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23Jun24 Roundup: Tech Has An Accountability Problem

Author

Steph Lundberg
June 22nd, 2024 • About 34 minutes

In today's issue:

News from Around Supportlandia (and Beyond)

Tech Has An Accountability Problem

By now, you’ve likely heard of Hanlon’s Razor, an adage that’s particularly ubiquitous in Tech spaces: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Well, I propose an update to this rule, adapted for the moment Tech finds itself in. Let’s call it Faile’s Razor: Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which is adequately explained by a persistent lack of consequences.

What brought on this sudden update? You see, Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, announced his return from his sabbatical in a blog post on May 15th.1

And in his list of things he got up to while on sabbatical, a certain newsworthy event (at least in CX spaces) was notably missing: that time in February when Matt Mullenweg violated his own company policies, undermined his own Trust & Safety team, argued at length with Tumblr users and a trans woman on Twitter, and then released private user account information on multiple platforms – all because someone said something mean about his company on the internet.

When I wrote about this back when it happened, I speculated that perhaps Mullenweg’s sabbatical would be quietly extended or that then-interim CEO Toni Schneider would replace Mullenweg as CEO, but clearly neither of those things has happened.

Am I surprised that, as far as I can tell, there have been absolutely no public consequences for a tech CEO's public misbehavior? No, not really.

Really, folks, I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.

I’m sure Mullenweg answered privately to his employees, his Board, and his investors.2 But the list of the people he should be accountable to doesn’t end there, unless someone wants to make an argument that the users who make Tumblr what it is – who are, by the rules of enshittification, Tumblr’s actual product – aren’t deserving of an apology or even an explanation from the person who has ultimate power over them on the platform and who are, to a significant extent, the people he harmed.

Look, you and I both know that consequences and accountability don’t always go hand in hand, and even when they do there’s often not a lot of equity in who gets the consequences and who gets the accountability. Certainly, that’s true in this case: Tumblr’s users (and arguably, its Trust & Safety team) got all the consequences and Mullenweg none of the accountability.

What message does this send to the world? Honestly, the same message Tech’s been sending for years: No matter how much shit you generate, if you’re high enough in an organization, it only flows downwards.

Accountability in Tech is something only the lowest among us (read: employees) have tried to address. It happened at Automattic when the Trust & Safety team tried to explain Mullenweg’s actions. It happened at Basecamp when employees tried to grapple with their own problematic behavior. It’s happened at so many other tech companies, including some of the organizations for which I’ve worked. It’s probably happened at your company.

Employees are also the ones experiencing the consequences whenever companies forgo accountability. When venture capitalists threw vast and unthinkable amounts of cash at founders who knew fuck-all about running companies or were making products that were never, ever going to be profitable, it was us, the hundreds of thousands of workers and counting, who dealt with the consequences.

And it’s not just us. Tech companies have been passing consequences on to customers for as long as they’ve been passing them on to employees. It’s how, for an instructive example, you get a bazillion cryptocurrencies, exchanges, and associated tools that, rather than resulting in a blockchain revolution, have instead mostly been a series of Ponzi schemes and frauds that have lost consumers over $74 billion and counting.

The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX alone is responsible for over $8 billion of that,3 and you might point out that 25 years in prison and $11 billion in restitution are a helluva consequence.

I don’t disagree with that, but I would also point out that that only came after we got chats named Wirefraud and spitball spin strategies for how to explain his massive fraud and SBF’s sentencing memo exclaiming how there was no money lost and there are no victims, actually. And that’s before we acknowledge the painful truth that at least $8 billion is still gone, possibly never to be fully recovered. 

Every moment above (and probably many more we don’t know about) were inflection points, opportunities for him to have either a modicum of moral conscience or for others to be that moral conscience for him. 

And every single one of those opportunities for accountability was missed. He could not or would not hold himself accountable, and no one else involved would either, and so every choice he made became progressively more destructive. Billions of dollars are gone – there’s no going back in time to undo the damage that’s been done to the people affected.

