083. Living the Odd-Even Curse [Ch. XII]

“Sinofsky to the Rescue! … (?)” — blogger Who da’Punk aka Mini-Microsoft

May 29, 2022

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Welcome to Chapter XII, where Hardcore Software turns from Office and enterprise customers to Windows and consumers (and PC makers). For many readers, this will also be a bit more of their own lived experience. As such it is worth a reminder that I am sharing my experience and observations, not any sort of omniscient history (if such a thing even existed). Importantly, by waiting a decade to write, the history becomes much clearer and less influenced by the emotions or immediate reactions. That’s certainly been my experience so far in writing HCSW. These next four chapters (about 25 sections) will cover Windows 7 and Windows 8, with a decidedly different approach than the previous 11 chapters. We will see much more focus on organization, strategy, culture, real competition and disruption, and the challenges and opportunities seen in a big giant company.

Back to 082. Defying Conventional Wisdom to Finish Office

2006: The year was marked by cultural shifts. BillG announced he would step down as chief software architect, a transition that would take two years. I was given a new role and faced multiple corporate and culture challenges, and outside of Microsoft the tech landscape was changing too. And fast. “To google” was added to the dictionary.

By the start of March 2006 the Longhorn product cycle had been a chaotic five-plus years that included the security work for Windows XP, the release of Windows Tablet PC, Windows Media Center, Windows 64-bit, Server releases, and importantly, a major project change called the Longhorn Reset, essentially defining a new scaled-back product mid-flight based on the original Longhorn. The Windows team had been through a lot and was not finished. Longhorn had been receiving a lukewarm reception from users of a big Community Technology Preview release since the fall of 2005. The team, however, had started updating the product more frequently and momentum was indeed shifting by early 2006.

The Road to Longhorn Longhorn's 2006 launch will leave an unprecedented five-year gap between Windows client releases. fluly 2003 Microsoft executives at the company's annual financial analyst meeting distance January 2003 Microsoft indicates that Longhorn will ship by the end of 2004. I themselves from the 2005 commitment, declining to confirm what year Longhorn will ship. August 2004 Microsoft announces it is targeting "broad availability of the Longhorn client in 2006 and anticipates a server release in 2007. F. M M I A S O \May 2003 "We will see Longhorn coming to market in 2005," Will Poole, senior I vice president of Microsoft's Windows client division, says at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. D F M A M I. March 2004 Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates concedes that spec- ulation about 2006 as the release year for Longhorn is "probably valid." — Longhorn had numerous schedule changes, though must were only hinted at in public. This from 2004 shows the journey through the *longhorn* Following the reset, the schedule was to RTM in August to hit the holiday season PCs, but that slipped to an official plan of October 26, which slipped into November for availability in January 2007. (Source: InfoWorld, Sept 6, 2004)

Windows Vista, as it was officially named, was still an unpredictable amount of time away from shipping. While not public at the time, a couple of weeks down the road, Microsoft would announce a final and just-decided delay to ship Vista for availability in January 2007. The team could not commit to making the release available in time for PCs to be sold for back-to-school or holidays 2006. Vista would eventually release to manufacturing in November.

Windows was still on fire with PC sales breaking through 200 million units in a single year for the first time, demonstrating extreme product-market fit. Both Servers and Tools were doing well, extremely well, except there was a nagging problem emerging from across Lake Washington called AWS, Amazon Web Services, a shift from companies buying Windows to run on their own server computers to renting storage and compute in the (or a) cloud. There was a good deal of tension between Windows team and the Server team. The Server org required the Windows org to contribute to shipping a new Server. This delayed a new Server product, slowing their release based on Longhorn until the next Windows release. The .NET framework and Visual Studio had become leaders for IT development within corporations, but the onslaught of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (later Perl/Python) continued to dominate the public internet and the university programs in computer science.

On the RedWest campus the investments in online services faced a myriad of revenue, cost, product, and usage problems that were not nearly as visible as the Windows challenges. Wall Street, however, was growing increasingly impatient with financial results, which seemed to punish SteveB for his transparency. There were dozens of Microsoft online services, some branded as MSN and others using a new umbrella name Windows Live, in every conceivable category from selling cars (MSN CarPoint) to chat (MSN Messenger) to finding Wi-Fi hotspots (MSN Wi-Fi Hotspots.) Microsoft seemed to be searching for a big win against Yahoo and a rapidly dominant Google in the world of internet advertising and consumer services.

Google was top of mind for many, not because so many groups across Microsoft competed with Google products but because of the aura the 2006 Google culture achieved. Google was fast. They were innovative. They were empowering. They had “20 percent time” when engineers could work on whatever they wanted one day a week. They had free gourmet food and a chef, all day long, compared to our grungy filtered water dispensers and subsidized airport food with limited availability. They had snacks and we still had noodles and one type of V8®. They had massages, while we had a multi-purpose sports field, but no towels (note, towels returned in the summer 2006.) We had individual offices and they had collaborative open plan cubicles (you read that correctly, Microsofties complained about having offices.) They had a modern, flat organization with 50 reports to a manager (yes you read that right too.) In the blink of an eye to me, everything we held near and dear and made Microsoft an icon of business culture, seemed to be old, tired, and either wrong or inadequate, like wearing khakis, loafers, and a button down to Burning Man.

Google Chrome was still almost three years from launching while Internet Explorer had 90% share. The last new release, however, was Internet Explorer 6.0 launched five years ago with Windows XP frustrating users, web developers, and the market. Gmail was about to turn two and it was crushing Microsoft Hotmail with its superior junk mail filter and massive free storage. Microsoft just started to build its own web search product which would launch in 2006 as Windows Live Search into a market where Google had already overtaken Yahoo and grown to half the market while gaining a half point of share every month.

