Serious doubts about LL's technical competancy

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/10/05/friends-online-web-page-restored/

Yet still offline and no further updates. Makes you wonder if LL's might be reaching the limits of their technical abilities or maybe with the Tao of Linden everyone just figured "To Hell with it" and went out for lattes?

More and more lately we have seen problems with the SL and web services, seen announcements of it being resolved only to see it occuring again and again. Each time it reoccurs we get notice of it being "resolved" only to have it reoccur, often within minutes. Someone at LL really has to toss the Tao of Linden out a window and take responsibilty for doing the things that must be done to run a real business.

We are not receiving the services we are paying for.

This just dawned on you today?

She's on one of the more remote Poles probably.

Yeah, I met Brotosky once. That dude is as aloof as you can get.

The Tao of Linden might have worked back when there were 40 sims and 5000 users, but this thing is just too big now for a potluck approach. LL needs to restructure, and at least de-emphasize this Tao stuff. It's disheartening to think that anyone can work on anything that they feel like working on, regardless of what actually needs to be done. *sigh*

But how does that make you FEEL?

Repeat after me -

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHMMMM

I have to wonder if it is reaching the upper limit of its abilities, and is simply straining the system too much to work.

Mari

It occurs to me,

Since there is no protection of Privacy in Second Life -

That a Third Party Site could create their own 'friends online' competition.

Simply use that name to key database - Let people sign up and make a list of Avatars they to know the status of - and the website will track their online status for you.

Not only could they tell you if they were online, but could also tell you the times they WERE online.

Hey! Stop making fun of us Californians.

Question:How many Californians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Answer: 10. 1 to screw in the bulb and 9 to just share in the experience.

The only place I ever see the "Tao" emphasized is by residents in these forums, and it is usually accompanied by an incomplete understanding of how it is applied, and how intense the accountability is under the philosopy. I'm sure there are many areas within Linden Lab where this approach works brilliantly - we as residents have absolutely nothing on which to base a conclusion that its application is flawed.

Furthermore, if you are a member of one of the dev teams assigned to bug fixing, you take on projects based on actionability and resident feedback in JIRA, not based on whatever you feel liike doing. Which is not the essence of the Tao to begin with.

Threads like this are what will be the end of the Linden sponsored forums of Second Life. Pity. On the other hand, many of us will get more work done in both lives.

Wait.. You mean they can't just sit around and play soduko all day, if that's what they feel like doing?? Say it ain't so, Coco!!!

Heh!

Oh come on now. LL do have a plan. Its all about saving disk space.

Its done by randomly and arbitrarily deleting our inventory items.

That frees up the space they need to fool around with all the new and improved features. Like wearing shoes in the av's backside etc.

SL was running on 2600 servers a year and a half ago. How may do they have to day I wonder? Can anyone manage and expect any stability from that kind of computing model?

Yeah. And in a way, it's letting the LL management team off too easily. The Tao is a single, simple, meta-strategy that we can all imagine explains a host of ills. But we know, underneath, there are hundreds of day-to-day management decisions that really determine what gets done, whether by task assignment or recognition of accomplishment.

It takes a manager with considerable self-discipline to be sure there's more recognition for slogging through Somebody Else's Code to fix an ugly defect than there is for the pretty new whiz-bang feature that almost works.

[corporate speak]
I honestly have no idea what goes on behind the scenes at LL. All I'm saying is that LL claims to have this really easy-going approach to a management style, which usually works really well in smaller companies. As the company and product grow together, however, a lateral approach to management often allows for action items to slip off the radar. A more structured vertical approach to management is sometimes needed to keep all the teams on track. If LL has this in place already, that's great, but to continue to maintain that it runs perfectly well under a lateral system is probably not a wise move, considering that it might want to court investors in the future.

Re: the use of the word "Tao" as a "workplace philosophy;" it doesn't ring any bells with yours truly as representative of an organized approach to problem solving.

From Merriam-Webster:
"Tao: 1 a: the unconditional and unknowable source and guiding principle of all reality as conceived by Taoists b: the process of nature by which all things change and which is to be followed for a life of harmony
2often not capitalized : the path of virtuous conduct as conceived by Confucians
3often not capitalized : the art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing <the Tao of archery>"

In other words, "huh?" I'm sorry if I'm sounding facetious here; that isn't my intention at all.

[/corporate speak]

Put more simply. I am not privy to the inner workings of LL, even if I were I wouldn't understand half of it. But as an end user, who is a paying customer of the service LL has to offer, it seems to me that they may have overreached their capabilities and need some serious help in righting the ship.

Sorry but there comes a point after you've taken enough money for your service; that having your personal feelings hurt is not justification for shutting up criticism.

from 'the tao of linden':

Your Choice is Your Responsibility

There's a dual meaning here.

Most companies tell you what to do. Then they make you accountable to the person who told you what to do, not to yourself. We don't think this gets the best long-term results with a truly ambitious project like Second Life. At Linden Lab, you are expected to choose your own work, you have to decide how you can best move the company forward. This isn't always easy, but it can be very rewarding for you and it is a huge win for the company. This doesn't mean that you can't ask someone else what to do - it means that you are responsible for choosing who to listen to! You are responsible for listening well and broadly enough to choose wisely.

And once you have chosen, you are responsible for executing well to making your choices work. You must understand that other people now rely on you for single-minded execution, and it is time to shut out the noise and work without distraction. Sometimes you will fail, and in those cases it is very important to fail fast and fail publicly - that is how we learn and iterate and ultimately win.

http://lindenlab.com/employment/tao

Exactly!! And thank you for posting this. If the poor babies are tired of criticism, get to WORK and FIX things.

Sooz

You can doubt all you want--but the gaming-gods know that what LL is doing is ground-breaking and incredibly ambitious. There will always be bugs in a growing, user-generated world...you have to ask yourself whether the pros outweigh the cons.

no, the pros dont outweigh the cons.

Well, then it's time to move on...isn't it.

Well, then it's time to move on...isn't it. For you anyhow.

I kinda agree with Michael...shocking, I know. Almost all of my serious doubts stem from LL's crap customer service and abject refusal to listen to the Residents. OK, maybe they can't fix everything we want them to fix, right when we want them to fix it, but they COULD make more of an effort to address our concerns and let us know what the issues are. Instead, they're like little kids with their fingers in their ears, going "I can't hear you! Nyah nyah!"

For rightnow, it isclose to being even - maybe 60 pro, 40 con and going down. Its a more complex question that that though. For example, If I increase my tier over 1/2 a sim and start paying $195 a month as opposed to $125? No, then the cons outweigh the pros. I won't do it. If the 60-40 ratio drops, I will more than likely sell off my land, perhaps partially, perhaps completely. Then the pros MAY outweigh the cons again. If and when the cons outweigh the pros once I have divested myself of all of my land and have downgraded from concierge to premium to basic, then of course I WILL leave.

At the present rate, I see this occuring in the summer of '08.

Sooz