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How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

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Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#41

Post by chrisl99 »

edw519 wrote: post #20
chrisl99 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a copy of the first edition of The Road Ahead. Here is the index entry for Internet: Internet, 3-4, 91-100, 91 activities on, 93-97 addresses on, 94 cost of use of, 97-99, 125 e-mail on, 96-97, 124-25 expectations for, 125 foundation of, 97 growth and evolution of, 91, 95-96 and information highway, 3-4, 89, 95, 100, 230, 246 and publication, 95, 123-25 real-time content on, 99 regulation of, 161-63, 204 reven…

What was I thinking? I obviously read something that was wrong. Looking for my source... [EDIT: I give up. I'm not looking anymore. I thought it may have been "Hard Drive" but it's not. So I either read something that was wrong or (more likely) I misinterpreted it. But I stand by my claim that Joel's meeting is an excellent example of mismanagement. If Bill Gates wasn't so busy maintaining an atmosphere of bullying a…

One thing I should point out, is that although the 1st edition does have a fair bit of talk about the Internet, (even predicting things like VoIP), Gates uses the phrase "information highway" because he thought the Internet would be supplanted by something better:

"...we stand at the brink of another revolution. This one will involve unprecedentedly inexpensive communication; all the computers will join together to communicate with us and for us. Interconnected globally, they will form a network, which is being called the information highway. A direct precursor is the present Internet..."

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#42

Post by edw519 »

akd wrote: post #26
edw519 wrote: post #14

So this is supposed to be an example of good management? Looks more like an example of why Microsoft succeeded in spite of its management. I guess when you're milking a monopolistic cash cow with crappy products, you really don't need good management. Think about it. The CEO comes into a meeting with 6 levels of management and proceeds to treat his people like children by acting like a child himself and "teaching the…

Steve Jobs is notorious for inspecting product prototypes and sending products back to the drawing board because a certain gap is half a millimeter too big. This is pretty much the same behavior as Gates exhibits in the story. This is bad management?

This is bad management?

If you're doing the job of a subordinate and not your own job, then yes.

Remember, there were 4 levels of manager in the room. What did they do? Did anyone trust them?

The internet practically passed by the largest software company in the world while 6 levels of micromanagement were showing each other how smart they were. Yes, I'd call that bad management.

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#43

Post by bct »

wallflower wrote: post #12

My favorite billg story: I actually heard this originally from my ex-boss when he was telling stories during a lull at his startup. A friend of his worked for MSFT in the 1980s; I was just thrilled that it was googleable as I had the gist of the story but not the detail in my memory. "What are the greatest business lessons Bill has taught you over the years? Very early in my career at Microsoft, around February 1984,…

That sounds suspiciously similar to this story: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=184257

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#44

Post by simonw »

mynameishere wrote: post #16
midnightmonster wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original is better--the order of the story and the emotion both work better. Probably has to do with trying to dumb down, sound more professional, and remove the swearing for Inc readers. Joel's Inc Magazine columns compared to his blog writing have pretty much convinced me not to subscribe to Inc..

Joel's Inc Magazine columns compared to his blog writing Most of his articles have been inferior re-writes, to the point that I'm not sure why nobody at Inc. has caught on. Maybe they don't care, but I'd be pissed.

I imagine Inc. has a word limit on articles so they can fit them in the magazine. If so, there's not a lot Joel can do to keep his columns for Inc. as informative as the essays he publishes on his site without any length restriction.

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#45

Post by mechanical_fish »

xssinrails wrote: post #32
ConradHex wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that Joel's essays are always a lot of fun to read. But complaints about his writing, not so much.

Joel's essays are just that. Essays. He continues to ignore any and all research in the area and pretends to know what he's doing. If I wanted a bunch of misinformed opinions I could just ask non-programmers.

Research would be great. Would you be so good as to recommend a peer-reviewed study of the efficacy of Bill Gates' management technique?

Meanwhile, anecdotes may be anecdotal but they're still more enjoyable than flamage.

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#46

Post by natrius »

neilc wrote: post #36
huhtenberg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true for any industry and it's a basic common sense for anyone but a recent MBA graduate without any real-world experience. There's nothing particularly great or insightful about this quote.

Not really: the practice of installing CEOs without a lot of industry experience is quite common (see Terry Semel). It might be obvious to you , but not to everyone.

Terry Semel had previous experience managing a large media company, which is what Yahoo wanted to become at the time he was hired.

Re: How Hard Could it Be? Joel Spolsky recalls what it was like to work for Bill Gates

#47

Post by neilc »

natrius wrote: post #46
neilc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really: the practice of installing CEOs without a lot of industry experience is quite common (see Terry Semel). It might be obvious to you , but not to everyone.

Terry Semel had previous experience managing a large media company, which is what Yahoo wanted to become at the time he was hired.

Sure, but he didn't have experience as a technology executive, and couldn't call "bullshit" on technical claims made by people reporting to him -- which is Joel's argument for why this sort of CEO isn't often a good idea.
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