Photo of Steve Ballmer. COVERSTORY Troubling Exits At Microsoft Once the dream workplace of tech's highest achievers, it is suffering key defections to Google and elsewhere. What's behind the losses? BY JAY GREENE BALLMER The CEO says Microsoft's simply spilled out because of blogs and e-mail W HEN MICROSOFT CORP. hired computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee awav from hardware maker Silicon Graphics Inc. in 1998, the move underscored how thoroughly the soft- ware giant dominated the computer industry. Not only did it monopolize PC operating systems and hold an edge in Web browsers, but it was also vacuuming up the world's brightest technolo- gists. Lee's expertise was in speech recognition, considered one of the next big leaps in comput- ing. With people like him flocking to Microsoft's PRESS labs, it seemed that the digital world's reigning champion had a lock on the future. Things didn't turn out that way. In July, Lee bolted from Microsoft for Web search king Google Inc., and once again his personal journey is emblematic of a shift in computing's balance of power. These days it's Google, not Microsoft, CHRIS KLEPONIS/ZUMA September 26. 2005 | BusinessWeek| 99 — Late 2004 and early 2005 were possibly the start of low-points of morale on the team. There seemed to be a never-ending series of stories based on anecdotes. This story was based quite a bit on a controversial research leader of Microsoft China departing. As a reminder, Microsoft’s sales continued to grow only the stock price did not reflect that. (Source: BusinessWeek Sept 26, 2005, personal)

As Vista was creeping along, albeit faster these days, toward shipping, there was a much deeper problem in Windows that was symptomatic of the broader malaise or even open hostility across the company, especially in engineering. Even though the company kept putting up blockbuster numbers, the morale across product groups had declined. Vista had contributed to that. Integrated Innovation had as well. Integrated Innovation was the expression at the CEO level of the desire and right to build integrated software, which continued to be challenged in the courts and among regulators. Internally, this was the opposite of what people wanted to hear because the feeling was Integrated Innovation, or synergy, was what had first gummed up Microsoft relative to Google. The yearly Microsoft Poll survey was a litany of complaints and issues from employees across most of the product groups.

In a semantic twist, the phrase was later morphed into Innovate then Integrate. That might not have helped. In reality the pressure for synergy had not relaxed at all as it was a cornerstone of Microsoft’s (and BillG’s) strategy and culture, even more so as the company became an enterprise company given how much enterprise customers and the enterprise ecosystem valued synergistic strategy, or maybe strategic synergy. Strategy was the anchor holding back Longhorn. A scathing cover story in the September 26, 2005, BusinessWeek, “Troubling Exits at Microsoft” painted a picture of employees departing, malaise, and the rise of Google. Even a longtime member of Microsoft Research’s Technical Advisory Board, Carnegie Mellon professor Raj Reddy, called for a company breakup to support more “nimble operations.”

What Ails Microsoft? The software giant faces plenty of competition, and now some of its biggest challenges come from the inside. Here are the company's main internal problems: INNOVATION STAGNATION SLOW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT BUREAUCRATIC RED TAPE SAGGING MORALE Windows and Office still pay the bills, so Microsoft needs to keep improving them with new versions that increase security and make it easier for them to work with other devices. But all the focus on existing products has left it behind innovators such as Google and Apple when it comes to fresh ideas. Microsoft's top execs have pushed a vision of "integrated innovation" meant to ensure that the company's many product groups work closely together. Sounds good, but in practice the strategy creates dependencies that saddle fast-moving groups with the problems of troubled divisions, slowing down innovation. Emplovees complain about an endless string of meetings to discuss everything from product features to coordinating strategies among different groups. It's part of the pain of being a large company. But the process put in place to help workers deal with that growth takes valuable time away from creating new products. With the company's stock trading where it was seven years ago, Microsoft is no longer minting stock-option millionaires. What's more, it has cut health benefits and trimmed vacation time for new employees. Combine this with other internal woes, and you have some of the company's most talented employees heading elsewhere. September 26, 2005| BusinessWeek|101 — These were the typical points being made about the company during this time. This is particularly odd reporting based on a lot of “people are saying” sorts of things. It is true people are saying, but the MS Poll numbers, while lower, were not shockingly low. It was fascinating to attempt to think and work through this. (Source: BusinessWeek Sept 26, 2005, personal)

But the biggest problem was that we felt like we were losing, and Wall Street felt that way too and the stock price reflected that lack of enthusiasm.

We were losing to Google. We were losing to Yahoo. We were losing to BlackBerry and Nokia. We were losing to Sony. We were losing to Oracle. We were losing to SAP. We didn’t have anything to compete with AWS. We were losing to Apple when it came to PC hardware. We had already lost to Apple’s iPod.

In the years ahead, we will see accelerating change in the software industry, as the computing needs of our customers start to move beyond the PC into a “PC-Plus” world. The PC will undoubtedly remain at the heart of computing at home, work, and school, but it will be joined by numerous new intelligent devices and appliances, from handheld computers and auto PCs to Internet-enabled cellular phones. More software will be delivered over the Internet, and the boundary between online services and software products will blur. The Internet will continue to change everything by offering a level of connectivity that was unimaginable only a few years ago — and every home, business, and school will want to be hooked up to that incredible global database. —Annual Report, 1999

Our competition with Apple was becoming increasingly sharp compared to past years where our view was essentially to ignore them, going way back to the launch of Windows 95 and the “C:\ONGRTLNS.W95” full page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. In 1999, BillG wrote an oped for Newsweek and a month later proclaimed in the 1999 Annual Report to Shareholders1 2 that the “PC-Plus” era was upon us. With this Bill was describing an era where PCs would continue to be central, but rather than part of every scenario they would be surrounded by devices that connect to a Windows PC.

