punish others from their mistakes. The ego and self-respect is too high for them that they break all morals and principles to get by.

@bj Plan to move vehicle development to California.

@am Hit the nail on the head. Problems in a business always point back to bad management in the end.

@bj Plan does not equal a cohesive Strategy.

Post ID: @am+1jwrcwt7s

"I think the main issue we have at Ford is lack of leadership. There is NO plan."

What are you talking about? Ford has a plan and it has been in place for some time now. It is called the Ford+ Transformation Plan. Our leadership (DF, BF, and JF) has backed the plan for years now. Where have you been? (assuming you are even a Ford employee)

Need an Alan Mullaly type back.
Keep it simple.

@aa+1jwrcwt7s, Amen brother. I was an LL6 and my LL5 would always send my charts back to edit them. It wasn’t because they were bad, it was because if he showed them to higher ups, it looked like we were behind and would get tasked to work harder. The game with LL4 and LL5 is to make sure your department is not the furthest behind. Everyone claims to have their part of a project under control until some team forces a date to move out a month, then everyone else was suddenly 3 weeks behind.

@OP. Agree to disagree. Yes, culture at Ford always su-ked. Mullaly said it best in one of his interviews: he was brought to save the company for bankruptcy, but all dashboard were "green" and there wasn't a single issue. AM realized that it was not possible and asked the managers to bring forward the problems and issues, not hiding them.

Accountability was "meh" at Ford, with some getting blamed and fired, most blamed not getting fired, and the executives tried to stay away from failures or hiding them. The best accountability moment at Ford was when Bill was sacked by his own family. That's it. Then during the AM years, there was a push for accountability, but more on learning from the mistakes, than punishing people for their mistakes.

Yes, the Dearborn culture mixed with the toxic Silicon Valley culture has created something worse. But I don't think the issues we have at Ford are coming just from the culture. Things hasn't truly changed that much, culture wise, in the company. We just "moved" more to the extreme of the hiding issues and letting blame fall on the floor, without assigning it to anyone. There are more backstabbing, more building their own little empires, more silos, more internal competition, but that was already there before, just taken one extra step for worse.

I think the main issue we have at Ford is lack of leadership. There is NO plan. So with no plan, there are no goals to reach. Managers don't know what to do to please the C-suite, so they do nothing, in fear of making a mistake. No one will take a decision in this company, nor give firm directions to the engineers.

We are told to execute the vision, but there isn't one. We are told to deliver projects without business cases or requirements. In fact, some managers told engineers to be "independent", not to wait for directions, but be self starter, find the issues and deal with them without approval or support from management. Engineers try their best, but most of those efforts are spent in vain.

At the same time, the company has been firing employees not based on performance, but on cost reduction (pension, salary, 401K vesting). So no matter how good we do, we end in the streets.

I think those 2 are the main issues, the main differences between the "old" Ford and the "new" Ford. So employees have no motivation, nor a goal to achieve. That's why most of the workforce just go through the motions, and nothing gets done.

I am sure, that with the same culture, but with very simple objectives, the company can improve tremendously. We just need "steady" guidance, even if is not the best, to deliver something, anything. However, engineers have to redo their work constantly, because the C-suite change their minds constantly. Look at the train station, look at the BOC, look at the BEV numbers we were going to produce, look at how many times management change their minds. We cannot follow, and most are not even trying it anymore. SMH.

Most startups fail within 2–5 years—so if that’s the strategy, good luck.

The real issue isn’t the work ethic or output from LL5 and below. It’s the lack of consistent, focused leadership guiding that work. How long did we chase derivative products? How long was the EV strategy in the spotlight? How many times have we pivoted before anything meaningful took shape?

This isn’t about working faster, harder, or even “smarter.” It’s about having a clear, committed strategy—and sticking to it. When it takes 3–7 years to bring an all-new product to market, you simply can’t afford to keep changing direction.

We’re not a tech company. We’re not a software company. We’re not a battery company. And we’re definitely not Amazon. We’re an auto company—and it’s time we acted like one.

Our priority should be building exceptional vehicles and the foundational systems that support that mission. Everything else should be outsourced. Let’s stop pretending we can spin non-core efforts into competitive advantages—because the results say otherwise.

Just look at what’s on the road. Look at our Japanese competitors. Their success is built on relentless focus and execution in transportation—not in trying to be everything at once.

Hiring a “car guy” might sound like the right move—but this isn’t Santa’s workshop. We need disciplined, grounded leadership that understands the business we’re in—and executes accordingly. Consulting firms will sell you a new strategy every time - because the right one doesn't make them money and doesn't sound se-y enough to sell. That's what made AM brilliant - stick to our core.

While the LL4s/LL5s look to the LL6 to tell them what's going on, they don't actually want to hear it. They want to be told what they want to hear anyways. At least that's what I see in the LL6s that were let go. Complete ineptness on the side of the LL4s and LL5s

One thing that really stood out to me is that engineering goals are just… not there. They're never clearly defined or suggested during annual planning. Managers don’t give engineers deadlines or targets, and that’s a big miss. A lot of LL4s just rely on LL5 or LL6 to tell them what’s going on, but they aren’t really involved in the technical work, so they can’t see what’s missing or where the process is broken.

SUGGESTION for LAY OFFS - LAY off ALL LL4 and LL5 and LL6s folks who do not have PR goals , check that they are not same as last year. The biggest SH_TT show is here! TRUST ME. No goals, no deadlines, no validation and simulations verifications.

Since California started driving the culture at Ford, it feels like they tried to turn it into a startup, but not in a good way. There's a lot of confusion and insecurity. The upper levels have no real visibility into what's happening on the ground, because mid-level management doesn't share progress or set clear goals. There's no structure, no deadlines - just engineers trying to do their best in a vacuum. And when things go sideways, it’s easy for leadership to pin it on the people doing the work. It’s frustrating.