Looks to me that the wife of the
founder was doing something that is
common, 'protecting her man'. She
was getting a bit carried away and using
poor judgment and was apparently quite naive
about business, but such things are not
rare.
So, it was two women fighting, very emotionally,
and that's not rare either.
The founder needed to keep his wife 'at home'
or some such, but these days women resent
such 'controls'. So, the wife was
a loose cannon on the deck of GitHub.
Maybe actually the wife was not a big
problem except for the one woman in the
OP. So, the situation was allowed to
continue too far.
And the woman in the story may have been
a bit overly emotional about some parts of the
story.
Did the founder, the rest of management,
HR, etc. do well? Nope. But who other than
the founder was going to apply 'discipline'
to the wife of the founder? Likely no one.
So, there was some office politics, some
clashes of personalities, some social discord,
etc. Expect something else? Usually don't
expect anything that looks, so far, this bad.
But GitHub apparently has decided not to say
anything until they have developed some
good plans and a careful statement, and that
might take a while. And in the meanwhile,
the case will likely leave the headlines.
I expect that the case will 'blow over' with
relatively little long term harm to GitHub.
I honestly hope you are right and she was honestly trying to help however my gut tells me it's all about appearances with this one.
Just the fact that she was told to leave her alone and she completely ignored that request leads me to believe her husband has no control over her and she's just a loose cannon.
Worse still he might actually back her up when people complain which is just encouraging this bad behavior.
I looks to me that she is sabotaging the company and bringing a lot of drama to the office instead of helping him.
So, it was two women fighting, very emotionally, and that's not rare either.
The founder needed to keep his wife 'at home' or some such, but these days women resent such 'controls'. So, the wife was a loose cannon on the deck of GitHub.
Maybe actually the wife was not a big problem except for the one woman in the OP. So, the situation was allowed to continue too far.
And the woman in the story may have been a bit overly emotional about some parts of the story.
Did the founder, the rest of management, HR, etc. do well? Nope. But who other than the founder was going to apply 'discipline' to the wife of the founder? Likely no one.
So, there was some office politics, some clashes of personalities, some social discord, etc. Expect something else? Usually don't expect anything that looks, so far, this bad.
But GitHub apparently has decided not to say anything until they have developed some good plans and a careful statement, and that might take a while. And in the meanwhile, the case will likely leave the headlines.
I expect that the case will 'blow over' with relatively little long term harm to GitHub.