This framing of the future became more visible and widely used across Microsoft communications as the temperature of the competition from all corners heated up.

Newsweek cover "What You'll Want Next" in technology. Photos of lots of gadgets including the Palm VII — With the arrival of wireless mobile (WWAN) and new “cellular” gadgets and home Wi-Fi (c. 1998) many started asking what comes after the PC. This issue featured many new gadgets such as the first truly connected PDA, Palm VII, as well as a defense of the PC by Bill Gates. (Source: Newsweek, May 31, 1999, personal)

The PC-Plus era is rooted in a response to what had been simmering among the tech press from as early as 1993 when Walt Mossberg first used the phrase “Post PC.” The first wave of connected devices began with the EO Communicator in early 1993 and then the Apple Newton available a bit later. In his review of the EO, Mossberg described the device as not “the kind of post-PC device that promoters of the PDA concept have promised: something with the price, size and battery life of a Sharp Wizard, but the smarts and communications ability of a good PC and an advanced phone.” Whereas in the review of the Newton he described it as “a post-PC device that streamlines data entry, links all of your information in intelligent ways and adapts to your handwriting and work habits over time.”

The Post-PC Era? Hardly, More on the Web: Editor-in-chief Michael I. Miller answers your computing questions every Tuesday, exclusivelv at PC Magazine Online. www.pcmag.com/miller Lately, I've heard a number of people talking about "The Post-PC World" or something like that. It's a great title for a speech; it indicates (correctly) that we're in an era defined by the personal computer, and that the era is changing. And they're right--technology is changing. But does that mean the PC is going away? Not a chance. Most of the people talk- access features. Some have cell phones that access ing about the post-PC era should know better, and in the Net. Some have set-top boxes or other devices fact. most do. that plug into televisions, Almost no one expects PCs to disappear. After Last month. Sun formally introduced Jini, a system all, many people and lots of companies have tons of for connecting all sorts of devices using Java and Inter- money tied up in personal computers and the appli- net protocols. It's not a new idea, but the concept is cations that run on them. Those applications will be dead on: In the future, all sorts of things from toasters around for a very long time. Even if people stopped to TVs will be intelligent and hooked together. creating new applications today--and they won't- Will these devices all be traditional beige-box the existing applications and PCs would sustain a PCs with Intel or Intel-compatible processors and market for decades. In the Internet era, huge Microsoft operating systems? Of course not. Many servers-_descendants of mainframes from a genera- of these devices won't need or won't be able to sup- tion ago-_-are becoming more important. port such features. As we move to an era of distrib- PCs won't disappear. Instead, the theory behind uted intelligence, where even lights have rudimenta- this "post-PC" line of reasoning is that ry two-way communication features, the ascent of the Internet will make the you'll see lots of new software, new PC somehow less important. This is I don't believe hardware, and new processors. more plausible, but I don't believe it. Yet despite that, many of these de- If anything, the Internet is only the ascent of the vices will be personal computers or will making the PC more important. Per- Internet will contain them. They may not all have sonal computers remain the dominant Intel chips or Microsoft OSs, but they'll device for accessing the Internet by far, make the PC still fit the basic definition of a person- and that isn't going to change any time somehow less al computer. Traditional PCs aren't soon. Nearly all important content on going away--just the opposite. the Internet was created on personal important. Every maior research firm sees computers, and PC technology remains sales of even narrowly defined PCs a large part of hosting that content. growing for years to come. After all, What's happening, though, is that the concept of PCs remain the primary devices that people use to the PC is changing. Most of us used to have just one do the most interesting things on the Internet--from or two PCs that we used on a regular basis: maybe browsing to chat communities to electronic shop- one in the office and one at home, or else a desktop ping. Faster bandwidth and huge advances in com- and a notebook.And that was it. puting power should spur the creation of all sorts of Now we're more likely to use many personal new applications that only serve to make PCs more computers. At our offices, networks and Internet functional. I expect to see everything from video- connections shared among personal computers are conferencing to distance learning to unbelievable commonplace. Many of us have more than one com- games and entertainment products in the next few puter at home, and home networks will become years, and the bulk of these applications will target much more popular in the next few years. traditional PC desktops and laptops. We're also likely to have multiple devices capable So is this the end of the PC era? Not a chance. In- of accessing the Internet. Though some of these look stead, it's the beginning of a new era, where the PC like traditional PCs, many don't. Some of us already and the Internet work together to bring us all kinds have PDAs or personal organizers with Internet- of new opportunities. — Industry pundits were full throttle defending the PC such as Michael Miller, editor in Chief of PC Magazine, in this piece (Source: PC Magazine March 9, 1999)

A few years later with the 1999 arrival of the Palm VII, the first truly connected and mobile-phone sized device, the punditry was running full throttle declaring the arrival of the Post PC era. The trade press was filled with editorial and widespread usage of the term, much to our dismay at Microsoft.

