TTS'ers, brace yourselves, McNamara will completely overhaul the organization top to bottom. The Bob Derodes data security band-aid last six or seven months and it's gone now - what's left is the same old, soul-crushingly terrible division that somehow manages to vastly outspend every peer company in the industry on technology and yet lags behind each and every one of them in terms of technology capability. The archaic systems, horribly mismanaged structure and pitiful so-called "leadership" currently in place are all on shaky ground. Of course, TTS being taken apart and put back together again is exactly what TTS and Target needs, but there's gonna be some pretty brutal side effects in the process. I wish you all well.
28 replies (most recent on top)
Better all get used to drinking Guinness
I am more of a PBR guy....
I like Zima!
I think McNamara has been scared off and is begging Tesco for his job back.
more like a toot and a blow
Tsk Tsk Tsk.... Where do you think those "people at that level" came from? A pool of you.
Anonymous99579 - Are you sure people at that level have anything to teach? Isn't the Peter Principle in full swing?
Another KMG/DMG not accepting responsibility for their own failures....nice...if only the people that work for me were as smart as me......wait, that means tgt won't need me....i'm not teaching anyone anything. ....need to preserve my own self interest
99325 from my side of the hallway 99325's absolutely right on Target. It looks like you're a little too wrapped up in feeling good about yourself. Results matter, were not playing youth soccer here.
Anonymous99325 - Isn't it you figure out how to deliver, if successful take your credit and promo and if you fail throw your team mate under the bus?
Given your word choice of "hug" I suspect you might be one of those types and its done you well hasn't it?
You either deliver, figure out how to deliver or move on. Good people are hired at TGT everyday. They aren't entitled to employment for life. Wow! Someone needs a hug..... "Make them better." Honesty and a tough message is what is required 99% of the time. God help you if you would have every spewed that to Bob U. Toughen up!!!!!!
So let me get this right. They made a bad hiring decision on STL, told them they suck 3x, put in writing they suck 3x, fired them, hoped they found someone better next time. That's leadership? I didn't see the part where they tried to make them better.
Denial, Blame, Excuses, Anxiety = Target version of devops.
99252 you missed. Sounds like 99223 holds individuals accountable to their deliverables, counsels them when they're not met and then replaces them if necessary. Sounds like leadership to me.
Cute 99223.... I live in a world of accountability when results aren't achieved. My world is significantly impacted by fails in TTS. There are four stages that lead to accountability: They're all over the TTS comments here - Denial, Blame, Excuses, Anxiety.
99223 - Sounds like you have an issue leading your team of STLs. Maybe you should be gone baby gone.
Burn baby burn..... When my STL's miss payroll, mismanage their teams, don't deliver planned financial results we have a few chat's, sign a few documents and then after x amount of time if results aren't there we go out to the market place and find a replacement. Take look at some org charts from the field over any period of time, you deliver or your gone.... It's a cut throat world outside of your cubes. TTS isn't magic folks, this will be sorted out very soon.
99203 - Knowledge is not deep enough. Most of the team members that work for Target only know buzzwords and alphabet soup. When it comes to really understanding the deep levels of technology they rely too much on vendor information which is always designed to make you spend more. Sometimes they reach out to another company to see what they are doing but they base their opinion on only one example vs getting a complete picture of the technology. I once asked a EC a question and he told me to go ask the vendor contractor because he did not know. Here is a guy who makes 6 figures and had no clue about the deep technology that he was a so called platform owner of. That kind of disconnect is what drives away talented people and allows for those with limited knowledge to hang around.
98850 - i see where your going the problem is that knowledge isn't broad enough to make an educated decision without including additional owners but Target takes that to a ridiculous extreme to avoid failure. 99001 - To be honest a good blend of Employee to contractor is probably 60-40 or higher. You go less than that you loose knowledge, expense is high, you loose ability to manage IT. I have seen as high as 15-85 but that was as a result of the aversge employee stayed 2 years and contractors were staying closer to 3. The problems created was a lack of control on spend.
Mr. Garrison's monowheel was called "IT" from "The Entity" episode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entity_%28South_Park%29
Contractors allow Target to be elastic and expand and contract the workforce as needed. Hell all of TTS should just be contractors or better yet outsourced to IBM/Accenture.
I joined tts a few years back. I have never been in a more confusing org than this one. It's a culture that encourages confusion. What they need is decisions made and people held accountable, and for the love of all that is holy ditch the contractors and role changes. IT roles are complex and knowledge of a system to be effective takes at least a year to develop. By the time an employee understands their role it's changed or thier given a special project. IT needs to be run like a military, strict and decisive with no feedback
Anonymous98735 - They live in "meeting hell" because that is the path they chose to take. They are the ones who plant the seeds of ideas without even knowing if it can be done. Then after they have passed it off and it fails because the idea was not sound to begin with, they claim ignorance. Its the standard Target culture: If the project is successful claim victory and brag how you were a big part of it. If the project is a failure act like you never knew anything about it. I have heard LEC and EC's even make claims not to ever commit anything in writing to prevent them from being implicated in a failure. If the consultants are so great, make them do work like everyone else. The meetings are just a cover and bullshit at best.
As an ex-target employee that worked with both the IT and business teams I'll just say this....I will always go to the mobile target site when there's a high demand event like Lilly Pulitzer vs. trying to use target.com or the app. Target IT is least involved with the mobile site and surprise, surprise...it works the best. In some cases, it's the only digital channel target has that works at all.
The problem is that those of you who know the business and the technology have been more than willing to hand off the work to those that don't know the business or the technology and just do what they are told; without the knowledge of understanding what they have been told. Target has a good stock of "Technical Consultants" that don't do the actual work until something goes wrong. They live in "meeting hell" rather than get in the weeds to make sure it is done right. Save yourself, and show them how it is done.
There was a promise of skateboard, then a bike and then a moped and then a car, but you cannot use any of them until you get the car and so far all we have is Mr. Garrison's monowheel.
I haven't really seen how agile is helping us. True, it is the latest "style" being used, but if they really let those of us who know the business and technical side roll up our sleeves, we can get it done. TOO many PM's in the way that stop us when a box isn't checked or we say we are behind by a day or so. Big deal, we delivered in the past and will continue to deliver if they would only let us do our job. The only thing I like about the agile process is that we can deliver in increments so the business can get value sooner versus waiting for the 12-month big bang. But we really don't need agile to deliver this way.
You mean leadership that pirates projects that were on their way to being successful without their intervention but in the true plan the rapid takeover happened and then proceeded to screw it up in the name of agile?