LLNS may have excluded the wrong people in last VSSOP? The exclusions were based on outdated job categories and related skills. ULM are now thinking that in the future, job categories and functional areas will have to be re-defined. The next VSSOP/ISP will be based on the new categories and functional areas. The questions I have are: 1) Why didnt they think of that before the transition. It seems like their style is “change things as you go”. Planning is out the window! 2) Who will give input on the new changes? The next RIF apparently is going to be more lucrative than the VSSOP. Depending on the length of employment, a RIFed person, not only gets their 1 week pay per year of service but also from 30 to 120 days notice, essentially 30 to 120 days pay. Please feel free to comment on the rumors or add new ones you actually heard.
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LANL is now "The AI" lab. We do production, weapons, a force for good and AI!!!.
LANL is just getting weirder and weirder now. Mason just gave a talk yesterday saying how LANL publications numbers are dropping, while ANL, ORNL and even LLNL are increasing. What is odd is that the LANL has grown twice in size, yet is doing less and less science. Now we are going to be the AI lab? Huh, does any of this make any sense? People are saying that management is now making this up as they go and have no idea what is going on.
"Mason’s view of success has always been a warm body count"
I think we should pitch that we could use AI to replace management at LANL. I think it would be more rational and efficient.
I agree that the the current LANL management is not evil like Bechtel, but it is just sort of mediocre. There is only box checking. It is almost like the want LANL to be as big as possible so that if and when the pits are not built, we will just be to big to fail. This could explain the motto "interview 500" hire "500" statement. I simply do not get the strategy for success at the place now. Bechtel had goal to get all they money they could, anyway they can, within a 10-15 year time period and then leave. You can say what you want about LANS but they accomplished pretty much exactly they set out to do. Bechtel has a pretty clear game plan everywhere they go. The money comes from the leverage not the contracts.
TRIAD seems to have no clear plan at all but just hire more and more people, do more and more paper work, get rid of science, and bribe New Mexico.