Why the PC Will Not Die PERSPECTIVE Computers will take many forms, but there will always be a place for the all-purpose machine we've come to depend on. BY BILL GATES REDICTINGTHE pE computer has become an annual ritual in recent years-and each year the PC has defied the prophets of doom (chart). This year looks set for a re- peat performance. Predic- tons for first-quarter global sales were bad: the PC era was finally ending. In fact, sales grew at a healthy 19 per- cent annual rate. Worldwide. well over 100 million PCs will be sold this vear. That means the world now buvs almost as many PCs as color TVs. The PC's growing popular- ity isn't surprising. Prices have fallen sharply while the power of the hardware and software has kept increasing. Consumers and businesses everywhere are rushing to get on the Web, and the PC makes that easv. But what really sets the PC apart is the incredible empowerment and LOOKING AHEAD "Sitting at your PC, you can do your taxes, surf the Web, write letters, e-mail friends, play games .. in fact, do whatever vou want' flexibility it offers in a single, economical package. Sitting at your PC, you can do your taxes, surf the Web, write letters, e-mail friends, play games, plan a business, buy a car, do your homework ... in fact, do whatever you want. The PC has given the average American the kind of computing power that 10 years ago was found only in large corporations. Yet people now take this for granted - and want more. They want to do many of the things they can do on their PC regardless of where they are or what device they are using- whether it's a palm-size computer, a Web- Going Strong enabled cell phone, an Auto PC or a smart television Despite pundits who like WebTV. A combination of sophisticated soft- have predicted the end ware, powerful microprocessors, wireless technology of personal computers, and high-bandwidth connectivity is starting to make sales continue to rise. that a reality. For most people at home and at work, the PC will 150 remain the primary computing tool; you'll still want a big screen and a keyboard to balance your investment 120 - -Shioments portfolio, write a letter to Aunt Agnes, view complex of PCs. Web pages, and you'll need plenty of local processing 90 in millions 60 e-mail, address book, etc. - across different machines; you won't have to think about it: it will be automatic If you want to find the best price for a new car-and 30 0. 1981 85 90 95 00 1999-2002 FORECASTS. SOURCE: IDC check out your budget to see if you can afford it - you'll be able to do that at the dealer- ship, on the device you have with you. Wherever you are, whatever you want to do, you'll have all the informa- tion vou need. At the same time- and many who doubt the PC's staying power miss this point - the PC itself will be getting more powerful, more reliable and simpler to use. Even though the underlying hardware. networks and software will become more complex, that complexity will be hidden from users. There will be a simpler user interface that adapts to your needs, with voice recogni- ton and natural-language processing. There will be "instant-on," so you won't have to wait for your PCto come to life. When the PCis at the center of a home net- work (probably connected to a broader network that will constantly monitor perform- ance, update software and download device drivers and the like). it will be incredibly easy to administer, automatic in operation and maintenance-free. And the PC will morph into many new forms, such as book-size "tablet PCs." But thev'll still be PCs underneath, with all the benefits of the universal PC model. That model will play a vital role in this new world of any time, anywhere computing. The PC's high-volume, low- cost approach will be adopted by many of the new smart devices, because it offers amazing value to consumers. The cost of innovation is spread wide- Iv. so evervone benefits from billions of dollars of R&D. And the PC's broadly accepted technical standards - and open Internet standards-mean that when you buy a new device, you'll know it will function with your existing equipment. In this new "PC-plus" era connectivity will be king, and the PC model's common standards will be more important than ever. PCs gave the world a whole new way to work, play and communicate. The PC-plus era will be just as revolutionary. It will take the PC's power and make it available almost anvwhere. on devices that haven't yet been dreamed up. Given my job, it's hardly surprising that I'd say this. But I'm betting Microsoft's future on it. — One of several OpEd pieces by Bill Gates and other PC industry leaders such as Paul Otellini of Intel declaring that the PC is neither dead nor dying, nor will it be replaced but rather augmented by gadgets of all kinds connected to a PC. (Source: Newsweek May 31, 1999)

Bill Gates, Paul Otellini, and others in the PC industry went on a bit of a campaign defending the PC and declaring the PC-Plus era. They executed a series of OpEd pieces and other marketing efforts to thwart the notion that the PC was dead. In The Wall Street Journal in May 2006, just after I started working on Windows, they wrote an OpEd explaining why and how the PC will continue to thrive.3

So, the next time you read about the end of the PC era, think about what you do when you get home from vacation and want to share the pictures on your digital camera with family and friends. Or where you go to download music and videos onto your iPod or MP3 player. Or how you synchronize the contacts, calendars and email on your handheld wireless devices. Or where you go when you want to find new music or search for that episode of "Lost" you missed last week.
You sit down at your PC, of course.

As this shows, the defensiveness around the PC became increasingly obvious and the technical justifications increasingly detached from where the industry was heading.

There was no shortage of problems on the Windows front, in contrast to Office which seemed on both solid footing and heading calmly to a new era. Despite the chaos, upheaval, corporate strife, and my own apprehension, I was about to run towards the fire.

Office Hours

I was sitting in the guest chair in SteveB’s office while he was standing, swinging his golf club. He stopped, finally, and said, “Thank you. Thank you.”

With great enthusiasm, those were his words as he shook my hand with all the vigor of a salesman closing a deal. A handshake between product group Microsofties was so unconventional that it added to my uneasy feeling.

Uncertain as I was, I accepted the role of leading Windows product development.

But it would not be so simple. That also meant managing the struggling Hotmail, the new Live Search, and the loved and popular, though shrinking MSN Messenger, along with several other online services. I would report to Kevin Johnson (KevinJo), who had joined Microsoft from IBM in the early 1990s and risen up the ranks by building out the company’s customer support arm and then to running the worldwide field organization (after Microsoft he went on to become the CEO of Juniper Networks and then Starbucks). Kevin would provide much needed stability across his enormous portfolio, which included all of Windows and Server, Tools, Servers, and online services. The big news was that Kevin was taking on a new and huge product development role, essentially everything except Office. The way I thought about Kevin’s job was he was on the hook to lead competing with Apple, Linux, Google, Yahoo, now Amazon, and the rest of the internet. The key thing for me was that one person oversaw every major customer segment at the company: consumers, PC makers (Microsoft’s largest source of revenue concentrated in about ten customers), developers (developers, developers), small business, enterprise IT, and now advertisers. It was kind of nuts for one person to be asked to manage all of that I thought. My job was to help him by making sure Windows was taken care of.

