Stuff I've learned at Microsoft
sriramkrishnan.com
sriramkrishnan.com
> (Most) Screw ups are OK
Red Whittaker once told me "people remember you for your successes, not for your failures." People remember Paul McCartney as a member of the Beatles, and maybe a little for Wings, but not for any of the crap he's put out. They remember a director's good movies, not the bombs (unless they're really spectacular, of course.)
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.
This is by far the most important thing I've learned in my big company life. If you are in a meeting of 10 people and somebody appears to be saying something insane or stupid, the reason nobody is saying anything is because there are 8 other people in the room who are all nodding uncertainly and they don't want to sound like the jackass.
So ask the question. At worst, you will have misunderstood what they're saying, and since it's unlikely that you are the dumbest person in the room, there's probably at least one other person who has the same misunderstanding as you.
At best, you're the guy who has spotted the flaw in the plan and spoken up before it was too late. Either way, it's a win-win for you.
You're absolutely right. There really isn't a stupid question. Only fearful meeting participants.
The best ones typically trust me to do my job well and would back me up if I got into trouble. They also assumed that I screwed up and they needed to know about it, I would let them know first.
The bad ones...not so much.
Isn't this always the case when posting non-anonymously? :)
This is key. I've found that public transportation gives you more insight into how people use smartphones than anything else.
However, it's one thing to read this article and think about how to improve yourself and your life at work but how do you go about improving others and the way they work? Sriram mentions is that the people you work with is much more important than the work itself. If your team-mate is reluctant to go out of his comfort zone, or thinks so much of himself as to brush off other people's requests for help, what would you do? Email the team a link to this article? Or jump ship to another team?
I'm a big believer in constant self improvement, but unless you're very lucky to be in a team wholly of smart, friendly people, improving others is surely the only way to a happy, productive team.
PS: Does this mean I'm turning into a manager? I hope not... :p
How common is that at Microsoft? My perception is that few Microsoft employees participate in projects not directly related to their work, even if it's Microsoft technology. Take for example F#. I haven't seen much from Microsoft employees other than from the F# team (who do a great job) and (paid) evangelists.
When playing with non-Microsoft tech, people are much quieter. There are too many people who would love nothing more than to say "Look there - a Microsoft employee using an iPhone/Google/Linux/whatever" and cause a few headaches. The truth is that a lot of Microsoft employees are just plain geeks who like to try out things.
Such as their own executive management: http://garywiz.typepad.com/trial_by_fire/2006/03/ballmer_fam...
I wonder what happens if Steve Jobs catches you with a Zune at Apple? My guess is, nothing.
Plenty of Microsoft employees have iPhones. Microsoft makes several iPhone apps. I know several people whose work laptop is a Mac (usually running Windows). And--as you might expect at any good technology company--Microsoft employees are some of the first to try out any new software or gadget.
Ballmer feeling 'threatened' by the fact that an employee is using a non-Microsoft product? Don't be silly.
FWIW, I was at this event, and he was joking around.
Really? The impression I've got from Apple employees I've met is that there would be quite a reaction indeed.
BTW, I worked at MSFT last summer and everyone seemed to have an iPhone. A lot of people used Firefox as their primary browser, and I used Opera. There was nothing impolitic about it. In fact, the only time people mentioned it was to ask me what browser I was using, if Opera's visual tabs caught their eye.
But the "MS employee using non-MS tech" myth is really a myth. At least nowadays it is. MS employees will and do use anything and everything. As a simple example, I personally know at least 20 MS employees with iPhones (including myself). We also have no problem pointing out to teams when their competitors are better (there are certain teams at MS that really get a whipping, from both the public and the rest of MS, I don't envy them at all.)
I met one guy who would use an old crappy phone during the day and swap sim cards into his iPhone when he knew nobody was around. Another guy wanted to snap a picture of something and send it to me, but was hesitant to take his iPhone out of his pocket, not knowing who might be around to see him using it.
I'm sure some of it is joking, some of it is half-joking, but there is some anxiety around being seen internally using a competitor's winning product.
But at the same time... I would almost never use any Microsoft products. So I have this weird schizophrenic attitude towards them.
The only MS products I can stomach using is Word and the XBOX. Everything else is yucky compared to the competitors. It makes me wonder how the Microsoft devs can stand it.
I'm guessing you don't often use Excel or the (yucky) Excel competitors.
I didn't get that bit. What does the author mean by legal issues and why should it be taboo in a meeting?