Mini-case: What's Wrong at MeditateMe?

You are a new VP of Production for an app development company, MeditateMe. The app operates under a subscription model that means your customers sign up for a 1-month free trial, which then converts to a monthly, paid subscription. Customers are promised at sign up that they can Cancel at any time. Here are summaries of your most recent communications from a few of your new colleagues and employees.

Terry, Director of HR:

In the past two weeks, Terry has received 5 complaints from developers about their pay. This is unusual, because they have just gotten their annual raises and they are usually happy for a while after that happens. Terry knows that some of the better performers are underpaid, but lets it continue unless they come to HR with a better offer from somewhere else. The company has a strict policy against sharing salary information and a violation of this policy is probably behind the recent complaints. Terry sent an email to all staff reminding them that any violation of company policy may result in termination of employment.

Email from Rene, Junior Developer:

"Ive been working on some code that manages our subscription renewals and cancellations. I heard from a friend in Customer Service that a lot of users have been unable to cancel through the Cancel subscription page in the app. They click all the right buttons, but the charges keep coming. I think I have found the bug that is making this happen. Our policy says that I can only make a change to code that affects billing if I have approval from a Senior Developer, which in my department would be Rufus.

When I talked to Rufus about this, he said that there is no reason to worry because there is a clause in the Terms and Conditions (that all customers agree to) that covers us in this situation. Essentially, he refuses to let us fix this problem because he knows the users cant sue. I am frustrated by Rufus' refusal to do anything. I am tempted to tweet about it, but I thought it would be best to let you know about the fraudulent billing before going public. Do you agree that this should be changed immediately?"

Rufus, Senior Developer:

Rufus has been at MeditateMe for 6 months. He joined this company because he was passionate about making mindfulness and meditation more accessible. Recently he has been struggling to meet deadlines and updates to the app have been pushed out before testing was complete. Quality is deteriorating.

He says he just hasnt been able to hire good people and that is why things have slowed down. There are clear goals for each testers daily production (number of bugs found and fixed) and he posts the high and low performers each week. Recently, he started offering a weekly bonus ($100 gift card) to the person who finds the most bugs. He is not sure what else to do.

When you ask Rufus about the cancellation bug that Rene brought to you, his response is Sorry about that, I will take care of it. Rene has been getting more difficult to handle for a while. You know what they are like.

You check in 1 week later to see what has been done to take care of it and you find that Rufus has fired Rene.

Boram, Quality Assurance Tester:

Boram has been a tester working under Rufus for 2 months. She is one of the slowest testers. When you review the logs, you see that she provides much more documentation on her bug fixes than the others do. The testers who find more bugs, but provide very little documentation, are on Rufus Top performers list each week. Rufus has told her to be faster, but he encourages her to keep up the good work on documentation. Good documentation helps the developers prevent problems from re-occurring. Boram finds the demands of her job very frustrating and doesnt know how to make things better. She is constantly asked to do more while maintaining a level of work that is not expected from the rest of the testers.

QUESTIONS

1. Explain the kinds of power are present in this situation and who has that power. Different people will have different kinds of power.

2. What should you do about the two most important problems? The best answers will also include the reasons that you think your recommended actions will be effective.