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Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

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Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#261

Post by jameshart »

bluegatty wrote: post #243
wjnc wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single recipient on the thread was a Vice President, Corporate Vice President, or Senior/Group Vice President. Gates intentionally bypassed lower-level product managers and emailed the executive tier directly to demand accountability for platform-wide usability regressions. If you think this is not missing the forest for the trees, please explain.

He bypassed the new CEO, that's the really ugly one there. That's borderline backstabby.

Probably phoned Ballmer, and Ballmer told him who to send his rant to.

The degree of overthinking going on in this thread…

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#262

Post by Philpax »

VCFundedGenYer wrote: post #237

As an IT person, the way this email was written makes me feel like I'm having a stroke. This was Gates whining about nothing. Bill was in charge of MS at the time, he should not only have known how Windows works at this level (Dave Cutler on NT anyone?), he should have been able to figure this out. Installing Movie Maker was easy back then and it is still easy now (on XP).

The entire point is that if he couldn't naively figure it out, no normal user would. I'm sure that he could have thought like a technical user and gotten there, but he shouldn't have needed to.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#263

Post by vismit2000 »

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #26

My favorite bit about this is how none of the execs want to take ownership of the change, but instead trying to put someone else in the hot seat and/or start a Committee. This feels like an email that should have been blasted to the entire company. Top-down, empower employees to think of a more unified experience. Then again, all of the external jokes about Microsoft indicate that every department is fighting for the…

Reminds of https://i.insider.com/4e0b340dcadcbbdd35120000?width=1300&fo...

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#264

Post by vismit2000 »

saaaaaam wrote: post #57
sajithdilshan wrote: post #27

Read the whole thing and all I saw was zero accountability, zero ownership and zero consequences. That’s how great products die or become a nightmare. Every team keeps on passing the ball to other team and nothing gets fixed or done or improved.

But it didn’t. And Microsoft is worth $3.5 trillion. So maybe actually everyone should take a leaf out of the Microsoft book. When something is on fire, pass the buck to other people and stand around saying “that thing is on fire… wouldn’t it be great if someone called the fire brigade? I have the number here. One of you guys, give them a call.”

https://www.workchronicles.com/p/comic-prevention-vs-cure

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#265

Post by dpark »

gopher_space wrote: post #260
dpark wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You keep talking about “taking responsibility”. Unless the person taking responsibility is also taking action, which you aren’t even proposing, then it’s just words. It’s more sugar coating. “It’s not you, it’s me.” > This is a 'put out the fire' type reactionary stuff. After the fire fighting comes the postmortem where the systemic issues should be discussed. A fire is a great way to spur both short and long term ac…

Do you think personal responsibility travels uphill or downhill? Each of the letters in CEO stand for a word with specific meaning, and when you put them together they tell you where the buck stops. It’s not a job for people who can’t take responsibility for their fuckups.

> Do you think personal responsibility travels uphill or downhill?

This is trying to be pithy but it’s not. Every leader from the CEO down has responsibility for their area of control and influence.

> It’s not a job for people who can’t take responsibility for their fuckups.

Neither is EVP or any other title that ends in “VP”.

The CEO ultimately owned The fact that installing movie maker was a shit show, but so did everyone in a position of leadership that contributed to that. Accountability does not mean everyone gets to point at the CEO and say “ultimately it’s their fault” as if that absolves them.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#266

Post by fatbird »

LennyWhiteJr wrote: post #85
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #26

My favorite bit about this is how none of the execs want to take ownership of the change, but instead trying to put someone else in the hot seat and/or start a Committee. This feels like an email that should have been blasted to the entire company. Top-down, empower employees to think of a more unified experience. Then again, all of the external jokes about Microsoft indicate that every department is fighting for the…

This is unfortunately par for the course at many big companies. I have re-lived this exact same thread so many times I've lost count 1. Leader escalates issue to his team 2. The team scrambles to come up with a solution 3. No one wants to take ownership. #NotMyProblem 4. weeks or months are spent on 'developing a plan' 5. nothinghappens.jpg

I think you're leaving out a key aspect of the problem: not one of those people had the scope of responsibilities to really fix the issue. There was the website, windows update, and OS team, all being fed by a variety of product teams with marketing and delivery concerns. At root, Bill's problems were a coordination issue spanning half the organization. If you were on that email chain, you wouldn't want ownership either because that herding the rest of the cats towards a comprehensive fix that would probably restructure the whole company.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#267

Post by siddbudd »

ayewo wrote: post #148
TulliusCicero wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I know about MS, I can understand what they mean. Microsoft famously had teams at odds with each other, so if you "own" something across multiple teams and can't get them to actually work together or take a particular issue seriously, then you just have the shit end of responsibility without the authority to make stuff happen.

> Microsoft famously had teams at odds with each other, ... Instantly reminded me of this especially apt comic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyJfRwHWYAI0_yt?format=jpg [1] Also available here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/6jw33z/int...

I am either misreading it or it almost makes me want to work at Facebook. If only their product wouldn't be so utterly disgusting.

Re: Bill Gates tries to install MovieMaker (2003)

#268

Post by gloryjulio »

LennyWhiteJr wrote: post #85
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #26

My favorite bit about this is how none of the execs want to take ownership of the change, but instead trying to put someone else in the hot seat and/or start a Committee. This feels like an email that should have been blasted to the entire company. Top-down, empower employees to think of a more unified experience. Then again, all of the external jokes about Microsoft indicate that every department is fighting for the…

This is unfortunately par for the course at many big companies. I have re-lived this exact same thread so many times I've lost count 1. Leader escalates issue to his team 2. The team scrambles to come up with a solution 3. No one wants to take ownership. #NotMyProblem 4. weeks or months are spent on 'developing a plan' 5. nothinghappens.jpg

In my experience it's kinda different. The serious issue that raised by higher up usually means more scope, visibility, bonuses and potential bonuses. Teams usually fights to get the important issues(whichever the higher thinks that's important) as their team's work. The drawback is that it's very possible that multiple teams are fighting for the same pie and resulting in duplicated work.

In the end if there are enough incentives(usually money) people would work on those.

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