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re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
P.T. Barnum comes to mind. Marketing leader yes, CEO of a tech company no.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
You can also add reduced R&D as a percentage of revenue under Ballmer verses Gates which follows right along with short term thinking.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
I don't disagree with you, Michael. Only large, popular companies can get away with this stuff. These large companies probably have a turnover rate higher than 10% annually anyway, they are always hiring and firing somebody. This is a misguided attempt to make sure they are firing the lowest performing 10%.
My best friend works for GE Aircraft Engines in Cinci. He has industrial engineering degree (Ohio State) and works in logistics area for them. He had to pursue advanced degrees, all the way up to PhD level, to make sure he stayed off their 10% radar.
That is why I've always enjoyed working for mid size biz units who don't play those games. We will go years without hiring or firing anyone, you can't hide at small companies.
My best friend works for GE Aircraft Engines in Cinci. He has industrial engineering degree (Ohio State) and works in logistics area for them. He had to pursue advanced degrees, all the way up to PhD level, to make sure he stayed off their 10% radar.
That is why I've always enjoyed working for mid size biz units who don't play those games. We will go years without hiring or firing anyone, you can't hide at small companies.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
Thanks for following up. I'm glad it's worked out for him. I agree to an extent; for most truly superlative talents, a "cream rises" ranking system can work.
I'm still skeptical of stacked ranking, though. A term like "bottom dwellers" sounds like a generalization to me, especially since some groups at Microsoft are comprised almost entirely of people with PhDs. Not that people with advanced degrees can't be lousy workers-- but if nine people score perfectly on a test and you miss only one question, would it be fair to fire you as the "bottom" performer? Seems like some of this stuff should be considered in relative terms, rather than measured by an absolutely scale. Also, managers - even at great companies like Microsoft - don't always invest in the right performance metrics, or the right way of measuring them. I wonder if many perceived "bottom feeders" have been driven out by stack ranking, only to prove after moving somewhere else that they have much to contribute.
I'm still skeptical of stacked ranking, though. A term like "bottom dwellers" sounds like a generalization to me, especially since some groups at Microsoft are comprised almost entirely of people with PhDs. Not that people with advanced degrees can't be lousy workers-- but if nine people score perfectly on a test and you miss only one question, would it be fair to fire you as the "bottom" performer? Seems like some of this stuff should be considered in relative terms, rather than measured by an absolutely scale. Also, managers - even at great companies like Microsoft - don't always invest in the right performance metrics, or the right way of measuring them. I wonder if many perceived "bottom feeders" have been driven out by stack ranking, only to prove after moving somewhere else that they have much to contribute.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
Sadly for Microsoft, while Windows 8 did try to bring needed uniformity to the desktop/laptop, tablet, smartphone continuum, it was hopelessly too late, and all the more doomed, given Microsoft's failure in the mobile market. The marketplace had already made iOS or Android the platforms of choice. But perhaps another factor cementing Windows8's fate is the degree to which corporate and government IT shops are also recasting their operations into the cloud, and looking at the savings potential of adopting alternative licensing options. One imagines had Windows7, with all of its improvement, been released in today's environment, it would still have faced a disintegrating marketplace.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
Perhaps not, but people speculate about all sorts of things that are "none of their business".
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
He is an outstanding talent, those people do well in any ranking system. It's only the bottom dwellers that have to worry about performance based systems. GE has been getting rid of it's lowest 10% for a long time now, it's nothing new.
He works in enterprise support area. At first it was Exchange support, now he (helps) manage the big picture of enterprise support.
He works in enterprise support area. At first it was Exchange support, now he (helps) manage the big picture of enterprise support.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
That is exactly the point. Vista killed MS. It should be light, modular and efficient, to boost ultramobile market: it eventually was the opposite!
CE was let dying, Phone, Kin and Zune were horrible failures, desktop version with Vista gone after selling more and more powerful PCs, not to open new markets.
UMPC died, XP tablets died, even netbooks (super heavyweight of the ultraportable market) needed to install xp until 7 come out with some fixes to the disaster of Vista inefficiencies.
That's why Java OS and Linux took over set top box and feature phone markets, MS got marginalized even in mobile/embedded professional market, and everyone jumped on the iOS/Android bandwagon.
Next battle is cloud and online advertising/search/social: no wonder that MS being marginalized in providing the OS to access those services (already behind Linux... sorry, Android, and with such sales even iOS is a treat!) is tremendously disadvantaged compared to its situation a few years ago, while it slumbered trying to fight the change and release an heavier and heavier Longhorn kernel to force new hardware down the throats of users!
Not even MS can disgruntle the ultramobile world for more than a decade.
W8 is the final insult, the funny part it shots to the heart (calling it "legacy") the desktop that is the last MS strategic asset... and it got what it deserved, as everyone involved in this madness is now fired.
CE was let dying, Phone, Kin and Zune were horrible failures, desktop version with Vista gone after selling more and more powerful PCs, not to open new markets.
UMPC died, XP tablets died, even netbooks (super heavyweight of the ultraportable market) needed to install xp until 7 come out with some fixes to the disaster of Vista inefficiencies.
That's why Java OS and Linux took over set top box and feature phone markets, MS got marginalized even in mobile/embedded professional market, and everyone jumped on the iOS/Android bandwagon.
Next battle is cloud and online advertising/search/social: no wonder that MS being marginalized in providing the OS to access those services (already behind Linux... sorry, Android, and with such sales even iOS is a treat!) is tremendously disadvantaged compared to its situation a few years ago, while it slumbered trying to fight the change and release an heavier and heavier Longhorn kernel to force new hardware down the throats of users!
Not even MS can disgruntle the ultramobile world for more than a decade.
W8 is the final insult, the funny part it shots to the heart (calling it "legacy") the desktop that is the last MS strategic asset... and it got what it deserved, as everyone involved in this madness is now fired.
re: Ballmer Is Off The Matrix
I could not agree more, Mike, well said.
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9/9/2013 | 5:48:06 PM