Woke Up to 10,000+ Views (And Nearly Spilled My Coffee again!!!)
I wasn't planning to post today.
I was working on Monday's piece—the Consent Form saga I promised. But then I woke up late this morning, checked the blog stats while still half-asleep, and nearly spilled coffee all over my keyboard.
900+ (Correction) 10000+ views as of 09:30 AM 12/22/25. https://itsstaff.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-eternal-digital-transformation.html
NINE. HUNDRED. FIVE.THOUSAND. TEN-THOUSAND PLUS
You magnificent ba***ds. You actually did it.
When I hit "publish" on that first post, I thought maybe 20 colleagues would read it. Maybe 50 if the satire landed. Maybe 100 if someone was bored enough in a townhall.
But 10000+ 900+?
Let me put this in perspective:
- That's roughly 70% of our entire VPU
- That's double the people than attended the last all-hands/town-hall
- That's three times more engagement than the God-Mother's LinkedIn posts get combined
This isn't a blog anymore. This is a movement. And I'm simultaneously thrilled and terrified.
Here's What You Need to Know
I started this as one person venting. One laptop, one VPN, 29 months of receipts. A digital scream into the void.
But 900 10000+ views later? This isn't mine anymore. This is ours.
Every one of you reading this—whether you comment or not, whether you share or just lurk in the shadows—you're part of this. You recognize the dysfunction. You feel the exhaustion. You see through the theater.
You know "six months" really means "forever."
And you're done pretending it's fine.
The fact that 900 10000 of us found this, read this, and recognized our own experience in it? That says everything.
We're not crazy. We're not alone. We're just tired of budget airline leadership pretending they're first-class.
What Happens Next?
I'm going to keep writing. All the stories you've lived through but couldn't say out loud.
You're going to keep reading. Keep sharing. Keep that one colleague from their 20+ month of Acting sane by sending them this link.
And together? We're going to document every contradiction, every broken promise, every "Digital Transformation Ninja" hire that knows buzzwords but not our actual work.
900+ 10000+ views says leadership should be paying attention.
Because we certainly are.
To All of You
Whether you've commented, shared, or just read this in silence while pretending to look at a spreadsheet—thank you.
You've turned one person's frustration into a community.
You've proven we're not alone in seeing this.
You've made it impossible to ignore.
The God-Mother need to know we're watching. Documenting. Remembering.
900+ 10000+ views says we are.
Keep reading. Keep sharing. Keep questioning.
Resistance might be futile in their meetings, but it's thriving right here.
See you Monday.
— Your Friendly Neighborhood Eternal Transformation Chronicler
P.S. — To whoever shared this in the senior managers' WhatsApp group: you're either incredibly brave or incredibly reckless. I'm betting on reckless. I salute you. 🫡
You should create a digital drop-off so you can compile all the voices. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. Anonymous story submission coming soon. Your voices matter.
DeleteI was wondering why staff have been posting that they are certified SAFE PM, PO, etc. in LinkedIn, was that pressure from upper management or just self-marketing for outside opportunities? Good luck colleagues and stay strong, I believe in the power of our staff.
DeleteI am sure that two of the 900 readers included Godmother and the step-godmother, who read it many times and tried to figure out who wrote it. 😂
ReplyDeleteYes this is ours and its a movement
ReplyDeleteYou speak for ALL of us and I’m not even from your VPU!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time and starting the rant! The blog from yesterday was the essence of all the lobby, carpool chatter and the rant on the minds of all ITS folks from the past year or so. The so called 'cafe' that calls for psychological safety is far from that! no wonder the article was read and commented by so many! 😊
ReplyDeleteThis is the Transformation Cafe not those scripted fake presentations. We’re together in this. Thank you for starting this.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! That is amazing stuff. Kudos to the blogger. And we had an outside consultant too who was more an assistant in the garb of an agile consultant but earning the big bucks. Bank has no money to pay increments to its staff but has money to splurge on these constant the top heavy management. Hurray !!!
ReplyDeleteNow that the staff association, in its infinite wisdom, caved to management and eliminated anonymous comments on their blog, this is the only forum.
ReplyDeleteCertified… Then Sold Out!!!!!
ReplyDeleteUp-skilling staff. Great idea—let’s do it. Learn and pass certifications while keeping the trains running. Job done. So we think… but oh wait—the God-Mother decided these industry certifications aren’t good. Let’s share the wealth and pay yet another company to design and conduct their exam to determine who survives. Millions of dollars and countless hours later, one has to wonder: should the money spent on training vendors have been used to feed families in developing countries instead? Not really—that’s the institution’s mission, not the God-Mother’s. And we are cost conscious
oh wow, what a post. But I think you completely missed the fact that HR has been a willing accomplice in crafting this whole sordid affair. The HR manager is guilty of gross incompetence and dereliction of sworn duties. Duty of protecting the institution's reputation, even if they don't care about staff.
ReplyDeleteOh, and there’s that too… The organization collects 360° feedback, designed to capture performance. At the end, some management candidates, armed with grudges, quietly downgrade staff. The God-Mother approves without checking the feedback. Because it works for their agenda.
DeleteExisting management doesn’t dare to question it, and the new management cares less—they’re here for the paycheck and to do what she says.
Behavior must contribute to the ratings. Agreed. Sorry, but “behavior,” they mean how well you nod, flatter, and kiss ass. Doing your job? Optional. Delivering the mission? Decorative.
The 360° system? Just the world’s most expensive theater of appearances.
Enter the Hiring Circus: Mission Optional, Loyalty Mandatory. Sounds familiar in recent times, and like something out of an old TV show...
