I was kind of hoping Ballmer leaving would be part of the reorg.
They seem quite lost, and this reorg a sign of desperation. Maybe Billy G should take on Microsoft as part of his new charity arm.
Microsoft reorganizes
121–130 of 283 posts
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#122I almost choked when I read Microsoft's new mission statement: "our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most." In other words, Ballmer wants the company to "focus" on being everything to everyone! Not a good sign for the business. -- PS. Compare Ballmer's long,…
I think the important thing is what's missing: "software".
Apparently, Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, is no longer interested in software.
I wouldn't call this a great idea, considering "core competencies" and how well their products in the "devices and services" divisions are faring, but it is, at least, forward-looking.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
I honestly think he doesn't realize that he's the problem and people around him won't tell him the truth. Ballmer is a very intimidating guy both in physical size and attitude and is always ready to be combative. This make it very difficult to have a open dialog with him. Him remaining still as the CEO is not his fault its the boards fault they should have made moves to genteelly replace him a long time ago.
>"Ballmer is a very intimidating guy both in physical size and attitude and is always ready to be combative." As larger than average person I'm fascinated/frustrated by the way physical presence affects people. Most troublesome for me have been people who apparently feel intimidated and project it back as something intentional, as I'm trying to intimidate them or have intimidated others into agreement with me.
This is a good point, and it goes the opposite way too.
I'm a smaller than average guy (5 foot 4) and people that don't know me are often started when I'm vocal and assertive in meetings. I'm a working professional with opinions just like anyone else, and just because I'm short doesn't mean I don't want them heard.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#124The frontier of high-value scenarios we enable will march outward, but we have strengths and proven capabilities on which we will draw. What a sentence!
Ballmer is a sales guy, not an engineer. No surprise he would write like that.
Ballmer isn't exactly non-technical; he has a degree in applied mathematics from Harvard.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#125Mediocre CEOs have only three levers to pull: "acquire," "layoff," and "reorg." Eventually Ballmer will pull all three levers in every order.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#126I almost choked when I read Microsoft's new mission statement: "our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most." In other words, Ballmer wants the company to "focus" on being everything to everyone! Not a good sign for the business. -- PS. Compare Ballmer's long,…
Huh? A strategy is not the same thing as a mission statement. Microsoft's mission statement is "to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential."
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't an agile startup here, it's one of the world's largest software companies. I think aiming to do a lot isn't a big stretch.
Presumably this email was meant to help change behavior within Microsoft. To give people a guide for how to do their job better. If I were a Microsoft employee I wouldn't know what to make of that quote. It doesn't speak to anything you would deal with directly in the day to day.
Fair enough, it is definitely vague.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
This isn't an agile startup here, it's one of the world's largest software companies. I think aiming to do a lot isn't a big stretch.
Microsoft has always had big ambitions. Its original mission statement, first articulated all the way back in the late '70s, was "a computer in every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." ( http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0int-1 ) Which was pretty audacious when the state of the art in personal computing was machines like the MITS Altair ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800 ). Bill Gat…
The original statement was pretty clear and short. This new one takes a lot of words and it's not at all clear to me what they are aiming for. What, exactly, does "empower" look like when it's implemented? Exactly which are the activities that people value the most? (Actually, has anyone thought about whether those activities even require a computer?)
This isn't ambitious, it's meaningless. Not a good sign for corporate excellence.
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
BTW, Wikipedians considered Microsoft's stack ranking notorious enough to provide the date they started doing it ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve#Microsoft ): " Starting in 2006 Microsoft has used a Vitality Curve despite intense internal criticism. " Which I've noted elsewhere is the year in which Bill Gates stopped his day to day roles at Microsoft. I could talk about how Ballmer himself is a significa…
Microsoft has been doing stack ranking long before 2006. I left in 2005'and attended stack rank meetings, where managers indirectly decide your review score before you even get the form from HR. it goes back to at least the late 90s, IIRC.
Were those in the bottom rank shown the door in due course?
Re: Microsoft reorganizes
#130All the critical decisions have already been made: Microsoft branded hardware, running Windows, everywhere. No courier. Bring XBOX solidly into the Windows fold. It's all Windows. Why reorg? Who would accept the job of telling Ballmer that, when Nokia goes under, the "devices" part of that story is a fable? On top of that, the press release was apparently written by a student of Vogon poetry.
Did Nokia build their Xbox, keyboards, mice, Surface, Surface Pro, Kinect or any of the other devices that Microsoft offers?