Thread regarding Ford layoffs

@5qme ah that makes so much sense about the CoEs. We use to joke that most of the CoE guidance was informed by myth, voodoo and crystal ba--s. It was so frustrating to get common code / coding standards and recommendations adjusted to be based on facts, common sense and commonly known (outside of Ford) best practices.

@4fut - I can't say your wrong about the centers of excellence, more like centers of documentation and topical chat rooms. Years ago I was told that I was the center of excellence for a technology that I was a neophyte in since the agreement my manger made for us to be able to use it at all in our area was that we'd be the CoE for it. Thank goodness very few others were looking to use that same thing or ask any questions cuz I really didn't know Bo Diddly about it

I also worked for real software companies before working at Ford (moved back to michigan to care for elderly parents). I was astounded at how poor Ford Software engineers were, even the so-called center of excellence software engineers. I was even more astounded by how great Ford Software engineers thought they were. I spent a goodly amount of time biting my tongue and trying to educate the software engineers. After 4 years I threw in the towel and work remotely for real software company again.

@3nfe+1jrfVz6d. Yeah, the caliber of software engineer at Ford IT isn't all that stellar. Only interacted with them - didn't work for them. BTW, I worked for a tech company in the bay area. No thanks... I have family here.

Smart software guys who know how to code work for tech companies like Google and Apple. The others including Ford IT are just code copiers as happened in this case.

@3hds+1jrfVz6d: Requirements were simple: "Take on complex product definitions." After millions of R&D dollars given to ACM - they failed. By the way, what exactly was reversed engineered? Using their cr---y trie data structure? It's crystal clear you don't grasp computational complexity and neither did the jury. The fact is, we succeeded where they failed.

Here's a little information: not all software is copied out of books like Art of Computer Programming. God I wish it were that simple. If that were true we wouldn't have: reinforcement learning, deep learning, etc. Yes! Some people aren't mediocre like you and can come up with original ideas.

@2yix true Ford blue attitude. Blame some other dude. First can’t communicate requirements to vendor, but oh that’s the vendors fault. The vendors are mo--ns so lets reverse engineer and steal vendors IP. Then can’t communicate to the lawyers, oh but that’s the lawyers fault, they also are mo--ns. Then of course the judge and jury are all mo--ns. Hmmm what is the common denominator here?

@2tpz+1jrfVz6d, right, because mo--n's like you were on the jury. The motivation of moving off of ACM was to take on complex product definitions. Can't do product forcasts if you can even process the product definition. ACM was given millions of dollars to make it happen. They failed. We rolled our own algorithm. Sorry, not all of us are mediocre like you.

LMAO @2tur every school boy knows that quicksort and bubble sort are both very basic algorithms. But yeah lets try to patent basic things like. Oh I copied File A to File B and then renamed File C to File A and call it a new and innovative method to swap files A and C. One of many things that Ford software engineers tried to patent as an innovation. One joker was going thru Knuth’s books and trying to claim each algorithm/technique was his original idea.

Not buying into your all original work thesis.

@2ovf+1jrfVz6d, wow you're incredibly ignorant. Coming up with a new data structure to take on combinatorial complexity that ACM couldn't even dream of isn't a trivial task. "Stored it in a new data structure." That's like saying quicksort and bubble sort are basically the same thing.

@1iki+1jrfVz6d The jury determined Ford had breached its contract by “misusing and disclosing confidential information,” reverse engineering Versata’s software for its own commercial use and misappropriating three of Versata’s trade secrets.
@1his+1jrfVz6d Posted that his team essentially reverse engineered the software and simply stored the data in a different data structure.

1his - Given how many lawyers Ford has and how much they pay them, doubtful. If true, then Ford should be adjusting its staffing to more capable lawyers. Or perhaps Ford IT was unable to clearly communicate to the lawyers. A new data-structure big whoop, anyone with a library card can open a CS book and find alternate data-structures. The copied code, technique and product idea are the larger issue.
Rationalization typically equates to guilt, at least that’s what the nuns repeatedly told us while whacking rulers across our knuckles.

