I don't have the answers yet, but I have learned enough to be dangerous, and ask better questions..

As a former cube drone, I often used to hate the obligatory 'all-hands' calls where we'd hear how we were on the verge of something big, about to face the perfect storm, and the analysts just hadn't figured out our strategy yet (neither had the customers we dreamed of winning).

I used to hate those calls. I often wished management would just Tell the Truth. Just say, 'Our product manager doesn't actually KNOW what we should be building, so we're taking our best guess.' And also say, 'we know that the competition is tough. Really tough. They got there first, they built something better. But we're going to win on (whatever it really is).' At least I'd know I was in for a fight, and what I was up against.

I am in a company where I believe the idea was a good one...two years ago before competitors caught on and started building it. We have overbuilt the product - no one can use the darned thing. It's too complex. We marketed it to a select group in the UK, and told everyone we were 'making progress' with that group. So the competitors set up shop over there, camped out, and pitched daily. They're doing great. We're out.

Sigh.

We just got another round of funding, so I don't need to quit yet. But if success were to come, and the way these clowns run things, it's a stretch, we are just not well poised for it.

But how much to tell my team?

I am the type of employee that appreciates the truth. However, if it's not forthcoming, I am also adept at discerning the handwriting on the wall. My upper management has often been shocked at various gigs I've been on with my ability to see imminent layoffs, closings, booms, etc. I am not that smart. I can just see the dots and connect them, rather than inhale the dream (kool aid).

So as a manager, I realize not everyone can connect those dots. Ideals get in the way. But then I wonder if they want the truth. And if so, should  I share it?

I think yes, but then I see that when I share my picture, their faces turn horrified, and they immediately flee the room to begin frantically searching Craigslist for their next job.

Or they get despondent.

Then I think, well, maybe some people don't want the truth. But then those are the ones dumbfounded when they come back from lunch and the doors are chained shut. They never saw it coming. Why didn't someone say something?

Sigh. What to do?

What do you think?