Comments on: Yahoo! Brickhouse closes – People get upset – I think it’s okay

By: Martin Polley

Martin Polley — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:40:19 +0000

I think you’re wrong about them not creating value. Your other criticisms are likely justified, but as a FireEagle user, I feel that they certainly _did_ create value.

By: Jorge Umir

Jorge Umir — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:11:23 +0000

Completely agree!! Thanks for calling a spade a spade.

You really nailed it on “accountability part”…folks working in Brickhouse may have been great but many were spent force, past their prime who just wanted a cozy setup where there is no accountability, no nothing.

Heck I know a guy who roamed around the world (check his exploits at http://premshree.livejournal.com) on Yahoo!s dime while he was supposed to be working on new ideas in Brickhouse. Absolutely no accountability and it was like throwing money down the drain.

Guys there worked in their own world. Yahoo Live was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread for these folks!!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:00:16 +0000

I’m not objecting to a lack of empathy, but i’m saying that not all of the desired effects of Brickhouse work were supposed to be public and outward facing.

In any case, your excoriation of Brickhouse staff as people who “avoid working on anything with accountability” is not only wrong, it’s somewhat offensive to me personally. It’s fair to say that it was the right thing to cut (I’ve been gone since March, and I would generally agree that it’s fine to cut R&D in times of business downturn), but you’re going too far to make attacks on the character of people who worked at Brickhouse, either those who tried to come in from the mothership, or those who accepted jobs specifically to work on the BH projects of others.

I’m not going to defend the amount of money that Yahoo! spends supporting projects corollary to the main cash cows, but if you’re objecting generally to ALL people who don’t work on search monetization, you have a problem with a much wider group of people than just Brickhouse.

By: peterme

peterme — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:47:53 +0000

I know it’s harsh. And I know there are many nuances and many qualifications that can be made, and that I’m making a generalization. But I think the fact that Brickhouse closed down is the proof in the pudding — apart from Fire Eagle, from what I can see, it wasn’t generating anything that the rest of the organization considered valuable, at least, not valuable enough to save it. It wasn’t part of the warp and weft of Yahoo!’s business, and it was probably an easy decision to cut it.

I know this sucks for the people in Brickhouse, and I know my commentary is not particularly empathetic. But, honestly, the writing has been on the wall for Brickhouse since at least February, when it became clear that Yahoo could no longer support that which wasn’t directly contributing to the business. And who can blame them?

By: Gordon

Gordon — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:19:59 +0000

Wow, that’s pretty harsh.

For your information, I didn’t bust my ass simultaneously at Brickhouse and Upcoming because I was avoiding accountability. Neither did anyone else on my team. I realize that it’s very easy to generalize about what goes on in such a vocally promoted R&D group in a big organization, but I think you’re overstepping here, in addition to assuming erroneously that all the value delivered by Brickhouse-style mandate is public.

I’m not shedding any tears about it being shut down, but I wouldn’t be so quick to judge the motivations or goals of people who worked there.

-Gordon