We are still dealing with EAs who have moved to different organizations, adding unnecessary complexity and chaos to the entire Zephanie & Joe Carole organization without providing any real value to the business. They are being hired at premium salaries with titles like SVP or Head of Department, yet they have no reporting responsibilities from different banking organization. Similarly, we have biased leaders hired by Ajit from top Silicon Valley and Seattle tech companies, who, despite their premium pay, lack knowledge about banking, resulting in the loss of genuine, dedicated US Bank employees who have been with us for over 10-15 years. Genuine Employees paying cost for these premiums hires.
16 replies (most recent on top)
The agile coaches were a useless joke too. So much money for absolutely nothing.
After 10 years here, watching the “leaders” under Ajit, Madhu, and Narayanan has been… well, let’s just say entertaining. We’ve got SVPs who can barely put together a coherent sentence but somehow lead groundbreaking initiatives like Shield Console, Metta, and Target State Architecture, each one a masterclass in achieving absolutely zero. Now that Ajit and Madhu have “moved on,” maybe there’s a glimmer of hope we’ll stop funding the Most Expensive Inside Jokes Award and bring in people who can actually do something.
And let’s not even start on the hackathons, they’ve become the bank’s own annual comedy show. Same story across other orgs, too! Here’s hoping the next round of changes brings some real progress for those of us still doing the work!
LOL! Hardly anyone at the bank even knows the difference between Scrum and Agile and people are dissing scrum masters. The "methodology" at USB is a mess, it/they doesn't/don't fit anything other than grabbing pieces here and there and declaring "We're Agile!" ROFL, really? So glad I don't have to deal with that cr*p anymore.
The scrum masters are mostly people who used to be important to the bank but are now useless. Agile has been a mess. The scrum masters will be part of a future RIF.
When will middle management, PO’s and SM’s have the guts to tell senior leadership that they are overworking engineers and say no to a project going live when senior leadership wants it to go live. The only way it can happen is by working 16 hr days 7 days a week. You are ki-ling them.
The pattern the OP is describing destroyed a lot of banks in Europe and the current crisis in America with bank fallouts. The pet projects in tech and spending like no tomorrow will eventually show up on the investor call and in the press. The regular employees will be the ones who have to pay for this.
The problems is these leaders can't agree on any project directives and fight to get their way, making projects impossible to complete because of ever changing directions and when the dust settles, these leaders wonder why the final product is of not more quality. Throw it in, no planning, no definition of done, not involving all involved in meetings... SMH. U.S. Bank at its finest.
Wow, it's truly inspiring to see the "expertise" we’re bringing in these days! Watching consultants and even some full-time employees in action is like witnessing a masterclass in… well, I’m not sure what, but it's definitely not competence. It’s almost like we're running a contest for “who can solve a banking problem with the least amount of actual banking knowledge.” Impressive work, everyone, bravo!
A big question for Dilip: why has he waited so long to address these issues? It’s crucial that we act swiftly to bring in strong technologists and genuine leaders, and to ensure that critical problems are given to the right people. Delays in addressing these challenges are costing us valuable time and opportunities.
OK! You set the mere mortals straight on the useless and incompetent hires. Now, what should we do about it? Wait! Some of us are tech Zombies and not mortal! We could start an apocalypse!
Scrum Master=Overpriced note taker. They add nothing to anything.
The problem with incompetent and useless hires is clear. The decisions made by Ian have led to a bloated leadership structure filled with individuals who lack the necessary skills and understanding of our banking environment. This not only wastes budget but also stalls our progress and creates chaos within the organization. We're losing valuable, experienced employees while paying premium salaries to leaders who offer little real value. It's crucial we prioritize hiring talent that can genuinely contribute and drive our technology forward.
Hiring technologists from Silicon Valley never made any sense. They're expensive. They come from a very different environment compared to a large bank where the pace is much slower and long-term planning is needed. I understand hiring people with years of experience coming from Chase, Bank of America etc. but not tech. We are not tech. Heck! We aren't even FinTech. Wish we would stop pretending.
Can't be a scrum master because they didn't reference the product model, police your speech or arbitrarily deem the new tool they want everyone to use to be more "collaborative" than what's working now.
I work in tech. I can smell a scrum master a mile away. In a nutshell he is saying all the good tech people except me has left and all that is left is incompetent leadership. Shocking isn’t it? I would have never known any of this if he didn’t share it. Maybe he has insights on layoffs.
OK! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I am sure it is true.