Thread regarding Allscripts layoffs

Also EIS is not the only problem, This company has not had a profit in many more years, then they have owned EIS! If I recall PB said it's been over 10 years since they turned a profit! So look deeper to find the issues and stop blaming folks who had no control over getting sold off from MCK!

We don't appreciate the c-appy stock price! nor the lack of understanding what it is we do, from upper management either.

We tried "offshoring" 12 years ago. They don't know COBOL for HealthCare... But this ne C-suite needs to relearn the hard lessons from the past. It will not end well.

Classics just eliminated two product development teams and outsourced the jobs to India. Let’s see which team will be next. Expect all the US technical resources will be eliminated by the middle of next year.

axxm+17D77BFz: I had a feeling that was the case. I find it sickening that developers could be paid more than 100K for working on applications that are in such cruddy shape. For that pay rate, those apps should be excellent rather than p i s s p o o r. So many developers don't even deserve that title since they're unable to pass ANY kind of basic tech interview, let alone a Powerbuilder interview when they've been working with it for more than a decade.

Forget the whole asking for layoff volunteers. Put them through tech exams and fire the ones who lack the ability to even get 50% correct.
😡

Adding to the last post EIS developers were paid a great deal more than $100k. McK pay is higher than Allscripts. Just look at average years of service. So many with 20-30+ years. Could explain why so many of us were RIFed.

Dear 'FormerEISHaveAVastlyOverinflatedSelfOpinion':
As a former EIS developer, your assessment is fairly accurate for a number of teams still working with Powerbuilder. The continued use of Powerbuilder, the refusal under previous Grochmal-id–ts (followed by the promotion of underling after underling to increasingly high paying jobs they are entirely unqualified for) to change to a modern development platform and language, AND the refusal on the part of incredibly LAZY developers who showed no interest in learning modern programming languages and architectures has been shocking in how it emphasized (and rewarded) incompetence. If you had a background in COBOL, from 30 years ago, you were considered a superior asset. That is such a clear statement on the utter incompetency of management for ALL of EIS that it's just pathetique! When developers trained in India in some relatively marginal colleges can out-perform 'developers' who have been raking in more than $100,000 for something like 10 to 20 years, one should get a far better understanding of programming. What we get instead are engineers who refuse to learn anything new in their own time. AND, when they're sent to be trained by software experts, spend the majority of their time either whining about how hard the new languages are, or they play on the internet like high schoolers.

So, if the previous post made you mad, it probaby hit a nerve because you knew it was true.

The current teams in NA could do everything right for both Allscripts and the customer, and it wouldn’t matter, the jobs are going overseas. Knowing this, who can blame them for doing as little as possible to keep the job as long as they can. They owe Allscripts nothing. All in my a$$

Getting really tired of "The McKessoning" and how former EIS people think all of the problems have nothing to do with the lackluster processes, development, applications, and overall mindset/attitude they brought with them when they were sc-apped at MCK. Aside from customers added to the Rolodex, I can't say a whole lot of value was brought into the fold. That's a generalization for sure, and there's plenty of really great former EIS people I've come to know over the past couple of years who are some of the best I've ever met, but overall trying to teach these people how to do actual WORK is a thankless job in general. Flame me all you want, don't really care.

Given my experiences dealing with the Dev teams of several "McKesson Classics" products, I think offshoring development work to India would probably actually improve things.

