Challenging and fun company to work with !!
Pros
Hotwire has lots of opportunities for the people who wants to learn and grow. Many people expect an easy life in Expedia and get frustrated if they can't just chill . Hotwire is aggressively working on lots of new initiatives. CTO has a great vision to bring Hotwire in a strong technical position. Many programs/projects were on hold or not moving at all before he joined but with his vision and planning, Hotwire is moving to latest technology platforms. Also, he re-org'ed and created a separate TPM ladder which is now grown up as a big pillar for the organization. Previously TPMs were reported randomly to EMs or Engineering Directors . There was no clarity or guidance for TPMs on what to do and how to improve improve the agile processes. All TPMs were working in their own style. With introduction of TPM Ladder and the arrival of new TPM Director , all TPMs are now functioning with consistent processes. Earlier, without proper processes, there was lot of chaos in managing dependencies and planning. Here are key impact areas after TPMs alignment: 1. Big programs - Fast Delivery - Without TPMs, programs were not moving at all but with improved program management, Hotwire is now delivering big programs and now able to achieve long planned product and technical roadmap items. 2. Sprints alignment - Before all engineering teams has no sprints alignment. All sprints used to have different start and end dates. Sprints Alignment helped in planning and cross functional initiatives better. 3. Escalations are Good - Escalations are no more considered as a bad thing. LT considers and help the teams in a very positive manner. 4. Roadmap Planning / Risk Call out / Delivery status updates - TPMs brings a lot of value in roadmap planning, actively managing risks, timelines and overall delivery. I just want to say that TPM organization will continue to evolve and get better with the help of new management. From Engineering perspective, there is a lots of growth path and lots of new exciting technologies to work with. Teams just need to be motivated enough, re-org never going to stop in any organization ;-)
Cons
Expedia Transformation brought lots of uncertainty for few teams. Delay in development resources hiring impacts the roadmap and have to do replanning multiple times.