The Windows team had been divided into two big teams for quite some time. The core operating system was known as Core OS Division, COSD (pronounced “kahz-dee”). COSD led the parade at creating Windows, drove the engineering process and culture, and was staffed with first among equals. COSD owned the operating system kernel, device drivers, file system, networking, security, and in general the guts of Windows. The team was where the original Windows NT architects all worked. When Jim Allchin (JimAll) created the COSD organization he and I spoke about how we built the Office team (the original Office Product Unit a decade earlier) and COSD was somewhat mirrored after that, at least they thought so. About half the Windows resources were in COSD.

The other half of Windows was known as Windows Client and embodied the user side of Windows including the graphical interface, the explorer, start menu, control panel, printing, faxing, and all the experiences from tablets to media playback, to Windows Media Center, and importantly Internet Explorer. What COSD was to process and hardcore, Client was to “doing cool stuff.” A visit over to one of the Client buildings and you were likely to see displays of cool new media players, fancy gaming PCs, or the latest in wireless gadgets. There was always a cool demo to be had. Showing off COSD innovation was a lot more tricky.

There always seemed to be tension between COSD and Client. Whether it was about the schedule, testing, or different views of the engineering process. There was not a lot of love lost between them. This might seem weird to many. To outsiders, I am positive the early days of the Office Product Unit tension with Excel and Word would look identical.

For clarity, the Windows Server product worked closely with COSD but owned the product definition and the unique components differentiating Server from regular desktop Windows. Yes, it was a complex matrix.

Technically I was to manage Client. COSD was driving the Longhorn project even though Client was 100% engaged on that. No need to upset anyone with a new boss anyway. We would figure out the details of COSD at some future date closer to when Longhorn would ship. I also took on half of the Windows Live Services, which were also divided into two orgs as well (front end and back end.)

The full press release for the retirement of Jim Allchin and appointment of Kevin Johnson to lead the expanded Platforms Division. (Source: Microsoft Presspass, personal copy)

If this sounds a bit halfway, that would be a valid observation. It was certainly confusing to outsiders searching for the new boss of Windows, which JimAll was previously. In total fairness, very large reorgs are never finished before they start to roll out. There is always a balance between completeness and fighting the inevitable leaks that prove even more distracting. The press release from Microsoft tried to detail the organization but from the outset it was complex.

Was I up to this job? Was the team up to me in this job? Could a person with experience only in “boxed” software work in the modern world of online services? An Office guy running (half of) Windows? That seemed like a punchline to a bad reorg joke.

And what did we need to accomplish? Tackling the challenges faced by Windows seemed, well, perhaps too late to the party. They still hadn’t finished Vista after the Longhorn reset and it wasn’t clear when it would ship. Did I have to ship Vista first? What if Vista turned out fine and customers were happy? Or did Windows need to be reinvented? Brought back to life? Or both? And, if so, what level of urgency was even possible? What did the individuals on the team think were the problems?

I had never hemmed and hawed about a job change or negotiated any titles, terms, or conditions, and I didn’t for this one—just two weeks going back and forth, mostly with BillG to get a sense for his candid thoughts. My new role marked his last staffing efforts with SteveB—the last “Bill person” to move into the Windows job. Though I was not ever going to be a “Steve person” because of my lack of field experience, we both worked equally hard to see each other’s perspectives.

All the best choices I had ever made in life were counter to my exceedingly planful product execution, without strategizing, lists of pros and cons, or excessive deliberation. I just went for it. I was lucky in that regard having not really made a poor choice, yet.

But I was tired. I had been going nonstop since graduating 1987 and had, for all practical purposes, given my 20s and 30s to Microsoft. Was I about to turn over my 40s?

This opportunity was sure to be all consuming.

A management transition for Windows was a material corporate governance event, and thus a formal announcement needed to happen quickly to avoid the potential of leaks to Wall Street. Plus, there were many anxious people across the company who had both a need to know what was going on with Windows, and a need to influence what was going on (or believed those to be the case).

“Quickly” turned out to be an understatement.

