Boeing's issues were written on the wall about 2 decades ago when it moved it's hierarchy from an engineer-centric one to a Chicago accountant-centric one. That alone wouldn't have been an issue, but they had an immediate brain drain as half their HQ staff didn't follow the relocation.

Imagine a thousand employees, half your HQ staff, that leave. There are several possible reasons:

- they're older -> more corporate knowledge and knew the "magic recipes"

- skill based mobility -> they're so good they can go anywhere, and Chicago isn't Seattle

- etc

https://hbr.org/2001/10/inside-boeings-big-move

This was widely thought on ... what was I browsing back then? Reddit? as a fore-warner of bad stuff to come

The fore-warning came to fruition when the issues at various Boeing plants started developing over the next ten years (insider videos talking with an employee about being on drugs during crucial assembly work and shift mates being similarly high, "get it through your station" attitudes) and the Dreamliner issues that were hand-waved away (no training, 1-hour tablet self directed training, certification delays, and eventually crashes).

> what was I browsing back then? Reddit?

I remember it being discussed on SlashDot back then.

generally, you dont want to know how the sausage is being made... its pretty much all industries, some worse than the others.