My point is this: an SBF isn’t created through malice alone, and certainly not through stupidity. He’s created over time, through others’ silences, and through a persistent lack of consequences.

I’m not comparing Mullenweg to SBF because I think their behavior or the resulting harm is of similar scale or that we’re likely to see similar outcomes; that would be ridiculous. But I can’t help but see parallels in their trajectories. I see it in the broad arc of the Tech sector itself.

Yes, Mullenweg is at an inflection point. Is he the type of person who can learn from his mistakes, take responsibility for them, and demonstrate how much he values the trust of his most vulnerable users, as his intentions seem to have been when Automattic acquired Tumblr? Or is he just another toxic Tech CEO who thinks himself above accountability, doomed to repeat and compound the mistakes of the past?

Tech is at a turning point, too. AI companies are poised to make all the same mistakes crypto did – and then some. There’s too much irresponsible enthusiasm, too little oversight, and a general, dangerous mindset that any and all AI technology is worth the means to develop it. 

AI’s environmental impact is likely to exceed even crypto’s. Some of the industry’s most prominent generative AI tools are turning out to be copyright infringement and plagiarism engines, and they’re being used by the worst among us to fuel “a significant portion of hateful propaganda content online.”  All of these things are huge problems, and it’s going to take a huge effort to overcome them.

I’m a realist. I don’t think Tech will change easily or quickly. But it’s not optional. Accountability must happen while there’s still time for course correction, and we have to start somewhere.

If SBF and Mullenweg and other Tech CEOs have no one around them to tell them no, then it’s going to have to be us, it’s going to have to be loud, and it’s going to have to be ongoing. 

Ask your coworkers, your bosses, your CEOs: Who are we accountable to, and how?

And Now for Some Good News

My favorite part of the newsletter: celebrating awesome CX professionals!

These folks have recently been hired, promoted, or achieved another accomplishment worthy of kudos.

I probably missed a ton of these announcements while I was out, so if you recently reached a career milestone, please let me know!

I Can't Quit You Baby

I have what I hope is good news for all of you: I'm taking the newsletter back to weekly. The Roundup is a catalyst of sorts for the Job Board and the Resources site. That means that whenever it's late because of a slow news week or because I'm battling a bad case of writer's block (as I have been for the last several weeks), the other sites also tend to languish.

I've decided to allow myself some flexibility with the format. I've put a lot of pressure on myself to provide high-quality commentary on the main topic, news, and links for things like CX content, but thanks to Bad Job Bingo, the newsletter doesn't need those things every week to be useful. In fact, Bad Job Bingo is probably the most useful thing I do, and I don't think I'll ever run out of material for that.

So, bottom line: The Roundup will go out weekly from now on, even if the only updates I have are from Bad Job Bingo.

Breaking Containment

I mean, not really. But the Roundup just passed 200 subscribers, which is incredibly exciting! And my 15 paid subscribers – y'all are amazing. Thank you – all of you – for supporting this sarcastic, foul-mouthed, shitposting newsletter.

Introducing the Changelog

With the Resources site spun up and getting updated all the time, I thought it might be helpful to send out a summary of CX resources that have been added so that folks know what's available. Hence the Changelog – a brief, non-spammy, no-nonsense list of new CX resources. Note there's no particular publish schedule; it goes out whenever there are enough new resources to warrant an update.

Read, Watch, and Listen

I was going to declare content bankruptcy (as I'm temporarily doing for upcoming events) since I've been away for so long, but I didn't want to skip over the good stuff I did see and save. So please just be aware that this issue's list of worthy content is very incomplete!

Read

James Sanchez put together a Notion job board full of remote Customer Success roles (over 400!).

Watch

Speaking of, in her seventh episode since launch, Sarah Caminiti's Epochal Support talked to Srajan Bhagat about how asking tough questions can profoundly shape company culture and customer perception.

