Pros
The people on the team were genuinely great — smart, collaborative, and doing their best in a broken system. That’s it. That’s the whole list.
Cons
Leadership at every level — from direct managers to the executive team — was ineffective. There was no coherent strategy. Priorities changed constantly with no explanation, making it impossible to build momentum or trust the direction you were working toward.
Micromanagement was excessive and counterproductive. Much of what was asked created duplicate work rather than actual output. Guidance from management amounted to “figure it out” — there was no coaching, no support, just accountability without infrastructure.
The compensation plan wasn’t just poorly designed — it was deliberately structured to underpay. On top of that, there was no visibility into quota attainment. No YTD tracking. The metrics used to measure performance changed multiple times mid-year, making it impossible to know where you stood or plan accordingly.
Work-life balance did not exist in any real sense.
Attrition was significant — roughly half the team left. There were no backfills. The expectation was simply to absorb the additional workload and keep moving.