Comment by khazhoux
2 months ago
Given the context (him not wanting to stay with the acquiring company), I'm pretty sure he was referring to the large number of people at big companies who don't seem to do anything, but get in the way.
I think most people who work at Big Co's have their share of meetings where half a dozen people attend regularly, but have never said a word and you have no idea what they actually do. Those are the "NPCs" he's referring to.
> I think most people who work at Big Co's have their share of meetings where half a dozen people attend regularly, but have never said a word and you have no idea what they actually do. Those are the "NPCs" he's referring to.
Have you considered that those “NPCs” have no idea what you do..?
I wouldn't care if they know what I do, as long as they do something actually productive.
You may disagree, but the "NPC" comment comes from the widespread belief that it's easy for low-performers to stick around at big companies, versus at smaller companies that live and die by their burn rate.
> … widespread belief that it's easy for low-performers…
The truth is that most high performers do menial busy work that doesn’t impact real bottom lines either. Everyone sits around doing things knowing that their job doesn’t need to exist and rather than call out the madness of a society focused on busywork for the appearance of “productivity” everyone just rips on each other instead… Society could use a lot more empathy and a lot less fear.
Especially at Atlassian.
It's still pretty condescending. Don't know what someone's role is, but assume he doesn't do anything? Him calling other people "NPCs" is a pretty clear sign that he thinks he's the Main Character.
Not only that he's the main character but that they aren't actual humans who have their own experience and life and that it might even be ok to run them over with your car as long as you hide in the bushes for a few minutes after or get your car a new paint job.