Have you ever been fired?

[swish7]

Or demoted? I haven't, (although it was threatened at one point). I've never had to do it to somebody else. In Moneyball, Brad Pitt, (as Billy Beane), says you should do it quickly and firmly, without sentiment. George MacDonald is upset that it was done over the telephone. Does that matter?

Is there a best way to fire somebody?

4 times by my count. Always a 'downsizing' type situation. I've worked in the marketing and project management side of many IT startups, which have often proven to be the '1st to go'.

The best way it was ever done to me was when I refused to relocate from NYC to Seattle. I got fired and given a good severance package. The 1st thing I bought were season's tickets to the beginning of the GRob era.

The worse way(s) were a) After 5+ years of service, I got to train my offshore replacement for a few months. Then, one day, my whole group got berated by the maniac CEO, for sluggish sales, on a product he over-priced and essentially forced us to develop a certain way. The next day members of the group got called down to the office 1 by 1, all afternoon long, only to be let go w/ 2 weeks severance. It was a dead man walking kind of day and crushed me. HR was nice and essentially apologized for the way the CEO acted.

b) Really strange situation with another startup I had been at 5 years. The company purposely went bankrupt in order to be bought out. I cannot efficiently list all the drama. Ultimately, it was quick. We all got called into a single room. We were split into two groups. 15 people in group a. 60 people in group b. Then group a was told they would be retained during the bankruptcy process. 3 days later, after the acquisition, 15 people from group b (including me) were brought back. Most all those people left, including me.

I work like a dog and do good work, but always fear that a parting of ways is imminent. Sucks, and I wish I could live without that fear.