Righto. If you see a rat in the driveway inevitably there are hundreds more you are not seeing. Ford culture: Deny, Blame the victim/whistle-blower, Deny, Obfuscate, Deny, Cover-up, Deny, PR campaign, promote the wrong-doers

@1zsl+1jrfVz6d, uhhhhh, what does kick backs have to do with Versata's claim that Ford "stole" their tech? You're conflating two issues. Taking kickbacks only helps the Ford Employee and Versata. Your argument is just run-of-the-mill corporation bashing. We stole nothing.

@1hwk People did call the hotline about the IT guy taking kickbacks more than once.

The first time there was a “witch-hunt” where the guy tried to figure out who reported him all the while denying his misdeeds. Leadership blamed a woman on the team, said she was jealous of the dude and unstable then she was harassed until she quit.

The second time there was an HR “investigation” where they brought everyone on the team into a meeting room and asked if anyone had observed any improprieties— yeah right someone is going to speak up when the team snitches are in the room and get harassed and fired.

The third time there was another HR “investigation”. This time supposed confidential one on one meetings with everyone on thee team. One guy who was leaving anyway told HR everything that was going on, but his word was discounted because he was “disgruntled”.

The snakeoil salesman weaseled his way out of everything even though it was common knowledge what was afoot.

I was one of the engineers that worked on the replacement system. It's all original work. Versata has a history of suing former customers - total sleaze bags. How do I know? Complex product configurations were not capabale of being processed on the Versata/ACM system. We found a new data structure capable of handling complex product definitions - simply a better mouse trap. The lawyers were unable to convey the difference to the jury - we lost.

To the last comment....yeah, go ahead and try to speak up and report against any LL6 or higher when they blatantly do something illegal or unethical.

It will be you who is punished. This has always been HR's and managements preferred method of operation at Ford.

We are all responsible for how Ford handles suppliers. We are the ones that work on their products. If mgt is doing something funky, we need to have them reported immediately. If they're guilty, so are you (just not about the same thing).

Who/what is GlobeCo?

@paq Utter Rubbish. At F Lies of Omission and Lies of Commission start at the LL6 level and compound as they go up each level. Musical chairs at the tops of the stack of excr-ment fixes nothing. The F culture is too ingrained.

Ford is well-known in in the industry for this type of illegal behavior. One of their capers was to steal the idea of the intermittent windshield wiper in the early 60s from inventor, Robert Kearns. A movie was made about this: Flash of Genius.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054588/

Unfortunate incidents like this is a precise reason why Ford's highest leadership has overhauled the executive levels with the best of the best outside technical talents available. Issues like this will no longer happen with the Model e organization. Another reason for the company transformation.

Who is surprised? Ford may or may not be guilty of this, but there is also a heck of a lot of stuff that they haven’t gotten caught at yet. The reward system at Ford is F-ed Up. Way to tempting and easy for the management tree to be dishonest and cut corners

I worked for a guy for 7 years (now retired) who regularly shook down the IT suppliers for kick backs. This guy pushed thru millions of dollars in software, hardware and services purchases annually (much of which were not needed). And boy did he get kickbacks more than his Ford salary level kick backs. Boy did the suppliers kiss his behind. They would line up to pay him homage almost daily and take him to lunch & booze and after work booze&golf.

Same guy turned on a dime when a supplier stopped kissing his behind and terminated their contract - claiming we were no longer using their products and had de-installed them. Two years later that was true, but not true initially.

Another F-ed Up thing about Ford IT. They literally gave some of the IT suppliers Ford badges so they could just enter the Ford buildings whenever they wanted and walk around and talk to people. Many of the Ford employees seeing they had a badge and that they saw them at the water cooler often thought they were Ford employees and didn’t think anything about sharing Ford info with them. So whenever the IT supplier got wind of something they didn’t like (like a better and cheaper alternative was being worked on) they put on their three piece suits and ran to the LL2 & LL3 and got the alternative squashed.

We’ve done gone GlobeCo…