Whatever is left of LAB in particular. I've been on quite a few customer-facing calls with the (one or two) people left in that group, and the state of that products' management is the quite possibly the worst I've seen ever in 30 years in this industry.
Examples:
They threw the entire company and the nominal co-workers outside of of LAB who were on the call under the bus just to deflect from having to answer legitimate questions (roadmap, performance, etc...) from the customer was shockingly unprofessional. They were unable or unwilling to answer these questions, which the customer has every right to ask, considering their investment of millions of dollars in the product over the years.
They have told customers looking to upgrade versions to their faces that they absolutely will not support or ALLOW 'xyz' in the upgraded version when the customer already has a fully-implemented 'xyz' in place in the current version - and it wasn't a feature set of the application either, we're talking base technology functionality. Customers were astounded and angry that something that has been part of their environment for over a decade over numerous versions was suddenly no longer viable - and it was pretty obvious that this lack of support from LAB Development was due to them not wanting to take responsibility for anything.
They've come back after the Sales cycle was completed, contracts signed and equipment delivered, and completely changed the requirements for LAB telling the customer they needed to buy even more new equipment and change the whole deployment around. You don't jerk a customer, the Sales team, or anyone else involved around like that EVER especially when everything is on a tight deadline with a go-live coming up in no time.
Internally they refuse to answer any questions related to development, dodge and duck to avoid having to answer Support issues, and will do anything possible to avoid taking responsibility for anything involving the product. It's always something else's fault, and they neither admit nor deny that 'xyz' will take place in the next version.

I'm very happy that I've only been peripherally involved in some of those shenanigans, but anything that happens to the LAB team, including off-shoring, can only be an improvement.

It looks like they will offshore all the development resources - that is what they mean by saying we are balancing the resources requirements...

Let’s see what they say in today’s town hall about the volunteer layoffs in revenue cycle and surgical teams. Why do they want to hide them as top secret? Sick and tired of it.

@opl+17D77BFz: WHAT 'package'? Do you mean the one being spent in Cabo? 😆

PowerBuilder, seriously?
Also, quite a few product teams include former healthcare professional (myself included).
Paragon-ners with elitist mentality screwed the McKpooch. Several other BUs were slashed to pay your OpEx for years, so climb out of your bubble.
Thanks for nothing.

Not true at all

Hey Chuckie Cheese @ tnb+17D77BFz:
No, that's not why MCK 'dumped' Paragon. There were two primary reasons. The first was that their premier product, Horizon, wasn't terribly attractive to clients because the software pretty much su cked. Pretty much the same thing occurring with Sunrise. The second reason was that management responsible for Paragon and Horizon was shockingly inept when it came to software development that met the needs of our customers. The ONLY reason Paragon made ANY sales was the BU infrastructure below that management. The teams working on the various teams largely had highly skilled product managers, qa members and programmers... a large number of which had nursing degrees and had worked at hospitals. This was unique to Paragon.

When AS bought these products, they made the catastrophic failure of giving incompetent managers the same jobs they had at MCK, which meant bringing ALL of their idiocy and incompetence to a new company.

Given this history, it's going to be really hilarious watching all of these products crash and burn in India. The only dad thing is that THESE teenagers will still end up with great packages, when they really should be given a box of cow p–p to symbolize their contribution to the company.

Buckle up, AllShits ER 10/29. Back up your stuffs and be prepared.

What was the retirement package?

Paragon debacle is why McKesson dumped HIT BUs.

@vhv+17D77BFz: Does that apply to Paragon developers? Especially those who are tired of the corporate stupidity? Is there a website where we can submit our names? Or is just praying to God and his blessed Son sufficient?

NO LEADERS, in Allscripts, care about customers, period. The only thing matters is the number of dollars they put in their pocket, whatever it takes.

No, it NEVER ends well for customers.
This kind of nonsense started with the book 'The World Is Flat', which promoted the 'power of globalization' that CEOs jumped on in order to increase profits. A huge number of corporations tried it, but eventually went back to domestic hires because of the extremely horrible language issues, need for hand-holding when working on complex applications and requirememts. etc. Ultimately there will be very little changes the Indians can make that won't screw up the Paragon apps. I'm actually looking forward to seeing that happen. AS totally deseves it. AND it'll be totally amusing to those of us who tried to warn them ahead of time.

Allscripts just want to milk the last penny from these dead products - so called classic. I will not be surprised that all the US employees are replaced with replacements from Allscripts' heart.

And after the volunteers who opt for early retirement, the rest will have their functions moved to OffShore.

There was a Revenue Cycle/Surgery organizational update call this morning - and they asked for volunteers for layoff.....