Thread regarding Intel Corp. layoffs

that the integration toolchain has cost iCDG over a hundred million bucks is probably an astute estimate. when that whole G5 thing started, an agile coach visited us and told us how smart it would be to work in two week sprints. we said „ok we get it. It would be smart. but it won‘t work because we need one whole week to integrate a one-line change.“ the coach just threw his hands in the air and said „well then you are f---ed!“ he didn‘t quite use these words, but that was 100% what he meant to convey. since then very little has changed about our tool landscape.

We cant hit the KPI with our 10nm and HDK is pain in the a-- so moving to TSMC makes sense.

@1oyl Aicha is not ex-Infineon, and the most important members of her staff weren‘t either.

Wish I could say I was shocked. But it seems like an intel wide cultural problem. Top management is generally so devoid of technical skill even if someone explained the state of the chip they wouldn't understand and would then tell BK and BOD all is well.

@1ziv. Wonder there is anything to do with the culture of the ex-Infineon team.

@1bki In iCDG, it is different. Failures are not made personal. In fact, I wish they were. People are allowed to fail and fail and fail, and nobody takes action, because you are not allowed to point out the failures. You are not allowed to point out things that are going wrong and you are just labelled a whiner and malcontent. Criticism is punished on a personal level. Failure isn‘t.

Best example are our tools that have been mentioned here already several times. iCDG is using tools that are so bad that it would be an insult to amateurs to call them „amateurish“. The people who develop them are completely incompetent. Yet they are allowed to go on failing for years and years and years. Our continuous integration toolchain has probably cost us a three digit million sum since it was introduced, while our management keeps wondering why our competition is more cost efficient. Our trace tool is a joke with our customer (seriously, I know as a fact that it‘s a frequent topic of lighthearted watercooler conversations there). Real managers would have fired everyone responsible for this sh-- and would have replaced them or sourced these tools from some outside company that actually has to take responsibility for the crap they produce - unlike our internal teams.

So I definitely wish that failure were more of a personal issue in iCDG. Instead, you can actually build a career on failure here. Just make sure to keep your mouth shut!

Making failures personal is also the hallmark of TMG. What is worse, the commentary on who is the sacrificial lamb is usually done outside of Program or Taskforce meetings. Very toxic !!

That „Kill the messenger“ culture in iCDG was not Aicha‘s invention. The basis for that was introduced by Mecklai. I remember how everyone on the platform project was half a year behind and waited for everyone else to finally admit that they are behind so that they could stop pretending that they are on schedule.

But yes, Aicha perfected this. I always loved her all-hands and management calls where she finished the sessions with „OkanyquestionsnownobodynobodycomeonIgotupearlyforyousoIexpectyoutohavesomequestionsnownobodynobody?“ And if after that intimidation tactic, someone dared to say something that could be construed as criticism, they got massacred by Aicha.

I actually respect Aicha‘s technical knowledge, but she is a terrible terrible terrible people manager. XMM7560 is on her, not because she was technically incompetent, but because the fact that nobody ever spoke openly to her left her blind to a lot of potentially good advice.

8 respins to get this onto Intel's process and now they go back to TSMC for Polaris