Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President • Hacker News Board

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#31

Post by walrus01 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:54 PM UTC

MangoCoffee wrote: post #17

vlovich123 wrote: post #3

An email migration was that important that they decided to shake up quite a bit of the exec team? Or was the email migration stuff just internal politics playing out in the news?

probably not. IBM haven't been that much relevant in tech for years. they pivot to the cut throat consulting services while kind of abandoned what IBM used to be. a tech leader. Microsoft was like IBM after Bill Gates. Not a tech leader for many years until Microsoft pivot to Cloud computing and software as services.

google "IBM phoenix payroll canada" for a fine example of what has gone wrong.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=ibm+pho...

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#32

Post by avereveard » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:55 PM UTC

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #28

One of my recent revelations was when I told my teen children "... a company like IBM". To what they said "what is IBM??" They know all the large tech companies but that one was a surprise to them, they had a look at Wikipedia and said "ah yes, it was a great company in your times". Time to get some wine.

IBM portfolio isn't targeted to consumers like Apple's or other companies, even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name. The only consumer facing product they had for the longest time were cash registers, and those aren't particularly hip as to live in consumer imagination

Edit: in today episode, hacker news forget they're a niche cohort.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#33

Post by adventured » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:56 PM UTC

MangoCoffee wrote: post #17

vlovich123 wrote: post #3

An email migration was that important that they decided to shake up quite a bit of the exec team? Or was the email migration stuff just internal politics playing out in the news?

probably not. IBM haven't been that much relevant in tech for years. they pivot to the cut throat consulting services while kind of abandoned what IBM used to be. a tech leader. Microsoft was like IBM after Bill Gates. Not a tech leader for many years until Microsoft pivot to Cloud computing and software as services.

Microsoft was not like IBM after Bill Gates. Not remotely close.

Microsoft was still overwhelmingly a product company in the decade after Gates. It did not abandon its product-centric focus and switch to a service-centric business model ala IBM. IBM hasn't been a product heavy company in several decades at this point. Microsoft never stopped being product heavy.

IBM liquidated its core product businesses, one after another. Microsoft never did that.

Microsoft's sales increased dramatically during the Ballmer years, going from $23b in 2000 to $77b in 2013. IBM's sales haven't increased like that in decades (quite the opposite in fact, they've had a stagnant or contracting business for a long time).

The cloud boom that Microsoft is currently enjoying, was planted during the Ballmer era, and it's being very successfully harvested during the Nadella era.

Nadella is a superior CEO to Ballmer, and far superior at product. However Ballmer did not wreck the ship nor switch Microsoft to being primarily service focused in the model of IBM. IBM by contrast is a wrecked ship.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#34

Post by ComputerGuru » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:57 PM UTC

avereveard wrote: post #32

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #28

One of my recent revelations was when I told my teen children "... a company like IBM". To what they said "what is IBM??" They know all the large tech companies but that one was a surprise to them, they had a look at Wikipedia and said "ah yes, it was a great company in your times". Time to get some wine.

IBM portfolio isn't targeted to consumers like Apple's or other companies, even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name. The only consumer facing product they had for the longest time were cash registers, and those aren't particularly hip as to live in consumer imagination Edit: in today episode, hacker news forget they're a niche cohort.

> even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name

IBM was synonymous with PC for quite some time.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#35

Post by sjg007 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:58 PM UTC

MangoCoffee wrote: post #17

vlovich123 wrote: post #3

An email migration was that important that they decided to shake up quite a bit of the exec team? Or was the email migration stuff just internal politics playing out in the news?

probably not. IBM haven't been that much relevant in tech for years. they pivot to the cut throat consulting services while kind of abandoned what IBM used to be. a tech leader. Microsoft was like IBM after Bill Gates. Not a tech leader for many years until Microsoft pivot to Cloud computing and software as services.

All big tech has a consulting arm. It's how you get people to use your software.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#36

Post by nomoreplease » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 3:59 PM UTC

When I talk to former IBMers (including a VP), it seems much of the outward “success” there is financial engineering, yet the business is crumbling in reality. Jim leaving amidst a chaotic, failed email migration that is impacting sales is not surprising

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#37

Post by datahead » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

TheDong wrote: post #21

datahead wrote: post #6

I like Whitehurst and have had the chance to meet him a few times. If you want to understand his ethos check out "The Open Organization". It details his transition from Delta to Red Hat and the transformation of his leadership style being around a lot of smart engineers and team players ready to constructively challenge each other. Good read for anyone interested in building inclusive company culture in tech. Honestl…

> leadership style being around a lot of smart engineers [...] building inclusive company culture in tech. Red Hat was certainly an open company. I don't know if "inclusive" is the right word though. "Inclusive" has strong connotations now of people being welcoming, especially of those that are different. This is largely anecdotal, but my interactions with Red Hat and external observations can better be summed up as…

I'm curious if our interactions could be biased. For example, we're clients of RH (RHEL & Openshift) so I'm guessing we interact with more presentable humans. Everyone I've met has been genuinely wonderful and supportive across eng, sales, product, TAM, etc. One of the few vendors I enjoy working with.

I used inclusive in this context to mean that a junior engineer is expected to speak up and offer input in an executive meeting if they have something to offer. Cutting through hierarchy, "good ideas come from everywhere". This could be idealistic but it helped me in eliciting input.

I don't know what it's like to be on the inside or close periphery to daily core operations at RH. I agree and understand completely what you are saying. "Free speech" has (recently?) been a guise to act terribly toward each other in a number of settings. Trolls gonna troll. It's important to maintain decorum in the workplace and a culture that defies that can turn toxic quickly.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#38

Post by awill » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

slater wrote: post #20

vlovich123 wrote: post #3

An email migration was that important that they decided to shake up quite a bit of the exec team? Or was the email migration stuff just internal politics playing out in the news?

He was actually let go months ago, but never received the e-mail /s

pure gold

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#39

Post by avidpsychlist » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #34

avereveard wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IBM portfolio isn't targeted to consumers like Apple's or other companies, even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name. The only consumer facing product they had for the longest time were cash registers, and those aren't particularly hip as to live in consumer imagination Edit: in today episode, hacker news forget they're a niche cohort.

> even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name IBM was synonymous with PC for quite some time.

yeah, in my early youth "IBM" or "IBM Compatible" (for the value shoppers out there, such as my family) was very much a household name...if your household had a computer at all, that is.

Re: Jim Whitehurst to step down as IBM President

#40

Post by pessimizer » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

avereveard wrote: post #32

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #28

One of my recent revelations was when I told my teen children "... a company like IBM". To what they said "what is IBM??" They know all the large tech companies but that one was a surprise to them, they had a look at Wikipedia and said "ah yes, it was a great company in your times". Time to get some wine.

IBM portfolio isn't targeted to consumers like Apple's or other companies, even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name. The only consumer facing product they had for the longest time were cash registers, and those aren't particularly hip as to live in consumer imagination Edit: in today episode, hacker news forget they're a niche cohort.

> even at peak IBM it was an office name, not a household name.

This is not true.