What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer • Hacker News Board

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#51

Post by skookumchuck » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 9:52 PM UTC

mjw1007 wrote: post #45

skookumchuck wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no ability The bank could have abandoned Microsoft products. They could have sued Microsoft. Blaming one's underlings is a sign of weakness. Blaming the customer would be a disaster.

Sure, it was the right thing to do. But it wasn't a difficult thing to do.

For an awful lot of people, apologizing and taking responsibility for an error is very difficult. People will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid doing so, coming up with ever more complicated explanations as to why they are blameless.

Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness.

Case in point: antennagate and Jobs' attempt to blame the users for holding the phone wrong.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#52

Post by timc3 » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 10:30 PM UTC

Interesting read but a pity that the author doesn’t understand the difference between blog and blog post particular as one of his points was attention to detail.

If the author is reading this blog is the medium (like magazine or newspaper) and blog post or post is the individual what a blog is what one authors.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#53

Post by Delmania » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 10:32 PM UTC

Adrock wrote: post #35

achow wrote: post #2

Excerpts from infamous mini-msft blog (in 2005 another msft employee venting anonymously): "I mean, what has he done or not done that is impacting the stock?" - along with Gates, made decisions that resulted in the company being found guilty of breaking the law twice(and counting)resulting in fines, restrictions... - along with Gates, invested over $10B of cash in failed telecom investments that ended up being writte…

I'll add one more: https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/06/microsoft-stock-hi... Take a look at the chart. Ballmer was CEO from January 2000 to February 2014.

In the words of John Gruber of Daring Fireball, Ballmer knows how to make money. People will disagree with his decisions but the results don’t lie.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#54

Post by Delmania » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 10:40 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #6

I can't wait for Ballmer to become the lovable, goofy NBA owner instead of be remembered as the guy who dragged down Microsoft.

Depends on your point of view, doesn’t it? Under his watch MSFT grew in revenue, profit, and stock. If the point of a business is to make money, he did well.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#55

Post by HumanDrivenDev » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 10:49 PM UTC

skookumchuck wrote: post #51

mjw1007 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, it was the right thing to do. But it wasn't a difficult thing to do.

For an awful lot of people, apologizing and taking responsibility for an error is very difficult. People will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid doing so, coming up with ever more complicated explanations as to why they are blameless. Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness. Case in point: antennagate and Jobs' attempt to blame the users for holding the phone wrong.

Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness.

A lot of people disagree with you, and see it as a sign of weakness. Often those people have a lot of influence over your career.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#56

Post by skookumchuck » Sun, Jul 15, 2018, 10:53 PM UTC

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #55

skookumchuck wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For an awful lot of people, apologizing and taking responsibility for an error is very difficult. People will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid doing so, coming up with ever more complicated explanations as to why they are blameless. Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness. Case in point: antennagate and Jobs' attempt to blame the users for holding the phone wrong.

Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness. A lot of people disagree with you, and see it as a sign of weakness. Often those people have a lot of influence over your career.

Good luck filling your organization with people who won't take any responsibility and look for scapegoats. Me, I prefer "the buck stops here" people working for me.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#57

Post by justin66 » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 12:06 AM UTC

Adrock wrote: post #35

achow wrote: post #2

Excerpts from infamous mini-msft blog (in 2005 another msft employee venting anonymously): "I mean, what has he done or not done that is impacting the stock?" - along with Gates, made decisions that resulted in the company being found guilty of breaking the law twice(and counting)resulting in fines, restrictions... - along with Gates, invested over $10B of cash in failed telecom investments that ended up being writte…

I'll add one more: https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/06/microsoft-stock-hi... Take a look at the chart. Ballmer was CEO from January 2000 to February 2014.

> Take a look at the chart.

...and keep in mind that it doesn't capture the money paid out in dividends for over a decade.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#58

Post by HumanDrivenDev » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 12:52 AM UTC

skookumchuck wrote: post #56

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness. A lot of people disagree with you, and see it as a sign of weakness. Often those people have a lot of influence over your career.

Good luck filling your organization with people who won't take any responsibility and look for scapegoats. Me, I prefer "the buck stops here" people working for me.

Right, it's probably not a good idea from a pure performance perspective. But people aren't always rational.

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#59

Post by mgkimsal » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 2:05 AM UTC

sonnyblarney wrote: post #48

achow wrote: post #2

Excerpts from infamous mini-msft blog (in 2005 another msft employee venting anonymously): "I mean, what has he done or not done that is impacting the stock?" - along with Gates, made decisions that resulted in the company being found guilty of breaking the law twice(and counting)resulting in fines, restrictions... - along with Gates, invested over $10B of cash in failed telecom investments that ended up being writte…

During Ballmers tenure, the company massively increased it's revenues and profits, and they were exceptional in other areas. 'Missed paid search' and 'missed music player' etc. etc. are all haughty claims - MS was never an internet oriented business, it's like saying 'Oracle missed the search business' - well sure. Just like Google missed social? Or Facebook missed mobile? Or missed photo-sharing? I'm no fan of Ballm…

> it's like saying 'Oracle missed the search business'

did Oracle spend lots of $ and resources trying to get in to search?

Re: What I Learned Working for Steve Ballmer

#60

Post by JJMcJ » Mon, Jul 16, 2018, 2:18 AM UTC

doikor wrote: post #49

dsjoerg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish this were true of programmers of average ability.

In my experience most do. It’s just that they work on project that leave zero time to do anything to fix the issue. Customer is paying to add feature X not to fix Y that still worked yesterday.

Often so busy it's like merging on to the expressway with someone behind you honking, you look over your shoulder, it seems sorta alright, so you go ahead.