The wrong strategy
Today, we had a quarterly team meeting at work.
Sales are great, profit margin is okay. The company got a prize (silver metal) in 'sustainability'—whatever that means. AND, we have gone public (!).
It was recognized that we have to have a stronger focus on quality, not only at the software level, but all across the board.
The solution? They hired a quality manager a few months ago. He has been talking and travelling since he was hired (I have talked with him a few minutes once, but that is for another post). In today's meeting, it was mentioned he will build a KPI-driven board for the whole company as the initial project for our quality management. (I worked in business consultancy for two years in a previous life, so I know what he is going to do and have strong opinions about it.)
As for the software team, in the last 6 months, 4 engineers left. No replacements yet. It seems that's not a priority (that was not mentioned in the meeting, that's just a comment I'm adding for the purposes of this post).
The bosses have been working on redefining the company's strategy as well: we need to spend more money on marketing, improve quality and being more sustainable—whatever that means. So, new colleagues in marketing and sales. They think a quality manager who talks, travels and will build a map full of KPIs is going to increase the quality of the products.
I think that's the wrong strategy. But who am I to say that. I'm just an engineer.
Oh, they are going to adjust salaries to make up for the inflation. I don't believe they're going to give an increase that equals the increase in the cost of living, but hey, whatever will help.
P.S. I wrote this post during that meeting.