Hurry up and wait (or don't)

Being bought-out, as a company, is not a fun thing. Many of us have gone through this, but this is my first experience with it, so I'll make some comments on it.

First of all, I'd love to know what goes on at the higher-levels during the post-buyout discussions. I'd like to think that there are lots of talks about org charts, management shifts, project plans, etc.; however, it seems that private jets, warm sunny beaches, and little drinks with umbrellas are more likely what's going on. And that's fine. If I paid out millions and millions of dollars for another company, I'd probably take up drinking myself. The downside of all this is that no one else knows what they're supposed to be doing. Heck, I'm not even sure who my supervisor is. Everyone is closing doors, whispering secrets, and trying to downplay the whole situation. My group can't continue on any of the "pre-buyout" projects we were working on because most of them are probably going to get changed (at best) or completely dumped (at worst.) I'd be more than willing to start working on new projects, but without a manager/supervisor to give me some direction, it's hard to know what's going on at all. AFAIK, all purchases have been put on ice, so new hardware/software toys are out of the question too (although I did manage to sneak in a few servers somehow???)

The long and short is that after months of auditing, reports, and hard work, we have this huge new company and tons of resources to work with, and absolutely no idea what we're doing or who is doing what. It's frustrating.

In addition, there are a few things I've noticed during the whole process. Some of these I knew before, some I didn't.

• It's every man for himself. Loyalty goes out the door when things like this happen.
• Everyone's job is up for grabs. No one is safe.
• Some jobs are safer than others. The title "manager" seems to be a petri dish for growing the "reasons-I'm-useless" virus.
• No matter how many times "new" people say they have an open-door/phone/email policy and that they're glad to answer any questions you might have, they're people just like you and me, held by the same logical and political constraints, so don't expect any more than you'd be willing to offer.
• It never hurts to have an out, and you can't expect others around you to be looking for one as well.
• In the end, no one really knows what's going on. It is a work in progress.
  

So, for now, I'll wait (or not) and see what is going to happen.