From: Brian Valentine Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 2:44 PM To: Windows Core OS Division; Windows Server & Marketing FTE <wsrvmkft@microsoft.com>; Windows Client All Cc: Executive Staff; Brad Goldberg; Neil Charney Subject: Vista RTM Update I'm sending this email to update all of you on our plans and commitments for the Windows Vista RTM. Since the fall of 2004 we've been targeting August as our RTM date. People have been working very hard to deliver the greatest release of Windows yet. However over the last month I've heard from many of you that as we drive to close down Beta 2 we need a little more time in order to get the quality bar right. Given this feedback from you, I have been meeting with the LHLDT and Feature Leads to drill on all of the project data. What I have heard from everyone is that certain teams need 8 more weeks to get the quality right and confidence is extremely high by all teams that with an additional 8 weeks we will be at RTM quality. In addition, I have been working closely with our marketing, retail and partner management folks to finalize our launch plans. Yes, I said launch plans, which means we are very close to being done! We have also been discussing with some of our OEM, retail and other industry partners how to build an optimized launch plan based on taking this additional 8 weeks to RTM. In listening to our partners and given the complex nature of the PC business including the logistics of the industry across the business and consumer segments they have told us the following: They need a date now that they can absolutely rely on - they are going to start planning all of their world-wide programs based on our RTM date Because OEMs release new machines in cycles, we needed to RTM in August for all industry partners to get aligned around a simultaneous business and consumer PC launch by the end of the year. They also indicated that there is a great opportunity to use the launch of Windows Vista to help drive consumer PC sales in the post-holiday buying season. Based on all of the above and working with the WLT, we're going to set the launch and RTM dates for Vista today. As of this email, we are committing to RTM Vista on or before October 25th. This will give us the time you asked for to deliver the quality and our marketing team and partners the time they need to execute on a world-wide business launch of Vista with Office 2007 in November and a great world-wide consumer launch of Vista in January. Based on the OEM feedback and our RTM date, splitting the consumer and business launches make a lot of sense. Let me repeat: We will RTM Vista on or before October 25h Why? First and foremost, because you told me we could and I trust you to deliver. Second, the industry needs certainty on when we will be done and the responsible thing to do is tell them as early as we can. Make no mistake about it, we will do it! You said we could and now it's up to us to deliver. In making this decision, we considered the needs of our customers, the industry, our partners, the company and you. With any project as complex as Windows Vista, there must be a balance between great features, high quality, time to market and industry impact. I feel given that you have told me you need the additional 8 weeks and the feedback I have heard from others inside and outside the company, RTM'ing in October is the right balance. Our RTM date is now clear. Doesn't that feel good? We have all worked very hard to make Windows Vista happen and you now know when it will happen. Is it going to be easy? No. We have lots of work ahead of us and we need to stay fully focused and execute. It's not just about us - with a commitment to October 25th, the whole industry will be lining up with us. Because we're a group of smart people who like to ask lots of questions, I know someone will ask, "But Brian, I thought we were quality-driven, not date- driven." Let me be clear. This is a quality-driven plan. Your feedback is very clear - we can ship a quality Vista in October. Vista will be the highest quality release ever. However we live in a world where partners and customers need to be able plan around a reliable Windows Vista RTM date. That is why we are stating a clear, unequivocal date for our RTM. You know I cannot tell you this without sharing my thoughts on how we get there. So let me tell you what I think each of you needs to do to deliver a great Windows Vista release. More than anything else, everyone needs to understand that this does not mean that we are adding any additional work - we have to get done what we have committed. Teams do not have a "free pass" to move beyond their existing plans as we have to lock down the project in phases. The single most important thing that every person and team in Windows can do is to continue to get their area to final quality levels as fast as possible. So if your existing plans show you are done in June, July or August, you should still target to get done by then. Once you are done, we will find ways you can support other teams who need your help to get their work done or you can move on to post-Vista work. Remember that Vista is greater than any single feature: we are one team building the most awesome Windows releases ever. So what I'm saying is - get your stuff to release quality and help other teams. October is not very far away. Your first assignment is to get your area ready for Beta 2 Escrow as soon as you possibly can. Don't wait for other teams. Get yourself ready now! We will be in escrow before the end of April and we will ship Beta2 before Memorial Day. Sven will send out details on the path to Beta 2 in his next status email. Personally, I am more excited than ever. If you want to see why I'm excited, all you have to do as I did and install and self-host build 5346 to see how far we have come and how close we are. It's a really amazing build that is fast, looks great and has a pretty impressive quality bar. Our partners and customers are clamoring for Vista. They see the power and awesomeness of what you have created. Shipping a major release of Windows is an experience only a small number of people in the industry get to have - and guess what - that is us! It's an awesome experience and one which we will all be able to look back on with pride. And now we know what date we'll be talking about when we tell stories to our kids and grandkids - October 25th, 2006. Let's make it happen! Brian — Mail to the Windows team from COSD leader Brian Valentine (Brian and I were promoted to VP on the same day over Christmas in 1998). (Source: *One Strategy* materials)

The Vista team sent out a team-wide mail as well as communication to partners with an absolute RTM date of October 25, 2006, a slip from the previous August target. This was essentially external communication and would generate press. However, word already leaked to The Wall Street Journal about me moving over to Windows. The PR team began negotiating by trading verification of facts in an effort to delay the story. The story was going to run on March 22, 2006.

The clock was ticking to actually get an announcement done. The announcement scheduled for the morning of Thursday the 24th would not be moved even with the WSJ story.

From: Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:52 PM To: Cc: Steven Sinofsky; Subject: Org Announcement Update Please Do Not Forward *Subject to change* Current POR is to announce on Thursday at 2:00pm. Timeline Thursday, March 23 9:00am - KevinJo email to PSD Partners (DRM) 2:00pm - Press Release 2:00pm - KevinJo email to PSD. Email cascade begins.* TBD timing - PSD Partner Briefing Friday, March 24 9:00am - PSD Employee Webcast *Current version of tick tock is posted to the share (v16). Action 1. Finalize your cascade emails to your old and new organizations (if applicable) and post to the share by 12:00pm Wednesday. When posting final mail, please note as such (i.e. "FINAL reply to winclfte"). a. Legal will do a final review after noon tomorrow. 2 All new directs should be met with by 9:00am on Thursday. 3. Review current version of FAQ. If you have edits, please send them to dand Do not post them to the share. 4. Update PressPass file - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/default.mspx?group=A-D Please let me know if you have any questions Thanks — There were a lot of people at this early meeting on the announcement. One of the emails saved for the *One Strategy* book that I used to show the difference in cultures. (Source: *One Strategy* materials)

Within minutes of accepting the job, I was informed that my first meeting was to be held immediately to go over the announcement tick-tock, an expression I had not seen used before inside Microsoft. I was also asked for my internal comms contact, my external comms contact, my human resources contact, my executive assistant, and my chief of staff. Time was short. There were almost 40 people on a mail thread summarizing the process.

