The November Clip Show

Oh cry in the dark of night:

Jesus , update your blog for crying out loud

My apologies. Work has been incredibly jammed as we try to make progress ignoring the fact that the holidays are stealing precious work days from us and that key people are just gone. And there was the small matter of Halo 2. And Half-Life 2.

Well, if a clip show works for the Simpsons then I might as well give it a small try. Let's see what's been going on over the past few weeks...

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So http://natslies.blogspot.com/ only has one post (as of today) but it's an interesting read. Ski4Burgers has made a few comments here at Mini-Microsoft. One issue Ski4Burgers has with Nat is that the http://www.nat.org/2 004/october/#18-October-2004 refers to my blog in a critical assessment of Microsoft. Ski4Burgers thinks it's pretty bogus to use a single source as a reference point:

I'm not sure who this guy at minimsft is (although I know he is a former employee of Microsoft), but to cite one blogger's opinion as a definitive source seems pretty dubious.

It is dubious, but you can't exclude the comments. A good bit of the comments here are very well written and informative (especially compared to their associated source material). As for the, ah, former employee bit: as of today my badge still worked. Everyday is a blessing.

But then again, on the internet, no one knows you're a dog...

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The Giving Campaign is over. While we exceeded the monetary goal (Yay!) we were pretty lousy on the percentage of participation (boo). The malaise is still here. Snippet of a comment:

Really, does it have to be so painful and guilt-ridden? I thought we were supposed to feel good about being philanthropists - not having it shoved down our throat.

But for all the full-time employees out there who are just turned off by the giving campaign: just remember that you can give out-of-band anytime the spirit hits you and Microsoft makes it very easy for a matching donation to be sent.

So as we mourn the passing of delivered Micronews, fresh towels, and readily available office supplies and drinking cups, take solace in The Man still kicking in some bucks for whatever qualifying agency you damn well please to lay some money on.

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De-Redmondization of Microsoft: interesting comment regarding how PSS is going in http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2004/11/cut-backs-offshoring-and-pss.html - it starts off with:

This will be the downfall of Microsoft. I used to work in PSS and I don't mind sharing my experiences with the greater public. When Microsoft started up their Bangalore operation, they wanted to test the process from an outside source.

And it goes downhill from there. Recently Ballmer himself was on-hand for the expanding Microsoft India campus. So I could do funny math and say, well, 200 new jobs there are representative of 100 new jobs here and therefore a saving of 100 employees... but no. I work with folks who'd be much happier, family- and geographically-wise, to work in India. I would hope that it makes it easier for folks here to transition back there (and then, you know, leave to start your own money making business). I figure this also allows us to deal with H1-B visa issues by just hiring more overseas.

But I don't see consistent quality software coming out of India. At least not quality world-class software. I'd be a hell of a lot more interested in them developing regional solutions for growing markets.

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The charts of http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2004/10/microsofts-financial-horizon.html are still live. Google's taken a hit over the recent days. Microsoft's dip is because of the dividend. Apple is still taking off. And a $100 target for Apple? Dang.

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And next-to-last: the grammar checker needs to help me out when it comes to "losing" and "loosing." Seems as though misuse there annoys people.

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And finally: the typical blog dilemma: if you can't keep it consistently warm, should you delete it? While all exhausted and lacing up one evening, I wondered: should I just delete this blog? I've had my initial say. Longhorn, although delayed, isn't turned into the managed code mess I feared. I really don't have burning issues.

And I don't want to turn into a snarky commentary reacting to each rah-rah "Ooooo, you just wait un see! We's a gonna innovate us some shareholder value, uh huh!!!" Ballmer interview.

So, given the crammed nature of work and the holidays, things will probably be slow here for a while. I don't think I'll blow this blog away just yet. And, hey, the midpoints are coming up, and that's always a great time to help managers reflect on the joys of moving people out of Microsoft and into other rewarding careers elsewhere!

Cut-backs, offshoring, and PSS

Just a quick link: Called PSS Today?

Again, I'll stand by my desire for a smaller Microsoft by any means necessary. We're way too big. But on the BrightnessScale measurin'o-nomoter, this kind of offshoring decision lands the needle dead in the middle of "dumb-ass" (kind of like canceling all of those branded Microsoft drinking cups and not having any replacements in the queue, leading to the Great Cup Crisis of '04).

One thing that's supposed to distinguish Microsoft is the level of product support we provide from live, talented people who know the products super well. This is one step closer to just relying on Google searches. And I might as well get me some of that free software if that's the level of self-sufficient support I need to resort to...

You're Fired

A must read for all with intranet access at Microsoft:

You're Fired by I. M. Wright off of our (yah!) Engineering Excellence web site.

(Forwarded to me by a colleague who seems to know more than they should...)

This helps to re-enforce an important mindset for all managers to have about their low performers. It's your responsibility to get them back on track or out of the company. But no one likes going down that hard, muddy path of kicking someone out of the company. An article like this, at this time, is important for building the foundation of getting folks out of the company.

The mid-point is coming up at the beginning of the year. You don't have to wait until the major review to deliver a 2.5. Do you have someone how needs to hit the road? They just swung strike #3? At any moment you can talk to HR and and say "Hey, I want this person out of here. Now. What's my responsibility to ensure this is done right?"

Perhaps your group does an informal stack rank anyway for mid-point. Those folks who have been around for a while that are at the bottom of the ranking? How much are they costing your group? What if you could have a fired-up talented college-hire instead? Move 'em out!

Why Microsoft is in Trouble

Good read: "Why Microsoft is in Trouble" ( http://www.baus.net/microsofttrouble.html ).

Interesting snippet:

While the 30 employees in company I work for can make a living selling software for a few million $'s per year, Microsoft can't even look at markets our size. Why? Microsoft is too big. The market isn't significant enough to make a dent in their revenues. In order to grow, Microsoft can only go after huge, massively profitable markets, and those are becoming fewer and far between. When appropriately large markets do arise (internet search and services), they often compete with their desktop products. These markets threaten to cannibalize their core business, which forces Microsoft into the loosing defensive position.

(bold mine.)

Why Microsoft is in Trouble

Good read: "Why Microsoft is in Trouble" ( http://www.baus.net/microsofttrouble.html ).

Interesting snippet:

While the 30 employees in company I work for can make a living selling software for a few million $'s per year, Microsoft can't even look at markets our size. Why? Microsoft is too big. The market isn't significant enough to make a dent in their revenues. In order to grow, Microsoft can only go after huge, massively profitable markets, and those are becoming fewer and far between. When appropriately large markets do arise (internet search and services), they often compete with their desktop products. These markets threaten to cannibalize their core business, which forces Microsoft into the loosing defensive position.

(bold mine.)