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Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

recode.net

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Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#201

Post by sanderjd »

SandB0x wrote: post #139
frou_dh wrote: post #5

Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture Body: Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction ... Christ.

Here's my attempt at removing some of the worst fluff from the email: Last week in my email to you I outlined our direction as a productivity and platform company. On July 22, during our public earnings call, I’ll share further specifics on where we are focusing our innovation investments. The first step to building the right organization is to make changes to our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce…

Thanks, that was great. Your version is clear and to the point without losing anything. It really makes me wonder why corporate messages are so often written in such a strange style. It clearly isn't necessary, and often ticks people off.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#202

Post by 72deluxe »

UweSchmidt wrote: post #70
kabdib wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stock is up over 45 now . . . Getting rid of dead wood is a great idea. Tons of middle management there, just sitting for years and causing obstructive damage.

Not a big fan of metaphors like "dead wood" to describe employees. Regarding the "tons of middle managers" (another dehumanizing expression imo.) - I haven't met anyone just "sitting for years" and happily "causing obstructive damage" yet. I have however met quite a few where it took me some time to appreciate their work (looked like nothing/trivial from the outside) and realize their failed struggle with organizator…

Very thoughtful, thanks. I too had probably been swept along by the generalisations of people, but they're just that - real people with real problems and situations.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#203

Post by sanxiyn »

incision wrote: post #135
pierreio wrote: post #94

So MS Bought Nokia and ~30k employees for ~$7.2 billion last April. 3 months later, MS may now be firing ~half of the Nokia group. The executives who drove that catastrophic deal stay. What a testament to how disastrous big M&A really is. Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? I'd feel sorry if I was a Nokia guy there, they pulled out the best non-Apple phone hardware in the last years. P…

>'So MS Bought Nokia and ~30k employees for ~$7.2 billion last April. 3 months later, MS may now be firing ~half of the Nokia group. The executives who drove that catastrophic deal stay.' My understanding, primarily from friends at Cisco which has its own history of acquisitions and layoffs is that this is roughly standard procedure, catastrophe or not. Basically, there's always going to be a lot of overlap when acqu…

By the way, survey of mergers found that while most mergers fail, Cisco is an outlier making successful mergers one after another. It is said that Cisco analyzed successful and unsuccessful mergers and does data-driven, evidence-based decision making.

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/03/hard-facts-mergers.htm...

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#204

Post by htormey »

pxlpshr wrote: post #75
frou_dh wrote: post #5

Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture Body: Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction ... Christ.

Instead of writing "Christ", you should consider posting an email as if you were the one newly responsible for a $364B company and a reduction in 18,000 jobs. I'd be curious to see other people's management style from their armchair.

In my opinion, this is a pretty good critique of his writing style along with some constructive suggestions on how to improve it:

http://www.mondaynote.com/2014/07/13/microsofts-new-ceo-need...

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#205

Post by 72deluxe »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #66
kabdib wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stock is up over 45 now . . . Getting rid of dead wood is a great idea. Tons of middle management there, just sitting for years and causing obstructive damage.

From the content of this email, it's not middle management that's the problem.

Perhaps! It should have read:

"We need to cascade memos about our holistic logistical matrix approaches."

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#206

Post by MrDosu »

headgasket wrote: post #188
MrDosu wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Implying the WINNT kernel doesn't have the best device driver support in the world by a huge margin...

Thanks for pointing this out! But would you think think that in this post pc era, devices per se that require drivers and dont have their own os that can communicate via standards are kind of going the way of the dodo? As an aside, I'm wondering why every time I try to post something on YC's news forum I seem get downvoted. Is it groupthink that I just cant join in on? Is this community averse to opinions or ideas th…

You should really read up on what a driver is before waffling in on a subject -_-

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#207

Post by blt »

frou_dh wrote: post #5

Subject: Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture Body: Last week in my email to you I synthesized our strategic direction ... Christ.

Hemingway App (http://www.hemingwayapp.com/) gives it a medium rating of Grade 12. I would have expected worse. I guess there are no truly awful sentences, and the app doesn't measure its general overuse of big words.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#208

Post by 72deluxe »

shaydoc wrote: post #29
Infinitesimus wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Layoffs aren't always about profit though. In this case, it is more about streamlining and making MS more agile

How does laying off 18,000 people make you more "agile" ? Products that sell make you more "agile"... Its more a case of, we bought Nokia for their market, but we don't need their staff!

Smaller and faster instead of lumbering giant.

I think that's why "agile development" involves the use of small teams instead of giant departments.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#209

Post by smackfu »

pierreio wrote: post #112
untog wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any large acquisition that succeeded in the last 10 years? You might have the wrong criteria for acquisition success. I'm sure both Nokia and MS knew these layoffs would come before they agreed to the purchase.

Did MS? Including the cost of the lay off ($1.6b says Recode), Nokia price was actually $8.8b. What was their business case that was so easily scrapped just months into the purchase? It may be successful on a tax/accounting perspective since the purchase was made in € with cash that couldn't be brought to the US. Yet this does look like a gigantic waste of assets. Warren Buffett says that a successful business is all…

Adding layoff costs to the purchase price doesn't seem right. Severance is the bulk of it, and that's money you would have paid anyway if you had kept the employees on.

Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs

#210

Post by throwaway012 »

outside1234 wrote: post #131
k2enemy wrote: post #3

And now, every day for a year, everyone gets to wake up and wonder if this is the day that they will get laid off. Why can't they wait and make the announcement once they know who they will eliminate and do it in one swift action? Why put people in limbo for a year?

Microsoft employee here: I took this exactly the opposite way. I know I'm valuable, I know many others aren't (sorry: being honest) and this is a good thing from my perspective because at Microsoft we are finally facing reality and getting the right people in place. My only gripe is that the layoffs are not larger - we need about 20% of the marketing folks and 20% of the program managers that we currently have. I wou…

MS employee here as well. They both aren't going anywhere, KT more-so; he's well respected among the leadership and SMSG has grown exponentially under his watch.
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