Seemed to have potential but deteriorating Engineering Culture
Pros
Over the course of my first few months at Observe, there was a genuine sense of purpose and a collective effort to make things better. Despite some challenges, the team worked together. There was a belief in the system and a commitment to finding solutions. This positive environment helped growth and collaboration, and it seemed that there was a purpose towards which we are to make meaningful progress. Though there were lot of things that needed to be done to make us solid and still there were loads of gaps to be filled.
Cons
Last 9 months or so have been a stark contrast in the company's approach. The engineering culture started to deteriorate, affecting the overall work environment. It seemed that the ELT lacked a clear vision, and maybe this lack of direction trickled down to the engineering department. It became evident that there was a fragile nature within the ELT (who also keep changing every once in a while), with little emphasis on addressing real problems and more focus on unknown agendas. The SVP of engineering, despite showing up for team meetings has approach of mostly about turning a blind eye to the real problems and obsessing over his own ideas that keep changing in every meeting. In moments of crisis or unexpected situations, his frustration is always visible, leading to a blame-oriented culture that only hindered progress. In times of crisis instead of being calm there have been many instances where he has been just berating the team to not have to own his own responsibility; such instances have happened in outage calls as well. It is a toxic environment where team members have started feeling unsafe and scapegoated due to certain leaders instead of cared and empowered. A comfortable lie is becoming easier than a difficult truth is a state of affairs because if you tell them the truth you become the problem. The focus is just execution without understanding the problem or long term vision (regardless of the message you would receive).