Sure, re-advertising roles makes sense to attract or reassure talent. But when job descriptions are so broad that anyone with a pulse could do the job, insiders who’ve done more are “unfit,” says the digital transformation crystal ball. Welcome to the new bank of dictatorship.
Where loyalty trumps competence, appeasement replaces performance, and the mission? Well, it’s just a nice little backdrop to the show. New hires might come and go, but the real mission has long been hijacked—by those who nod, smile, and keep their heads low.
The performance circus rolls on—because real work is too risky when image is everything.
This should be an eye opener fo both HR and SA. The story is reaching broader audience. Let it keep coming..
Deletegreat going guys...! what's the plan?
ReplyDeleteWBG goal - "World free of Poverty", WFG goal - "WBG free of A**h***s"
DeleteAbsolutely insane. Those SAFe training consultancies must have bought couple of islands by now and would have donated one to god-mother. The madness should stop now and focus on efficient delivery of products and services promised to business. Thanks a lot for the voice and resources.
ReplyDeleteEvery day, the employees arrived at the office and started work immediately. They were highly productive, met all their deadlines, and genuinely enjoyed the job. The third choice of Our-Master-Card was surprised to see everyone performing so well without constant supervision. She thought, If they are this productive on their own, imagine how much more productive they would be with management oversight.
ReplyDeleteWhen the God-Mother reviewed the department’s productivity and costs, she noticed that productivity had increased significantly. Concerned, she hired a Consultant, well known for audits and executive recommendations.
After three months of observations and documentation reviews, the consultant delivered a massive multi-volume report. The final conclusion read:
“The department is overstaffed.”
She announced everyone as Acting Director, Manager, someone with “extensive managerial experience,” and a reputation for producing impressive reports. One of the Acting Managers, who is a batchmate of Adam, initially decided to reevaluate employee benefits, reflecting his inherent tendency to seek cost-effective strategies for the organization, and, of course, it was his by-birth nature. The Acting Manager also demonstrated this in his Staff's appraisal by implementing cost-saving measures for God-Mother.
The Acting Manager was prioritizing travel and attended a conference that offered no real advantage to him or any tangible benefit to WBG.
Let’s all sign a petition to not sign the waiver form before skill assessment.
ReplyDeleteNo way under any conditions do I sign a waiver.
DeleteWay to go. Keep at it, but stay smart about it. We need people like you to be able to stay so we can try to change this mess.
ReplyDeleteWe will change this mess..lets share the story.
DeleteI’m waiting for Monday’s post about consent form.
ReplyDeleteAlready up
DeleteThere is a circus running in other parts of the organization as well ?!
ReplyDeleteCertainly also at the Digital Transformation VPU.
Delete2 cents and background
ReplyDelete- first the way acting managers were appointed (G staff who were not managers) were handpicked by managers / directors. those selected happened to be their favorites with no process. No experience managing. Now they had access to leadership forums for 2 years and have undue advantage for job application.
- the acting managers knew the certification needs and got their certifications while the rest were not given the details.
- Sultan (english major) was running IT functions. and everything he designed had to be redone - wasted money and time. everything he touched has to be redone - you need to know systems to design systems not UX. now he is in a new function and doing the same - so few years down the line it will be a repeat.
- if you are upskilling staff then do so in the right manner. you see this trend only when you don't know where you are going so be a bull in a china store and blame everyone around you for failure. leaders say (president is actually an amazing leader) this is where we are going and come with me and this is what we will accomplish and how. Here we have to the sAFE - like safe will fix. sAFE has only increased resource cost and not reduce. look at redundant skills in the same team!
- you can be safe certified but that's only how you execute and not what you execute and implement. business knowledge and technical knowledge are key.
- you get mapped to a role, assessed and then kept or fired. i wonder who came up with this idea. upskill staff to meet the workforce needs - wait...we didn't say what we need in future work force - only that everyone has to be safe certified. like safe will make you a AI specialist? or you let go the best AI specialist because he / she is not safe certified.
- director Sultan should take coding test because he never coded but chide all the tech people like they know nothing - because if english literature can get him a director post - he would have been a VP if he could code !!
- little does she realize how much he wanted / wants her job.
Now that's what you call confidence (being sarcastic) - no operations experience, no technology background and wants to run the VPU with english major and thinks IT engineers don't know anything. :) But all the staff should be sAFE certified after getting degree in engineering, science, computers while english major gets a free ride.
DeleteDon’t worry. He failed to get the VP ship. At least we have the consolation that this is as far as he goes.
Delete*Blogger emerges from shadows briefly*
ReplyDeleteRight. So. This is me commenting on my own post. Very meta. Very 2025.
But after 16,000+ views and watching you lot absolutely demolish the comments section (in the best way), I owed you a proper thank you.
You've shared this across departments I didn't know existed. You've quoted it in meetings (apparently). You've made leadership so nervous they probably check this blog before checking their own emails.
That's you. Not me. You did that.
Next post: December 26th, morning. It's shorter, sharper, and it's time to act.
No more just reading. No more just commenting.
Time to do something.
Until then: keep sharing. Keep commenting. Keep the momentum going.
See you then. And seriously—thank you.
*Retreats back into anonymity like a digital Batman*
— The Chronicler
thank you and your creative writing is great!
DeleteWish these stupid so called senior management actually understood what World Bank stands for. And that it is not their typical corporate. They have even changed the titles to corporate titles. I hope bank gets rid of these people soon !
ReplyDeletepeople like you calling others stupid bring bad reputation to people raising important point on how it is being mismanaged by VP and director Sultan who served his self interests for decades and caused so many issues to organization. state what you want to say without calling people stupid - calm head prevail.
DeleteI agreed
ReplyDelete