I had no staff, so I replied, “Just ask me.” I suspect everyone on the mail thread had no idea what to do with my response, but it sure cut down on the email traffic as there was a bit of a culture of fear in Windows when it came to sending mail to an executive, especially a new boss and one they had not worked with.

I forwarded the mail to our executive assistant leader Collen Johnson (CollJ) and then immediately walked into her office. I shook my head as if to ask, “What did we get ourselves into?” I knew Colleen was already buffering a huge amount of noise, mostly people asking if I really meant for them to ask me directly.

I arrived at a conference room in building 34, the big executive building, to a room of what appeared to be a re-org war room. There were easily 30 people, standing room only, more people than I think I’d seen in a meeting since we signed off on Office 2003, all to plan the announcement of my new role. The big conference table was covered with handouts of org charts, talking points, and draft press releases and rude Q&A docs. I didn’t know most of the attendees. It was funny because this was not a restructuring or anything complex; it was news of a retiring executive JimAll, a new executive boss, Kevin Johnson, and then me. It seemed that every vice president involved in this announcement sent two or three people to the meeting but didn’t show up themselves. Questions quickly started mounting over messaging, email cascades, and heads up. The production values well exceeded the actual announcement being planned.

As much as I understood the importance of this announcement to the business world and to the team—after all, this was the retirement of legendary technologist and leader Jim Allchin and a material event for a public company—the craziness (and that’s what this was) around a single announcement represented a microcosm of the entire situation. I was no longer in the comfortable garden MikeMap had created for Office.

With a lot of effort, the room managed to get the information that everyone wanted to go into this announcement down into a single email response to the official press release and filing, which I wrote, which came from me, and had one small set of talking points for any press calls that PR would handle. There was to be no email cascade—a new word for me that meant a process where an email went out from the top to the organization, and then every level of management forwarded that email (that people had already received) to the team(s) they managed with their own words interpreting the org change for them. Since there were parts of the Windows team that were nine or even 10 levels deep, the amount of interpretation that went into these cascades was mind-boggling in the depth and breadth of potential misinterpretation.

Turns out, we needed none of that with this announcement. Why? There would be no outreach or interviews by anyone at this stage. Most of all, literally nothing would change until Vista shipped.

That was the only talking point that mattered.

I was not joining Windows with some sort of secret master plan nor did we want the announcement of my job to portray me as some sort of Vista savior. Still, it played out a little bit like that in the press. There was an uncomfortable 36 hours between that WSJ story and the official announcement. That’s what happens when things leak.

Mierosoft Delays Windows Vista Debut Again Consumer Version to Miss crosoft's largest contributor of revenue vices, is overseeing the broader restruc- fall selling season is a blow to the com- and profit. turing of the Windows group, which in pany and to the legions of hardware and Critical Holiday Season; Unit Shake-Up Is Expected Tapping Mr. Sinofsky, 40 years old, addition to tapping Mr. Sinofsky, could software companies that follow its lead. adds an executive from Microsoft's Office include merging certain parts of the unit The shift to January for the consumer group to the Windows division. Mr. Sinof- with other Microsoft divisions, these peo- version of Windows - the second major de- sky, who joined Microsoft in 1989 and ple said. Microsoft executives were meet- lay for the product - is particularly trouble- served as a technical assistant to Chair- ing late yesterday to hammer out final some, said Roger Kay, an analyst at End- By ROBERT A. GUTH man Bill Gates, has earned a reputation details of the plan, they added. point Technologies Associates Inc. That's in his current role as head of the Office People familiar with the matter said because consumers, who account for Microsoft Corp. announced a delav in product group as a no-nonsense manager the restructuring is not directly tied to the about 38% of total PC sales, buy a greater its long-awaited Windows Vista operat- willing to push Vista delay. Still, Mr. Sinofsky is expected proportion of computers in the fourth quar- ing system, and people familiar with the back against engi- to eventually assume duties that have ter than businesses do. he said. matter said the company is planning a neers, according to been handled by Mr. Allchin, who last Suppliers to the PC industry, such as major management shakeup in its Win- people familiar year announced that he would retire after chip makers Intel Corp. and Advanced dows group. with the executive. what had been expected to be the Win- Micro Devices Inc., have also been bet- The Redmond, Wash., software com- Microsoft's ex- dows Vista shipping date later this year. ting on Vista to boost sales. "This is go- pany said it will begin broadly selling a pected reorganiza- Microsoft's Office group is known for ing to mess up the whole Christmas sell- version of Vista for consumers in Janu- tion partly reflects a more disciplined management style, ing season for the hardware companies, ary, compared to its earlier plan of offer- an effort by Chief and has tended to pump out new products Mr. Kay said. ing the product in time for the holiday Executive Steve on a timely, predictable schedule. B con- Mr. Allchin said that the major reason selling season. Ballmer to instill trast, the Windows group has always val- for the delay is to give Microsoft more A version of Vista for large business management rigor ued engineering prowess over manage- time to test the security and other "qual- customers will be available in November, at the company, ment oversight. ity" aspects of the product. He said that said James Allchin, co-president of Mi- which has been As the Windows software got increas- since Microsoft needed the extra time, crosoft's platforms and services division. marked by slower Steve Sinofsky ingly complex, that model in recent years certain partners asked that the consumer He said the company needs more time to growth, an increas- spun out of control: Problems with Vista version of the product be delayed until improve the quality of the product, which ingly diverse product line and a new ar- forced Microsoft in 2004 to stop develop- January and not sold in November. Microsoft has already postponed once. ray of competitive threats. ment of the software, remake large por- Though Mr. Allchin didn't identify the The delay comes as Microsoft this Mr. Ballmer took a major step in that tions and add more controls over its engi- partners, analysts noted that retailers week is expected to name Steve Sinofsky, direction in September when he merged neering ranks. need time to set up their sales channels a senior vice president, as head of the seven business units into three and ap- Vista is still widely expected to be a and would want to wait until after the division that oversees Windows, accord- pointed three top lieutenants-managers major event for the industry, perhaps the Christmas season. ing to people familiar with the matter. from the sales and marketing side of the biggest technology transition since the Microsoft shares traded at $27.74, off 15 The delay and management appoint- company-to head the groups. Windows 95 operating system arrived cents, in 4 p.m. composite trading on the ment highlight a broader effort by Mi- As his first major step, Kevin more than 10 years ago. More than 90% of Nasdaq Stock Market before the late-after- crosoft to inject more management over- Johnson, the head of the division that PCs world-wide use some version of Win- noon announcement and subsequently fell sight into the Windows group, Mi- includes Windows and MSN online ser- dows. Any delay that affects the crucial to $27.02 in after-hours trading. — Guth at The Wall Street Journal had a scoop about the Vista schedule and knew there were some org changes in play. This story broke on March 22 though we kept the announcement until March 24. It was a lot of work from the PR team to try to tone down the part about me fixing Windows. (Source: WSJ, March 22, 2006, personal)