Angie Vargas launched Salary Sweetie, a newsletter with quality and transparent job listings that feature salary ranges, no bullshit. (My kind of newsletter!)

Listen

Help Scout maven and CX fan favorite Mat Patterson launched a new podcast, The Supportive Podcast. The Supportive is a monthly show from Help Scout featuring customer experience insights, practical tips, expert advice, and a bit of fun.

ElevateCX's Sarah Hatter also launched a new podcast, Relatable Content, a semi-frequent, casual series of CX stories, led by a rotating gaggle of ElevateCX Community leaders. (Full disclosure: I'm one of them.)

Get Hired

I play Bad Job Bingo with every job listing that appears in the Roundup and categorize them according to how well (or poorly, if I hit Bingo) they do in the game.

However, please remember that a job appearing in a positive category isn’t an endorsement of any role or company, and a job appearing in a negative category doesn't mean I think you shouldn't apply if it works for you. Bad Job Bingo is simply an effort to give you a shortcut to finding roles that may match your needs and values.

These and past contestants can be found at Support Human Jobs.

Green Means Go

No flags, or green flags only! A true unicorn.

  • Customer Success Manager ($120k-$150k) at Lumos (Remote US, Canada, Mexico, South America)

    • Seems great. Job description includes a lot of personality and both the JD and the Careers page are informative while showing a lot of positive culture signals.

    • Plus, this whole statement: We purposefully did not create a standard list of minimum qualifications because we care much more about your motivation and ability to help us accelerate technical progress than we care just about your CV. Instead of focusing on what people need to have, we focus on what people need to do. Additionally, we try to find out whether you would be a good fit for Lumos based on our values that define how we achieve outcomes and what characteristics we value.

    • And the benefits and the salary are great. Huzzah, our first Green Means Go of the week!

  • Support Engineer ($186k-$220k) at Coactive (Hybrid US-San Francisco, San Jose, CA)

    • Genuinely one of the most diverse companies I've seen so far. And the rare case where a company claims diversity as a value and seems to be backing that up with their hiring. Cool!

    • Whew, this is too real: We have the scars from building and working with the first generation of modern machine learning systems at Google, Meta, Pinterest, eBay, Lyft, and other leading organizations.

    • Since this is a founding role (something they emphasize a surprising amount) and the duties themselves have a distinct leadership flavor, I feel like the title should be a little more senior, but the pay is excellent for this kind of role.

    • Also, I don't think I've ever seen a support engineer described as being a mentor for other teams and I'm digging the spirit: Be the resident support expert and mentor for engineering and Go-To-Market teams

    • I really like that they included this: Shape best practices and company culture as we grow

    • Normally I'd count mentions of A-players (on the Careers page) and "Previous experience in a fast-paced startup environment is a plus" as flags, but overall I think they've done such a good job of conveying their company culture and values and describing this role that I don't think these things are a big deal. I think we have another Green Means Go on our hands!

    • Yes, It's AI. I'm as surprised as you.

Eh, It’s Probably Fine

A few flags popped up, but no serious ones.

  • Wildly, none this issue.

Tread Carefully

Didn’t quite hit bingo, but there were several yellow flags or more than one red flag.

  • Director, Client Success ($140k-$175k) at Atropos Health (Remote US)

    • The company sounds fine and they have a solid Careers page. However, based on the job description, it's not totally clear why this is a Director-level role, and some of the job duties don't fit with a Success role.

    • None of the responsibilities indicate they'd be managing anyone, and all of the work is pretty individual contributor-coded. I mean, the pay is great for an IC, maybe a little mediocre for a Director (plus they're reporting to a VP – I'm just pretty confused about what this role is supposed to be doing).

    • Also, let me beat a dead horse a little bit: benefits are not perks.

