Keep in mind stories like the wiki one are anecdotal (meaning it's not representative of all projects), and in fact this is covered in both Patrick's tweet thread and Dan Luu's linked essay ( https://danluu.com/sounds-easy/ ).

So while they do their best to not have _every_ initiative go this way, large companies - even the mythical FAANGs - will inevitably have moments like this wiki debacle, and they need to be able to absorb them without material impact on the bottom line or having to fire a bunch of people for trying and failing.

Dan and Patrick's accounts of bigness are precisely as anecdotal.

I would love to have empirical data about this whole business. I have no idea how you would collect it.

Nobody makes fun of Coca-Cola for having 80k employees. "What do they have so many employees for? All they do are come up with combinations of sugar, water, and packaging. They don't even do the bottling!"

If I look at Coca-Cola's jobs page, I see a bunch of jobs that actually do have to exist. A short list, quoting from their page:

- Production operator: filling boxes, washing tanks, hook up and unload raw material delivery tankers

- Maintenance Technician: Overhaul and install new equipment, maintenance on equipment.

- CPS ID Laboratory Chemist: Ensure all raw and packaging materials and finished product comply with Company technical specifications including process water, ensure ingredients have all pertinent documentation before their final release.

Meanwhile, you look at Uber's jobs page and you see this (descriptions are quoting from their page)

- Business Development: We strengthen Uber’s position as the world’s leading mobility platform through creative and mutually beneficial commercial partnerships that unlock outsized value today and for many years to come.

- Data Science & Analytics: We transform data into magical experiences.

- Product: We create the vision for the future of urban mobility: deeply understanding our customers to solve their transportation needs with innovative technology.

Sure, Coca-Cola probably has some fat that can be trimmed. But at the end of the day you can't fire the guy testing if the coke water is poisonous, you can't do without someone to load boxes, you can't do without the mechanic. Uber, however, can clearly use substantially fewer people creating "creative partnerships" or "transforming magical experiences" or "creating the future of urban mobility".

Uber has around 30,000 employees to run a ridesharing business. (Didi, which does twice as many rides per day, has 10k.)

Coca-Cola produces 110 billion bottles and 3,900 different beverages around the world. They own their anchor bottler in North America and they produce syrup for pretty much every country in the world! They're so big they used to own Columbia Pictures.

I think Coca-Cola is a pretty bad example.