Rumor mills are circulating that there are major layoffs coming soon. Since I work at Yahoo! (YHOO), I’ll document some thoughts.

I think a layoff at Yahoo! would be a good thing.

  1. Cut some fat - The company has a bunch of smart people, amongst the brightest I’ve ever worked with, but there are so many of us that most projects are overstaffed. How can something be overstaffed? As the number of people working on a project increases, so does communication expense. Everyone spends all of their time talking to each other and getting each other "on the same page". If you haven’t read the Mythical Man Month, I encourage you to do so. This concept is covered in detail.
  2. Hunker down - Yahoo! should also prepare properly for the upcoming recession, brought on by the Subprime Lending crisis and 8 years of leadership by the worst president in history. Now is a good time to trim expenses and have more cash laying around.
  3. An Answer Wall Street’s calls for major change - Heads rolling is often symbolic of a company that "means business" and is willing to take serious action for change. Having a big layoff will stop everyone from saying that Yahoo! Management isn’t doing enough.

Wait a minute! I work there. What about me? I feel pretty safe. I was recently promoted, I work on the companies current #1 top-secret initiative, of which I am an architect for an essential piece of it, and I just booked a trip to England to get to know the rest of my team better.

But even if I get the axe? I’d enjoy a nice severance package and the opportunity to look around at all the exciting opportunities in the Silicon Valley, like wikinvest.com, wikia’s new search, and other startups. I get 5-10 job solicitations a month — so the problem won’t be finding a new job, but deciding which opportunity is the best vehicle for my talents.