Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you a graphic design shop by any chance?
Nope, a .com
OK! That's pretty vague, and could be anything!
Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
331–338 of 338 posts
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#332Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hadn't thought of that, but I wonder if it is just terminology? How can they be a cloud provider without an OS?
They could just as easily run their cloud services on a Linux or BSD based OS. Nothing about a "Devices and Services" company requires a proprietary OS. I think it really just shows that they aren't that serious about actually pivoting their business model. Their leadership aspires to be a devices and services company because they look at their competitors and see that Apple is making money from devices, and Google a…
That's a good analysis. Interestingly, Apple also seems to be a services company (with their iTunes system and iCloud) but their iCloud system in particular seems to be a service that only exists to help their devices. Pretty clever.
I will wait to see what Microsoft does. As you say, for them to be truly "devices and services" only, that would be a massive change. And not what people expect from Microsoft..?
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#333Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could just as easily run their cloud services on a Linux or BSD based OS. Nothing about a "Devices and Services" company requires a proprietary OS. I think it really just shows that they aren't that serious about actually pivoting their business model. Their leadership aspires to be a devices and services company because they look at their competitors and see that Apple is making money from devices, and Google a…
That's a good analysis. Interestingly, Apple also seems to be a services company (with their iTunes system and iCloud) but their iCloud system in particular seems to be a service that only exists to help their devices. Pretty clever. I will wait to see what Microsoft does. As you say, for them to be truly "devices and services" only, that would be a massive change. And not what people expect from Microsoft..?
Yes, meanwhile Microsoft has been trying to be all things to all people, and the result is they are always last to market, with a subpar product.
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, how do you tell a workforce of X people that 18000 jobs are going to be cut?
Sugarcoating layoffs is one thing, and is something just about anyone would do. But sugarcoating it to such a ridiculous extent, while not really saying anything at all, is ridiculous.
He explicitly states that 18000 jobs will be cut in that email. My question still stands, how do you tell a company the size of microsoft that 18000 jobs are going to be cut, while still maintaining a shred of integrity? If you know so much better, please share with us.
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#335Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#336Earlier 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…
Facts of life at Microsoft:
- There is dead wood. People who do negative work, or who do not add value, only process, to shipping products
- There are toxic middle-to-upper level managers. These people exist; I have personal experience with one who I believe is an actual psychopath
- There are many partner-level people who have essentially reduced their careers to manipulation of other people's careers, by canceling products, or getting people canned or quashing promotions, or backing poor promotions.
I don't think it's hyperbole to say that middle management at Microsoft is riddled with "dead wood".
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#337Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don't have one PM/test per dev, no. My team is currently something like 8 devs, 3 testers, 3 PMs. There was an internal shift to change the test/dev ratio to something like 2/3 or 1/3 (I can't remember exactly) instead of matching it. I don't know of a team in my division that has a 1:1 for PM or test to dev.
Thanks for the info. Very informative, considering I work in a tiny company and we have 3 developers, with 1 (me) working on the bit that people actually use daily (the entire GUI bit on multiple platforms). I used to work in a larger team in a different company but we only had 1 PM who frustrated us all, sadly. How do they balance 3 PMs? Do they argue between themselves?
I can only speak for my team obviously but our product has quite a bit of complexity from both within (features) and without (partner contracts). There is enough work that the PMs typically own different aspects of the project and don't have many chances to step on each other's toes.
Re: Microsoft Looks to Cut Up to 18,000 Jobs
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don't have one PM/test per dev, no. My team is currently something like 8 devs, 3 testers, 3 PMs. There was an internal shift to change the test/dev ratio to something like 2/3 or 1/3 (I can't remember exactly) instead of matching it. I don't know of a team in my division that has a 1:1 for PM or test to dev.
My org merged dev and test. I'd say the jury's still out on the wisdom of that move.
That actually may happen a lot more with this "unified engineering" push from Satya.