  • Sr. Manager of Customer Support - SaaS Spend Management (No comp given) at FinQuery (Remote US)

    • Okay, right away, I'd like to commend this company for having different categories for what they offer employees on their Careers page and then accurately using said categories. Benefits in Benefits, perks in Perks, cultural stuff in Culture, and so on. What a nice change of pace.

  • Senior Technical Support Specialist (No comp given) at Wayspring (Onsite US-Nashville, TN)

    • This is more of an IT Support role, although that's not clear from the title. Having worked for a similar company, the job description seems pretty straightforward for this kind of role.

    • Also, while the benefits look great, there's no salary transparency, so this goes in Tread Carefully. Side note: there's no way to link directly to the JD, unfortunately, so any links take you to the job listings page.

  • Lead Support Engineer ("Competitive" comp not given) at Mavenir (Onsite US-Richardson, TX)

    • Job application is through Workday. My condolences.

    • Okay, this is one of the few roles in which such high education/experience expectations seem appropriate.

    • The role seems pretty straightforward, and the company's Careers page is pretty standard corporate fare. The main thing putting this in Tread Carefully is the lack of salary transparency.

  • Senior Support Specialist LATAM (No comp given) at SOCRadar (Remote Colombia)

    • There certainly could be a language barrier here, but all of the Support role descriptions from this company are odd in the same ways. I'm not at all clear on what distinguishes them, seniority-wise, since they all have essentially the same requirements, just slightly different levels of experience required.

    • The company's Careers page is...not good. There are bizarre and hard-to-understand Ethos statements, and the benefits information is very basic.

    • Also, like, not specific to this one, but. These Careers pages are going to give me an ulcer eventually, I just know it.

  • Principal Support Specialist MEA (No comp given) at SOCRadar (Remote Africa-Egypt)

  • Senior Support Specialist APAC (No comp given) at SOCRadar (Remote Africa-Philippines)

  • Member Engagement Specialist, CES (No comp given) at Wayspring (Remote US-Indianapolis, IN)

    • Having worked for a similar company, the job description seems pretty straightforward for this kind of role.

    • I will say, "the ability to communicate effectively and persuasively is required" in a substance abuse disorder treatment environment made me pause (it sounds vaguely salesy, which is a little gross given the subject matter).

    • Also, while the benefits look great, there's no salary transparency, so this goes in Tread Carefully. Side note: there's no way to link directly to the JD, unfortunately, so any links take you to the job listings page. While this particular job is in Indiana, there are a few other listings in the U.S. for this role.

    • Update: This role has closed since I rated it.

  • Head of Customer Experience ($130k-$150k) at Passport Shipping (Remote US, Canada)

    • The company has an informative Careers page and the job duties make sense overall, but I'm going to say Tread Carefully for this one, for several reasons:

      • The listed job title doesn't match the title in the job description;

      • The job function under this role switches from Support to CX randomly.

      • Font sizes and possibly actual fonts change from paragraph to paragraph and sometimes within the same line.

      • There are repeated qualifications requiring, ironically, attention to detail.

      • What feels like a low salary for a Head of / Director-level role, especially since the JD notes that this range is for high cost-of-living areas and may be adjusted "based on our geographical pay approach."

    • Now, some of these things may be because the Support team and/or the hiring manager is overworked and under pressure to get a JD out, but some of these issues are glaring enough that I would expect someone to have caught them (either before posting or after).

    • If I were applying for this role, I'd ask my interviewer to confirm the details of the role, how they arrived at that salary range, and to elaborate on the Support team's bandwidth/turnover rate.

    • Update: This role has closed since I rated it.

  • Customer Support Manager (Hybrid) ($95k-$105k) at Homebase (Hybrid US-Denver, CO)

    • The duties align well with the title and seniority, the pay is good for what seems like a truly mid-manager role. Why am I categorizing this as Tread Carefully, then?

