The Washington Post, December 3, 2021, reported that it had obtained a companywide email from Parag Agrawal announcing a reorganization: teams grouped by consumer product, revenue, and core tech rather than by function, and that head of engineering Michael Montano and “chief design officer” Dantley Davis would step down and leave by year’s end. Fast Company said a staff memo obtained by the Post described “clear decision-making, increased accountability, and faster execution.”
TechCrunch quoted a Twitter spokesperson: “Dantley’s departure is singularly focused around shifting our organizational model around a structure that has one lead manager supporting a key company objective.” The same spokesperson said the company had “no further details to share on these changes out of respect for the individuals involved,” and that the GM model would let the company “operate more cross-functionally.”
CNBC reported the same reorg and said a Twitter spokeswoman, Rebecca Yagerman, stated that the August Times report “had no influence on the restructuring,” and that “there wasn’t space in there for” Davis and Montano under the new model. That is a company line to a reporter. It is not a deposition. Fortune and The Verge also recapped the exits; The Verge added that Davis later posted that he was “honored to have been part of the journey.” Forbes recapped the 8-K and the August culture story in the same item.
Fast Company’s Amy Farley wrote that it was “unclear if design will once again hold a C-Suite role at Twitter.” That is the magazine wondering, not a finding.