    • It's a few things taken together that have me worrying a little bit:

      • the "you stay calm under pressure" requirement,

      • the repeated emphasis on "dynamic and growing company" and "constant change" that often is just code for internal chaos,

      • the "sharp intelligence" bit which is just unnecessary and just calls up "brilliant assholes" for me,

      • and this bit: "A goals over-roles attitude - you do what it takes, not what’s in your job description."

    • All of this together paints a worrying picture of internal culture, especially how it relates to what's expected of the Support function. This is not to say I wouldn't apply or that I think it's a deal breaker, but I would definitely ask some pointed questions during the interview process to better understand the actual working environment and culture.

    • Update: This role has closed since I rated it.

BINGO

Welp.

  • Customer Support Analyst (LATAM) (No comp given) at Capchase (Remote Mexico)

    • This is not an Analyst role. Also, no mention of benefits anywhere in the JD or on the Careers page.

    • You will be striving to improve the customer experience and providing meticulous attention to the most complex customer situations.Expect to work in a – Companies never fail to disappoint entertain me by requiring meticulous attention followed immediately by a typo. chefskiss.jpg

    • Implement key processes, training and documentation required to manage the Customer Operations function – Also not a management role, but okay!

    • Work closely with new and existing payments and banking partners to escalate support issues with external dependencies and manage service level agreements. – Still not a management role!

    • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field. – Okay, I'll bite. What related field?

    • You have excellent organizational skills and an innate tendency to find order in chaos by setting processes, documenting and communicating cross-functionally about the importance of those processes. – Say it with me: NOT A MANAGEMENT ROLE

  • Customer Success Manager ($80k-$100k) at Bolster (Hybrid US-Santa Clara, CA)

    • Honestly, this job description is a mess. Repeated paragraphs and sections, overly business-speaky, and poorly edited and formatted.

    • You’re relaxed yet professional, eloquent yet casual, and pleasant yet persuasive. – Hey. Hey hiring managers. Stop using AI to write these JDs. This is embarrassing.

    • Our buyers are our usually Security Operations team, Fraud teams and are fairly technical. – confuseddog.gif

    • Ability to prioritize and multitask while maintaining diplomacy, tact, and poise under pressure when working through customer issues. – Woof.

    • Our inspiring proven leaders are hiring great people, providing super benefits, and impacting the world! – BINGO.

Seriously, Maybe Don’t

Don't say I didn't warn you.

  • Vice President of Customer Success ($270k-$330k) at Finout (Onsite US-New York City, NY)

    • See Finout's Senior Technical Support Engineer role for red flags so red they're bleeding into this job description, too.

    • I love how Finout repeatedly refuses to capitalize Support as a function in this JD. No red flags there!

    • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and influence senior executives. – Wooooooo nothing to worry about there, either. Also, I'm not correcting the numerous typos in this JD. I refuse.

  • Community Lead ($90k-$130k) at Suno (Remote US-New York City, NY, Boston, MA)

    • Our first "this job seems like a nightmare" of the week!

    • This role requires an extraverted personality. – It literally does not, no job does.

    • You will sit at the intersection of product, marketing and customer support. This role includes being our Discord MC and social community manager which includes customer support, and requires actively being “on” and engaging/responding to users, even at times on the weekend - we work flexibly here. – As you will see later in this JD, there's "we work flexibly," and then there's "we don't believe there's such a thing as non-work time."

    • You will need to be extremely self-driven and proactive. Please do not apply if this is a non-starter. – Are applicants frequently volunteering themselves as self-obstructive and apathetic? What are you trying to achieve with this?

  • Senior Technical Support Engineer ($130k-$150k) at Finout (Hybrid US-New York City, NY)

    • This company and job has the dubious honor of spawning not one, but TWO new BJB entries. I bet you can guess which ones.

    • Join our growing, fast-paced, disruptive startup that is going to win in building the only FinOps solution that a company will ever need. – HEAVY SIGH.

    • We encourage people from all genders, religions, pregnancy statuses, nationalities, and backgrounds to join us. We're proud to be working with parents, singles, and even dogs! – YIKES. They sure are going out of their way to avoid welcoming all races to the company, aren't they?

    • Also, uh, you know it's bad when "Professionalism" is one of four company values. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much racism so clearly written between the lines of a Careers page before.

    • At Finout, we understand that our employees are the most valuable thing we have, and it's not just a motto. We are a young startup, with a really pleasant and friendly working environment, generous perks, and very nice people (well, most of them). – Good grief, who wrote this careers page? ("AI," the group chat says. "Definitely AI.")

    • Our company is rapidly growing, all while maintaining a young and fun vibe! – Really committing to that ageism!

    • Ability to work independently while still communicating with the wider group regarding wider issues. – The bar is in hell.

    • Besides an amazing opportunity to learn and grow professionally alongside a team of real rockstars – goes to their building, gets on their elevator, goes to the roof, takes out megaphone: THIS IS NOT A BENEFIT

    • Office Hybrid model - 2 times a week working from home – THIS IS NOT A BENEFIT, IT IS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT

    • Also, this should actually be a Director role given the responsibilities. The salary is just *okay* for a senior technical hybrid role in NYC, but it's shitty for a Director-level technical role.

  • Customer Support Specialist ($21-$25/hr) at Reveleer (Onsite US-Glendale, CA or New Albany, OH)

    • Whew, I'm daring myself to read this job description without getting angry, because it starts by boldly informing the applicant that the pay range for this role is $21-$25/hr.

    • The work schedule typically includes regular business hours Monday - Friday, but could also include early morning shifts and weekends, with some overtime possible. – Hmm. It's cool, it's okay, this is fine.

    • This is a not a call-center type support position - there are no scripts. – Obviously there's no script because there's a typo right there and also SURE SO WHY IS IT CALL CENTER PAY– okay. It's fine. I'm fine.

  • Director, Customer Support ($130k-$145k) at Reveleer (Remote US)

    • Execute a customer service strategy aligned with the assigned objectives. – Okay, so you're not collaborating with leadership to determine objectives or even influencing their objectives for CS, you're just being assigned them. Sounds fun.

    • Deliver to the established department service level (SLA) measure and improve service performance. – Are you setting SLAs based on knowledge of the team and the function and customer needs and agreements, or are you just being handed down SLAs and being expected to meet them no matter what?

    • Implement ongoing coaching and performance improvement programs to enhance the team's capabilities. – Based on some of the other duties, it's really sounding like you'd be there to crack the whip on an already potentially overwhelmed Support team. Yeesh.

    • Implement structured employee recognition. – Oh and then you give them a cookie. I'm sure that will be welcome.

    • Superior organizational skills and the ability to assemble resources needed to orchestrate multiple projects/activities and accomplish goals. – You won't be *given* resources to do any of this, but you'll be expected to scrape up the scraps to do it. Sounds fun.

    • Model a collaborative leadership style with the ability to build partnerships and influence others into action. – You better be really good at influencing others, because you won't have any real authority.

    • Excellent interpersonal skills and consultative approach; tactful in dealing with people at all levels. Strong sense of urgency, self-motivated and positive – How good are you at plastering on a smile while a middle-aged white dude is screaming at you?

    • I could go on, but after the practical joke that is the Customer Support Specialist role, what's the point? There are also Customer Success roles open, but I don't want to read about this company anymore.

    • Update: This role has closed since I rated it.

1  Automattic owns blogging behemoths Wordpress and Tumblr and dozen or so other companies.

2  Well, I hope. My experience in Tech makes even this minimum level of accountability feel unlikely.

3  According to SBF’s prosecutors, this is a conservative estimate of the lower bound of what was lost.

That's it for this week! If you have items for the Roundup you'd like to submit, you can do so at [email protected], but be sure to check out the Roundup FAQs first.

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