The Wall Street Journal said, “[Sinofsky] has a reputation as a meticulous manager who is adept at controlling large software projects.” Paying homage to MikeMap, the article said the Office team culture was created by “an executive recruited from International Business Machines Corp., the Office group adopted a more management-heavy, disciplined culture . . .” The headline read, “Microsoft delays Windows Vista debut again; consumer version to miss critical holiday season; unit shake-up is expected.”4

The rest of the week saw much of the press derived from the WSJ and the announcement focused on my new role in fixing Windows. There was no way to avoid this. It was broken. I guess it was also the truth. Business 2.0 ran with a headline “The Man Who Could Fix Windows: Microsoft's new OS chief has to get Redmond to embrace a new model of programming, in which software is constantly being improved instead of updated every 5 years.”5

Inside the tech industry, one of my longtime favorite foils in the press, Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, said, “Sinofsky has the reputation of a strict, schedule-bound manager who keeps the trains running on time.” After all these years, and quite a bit of product innovation from the team, I was basically a strict project taskmaster. That stung, in a Spock-like way. But later the ZDNet editorial team added more, “The Sinofsky promotion (not sure we’d consider being named Windows Mr. Fix-It constitutes an upward career move) grabbed the most headlines.”

Sinofsky to the Rescue! …. (?) There's a new sheriff in town, and he's aimin' to qun down any rootin', tootin' varmit that can't deliver what he committed to. Maybe. Mary Jo Foley probably had the most succinct characterization of Mr. Sinofsky: "...a strict, schedule-bound manager who keeps the trains running on time." Holy smokes, start handing out the brown shirts emblazoned with Vienna 2009 on the front and ... or else I'm fired on the back. Follow-up elsewhere on this: - Microsoft PR: Microsoft Realigns Platforms & Services Division for Greater Growth and Agility Steven Sinofsky joins PSD to lead Windows and Windows Live development. - Mary Jo Foley with Kevin Turner's Johnson's memo: Microsoft Memo Details Latest Windows Unit Reorg - Ms. Foley again, wondering that if Office 2007 is slipping then maybe the trains aren't quite on time after all: Can Microsoft Make the Trains Run on Time? - Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life - Steven Sinofsky Takes Over Windows and Windows Live - just a touch of commentary. Oh, Dare, where's that dark side anymore? - Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog @ SeattlePI.com - Windows management reorg - Nathan Weinberg: » No No No! Damnit No! Damn! InsideMicrosoft - part of the Blog News Channel - Good read: » Regime change at Microsoft Ed Bott's Microsoft Report ZDNet.com - Mr. Bott does an especially good job at skewering the spin on the Vista delay release from yesterday. A snippet: No wonder they delivered the news on a conference call. Even Bagdad Bob would have had a hard time keeping a straight face while reading the line "We must optimize for the industry. " I'm not even sure what that last phrase means. It sounds to me like someone's trying to deflect the blame for this whole mess. Looks like they didn't succeed. So Mr. Furner Johnson will have a Friday morning meeting to discuss this, available for webcast later. Interesting times. My little take: I'm especially disappointed that we're not using this as a demonstration of accountability. Show that we're reshuffling to come in to get rid of whatever mismanaged mess there is within the Windows leadership. That would restore confidence. Even if this has nothing to do with executive leadership finally having a revelation, "What-the? Vista development sure hasn't been a success….. light the Sinofsky signal!" it could at least be spun that way. What the hell is wrong with not only working to fix the problem (thank you) but admitting we're fixing a problem, instead of leaving it in some sort of unsaid, abstract wink to everyone to connect the dots. Sorry, them dots are going to continue screwing up. According to commenters in the past, Mr. Sinofsky has kept a very open door to people who want to discuss problems getting Microsoft business done and what kind of solutions are needed. He's also been pretty proactive blogging for recruiting new Microsofties (the kind of Microsofties who like their writing as dense as last year's fruitcake). And a little bit anti-Mini. Office does seems to get things done. I have no idea how many of the disgruntled comments or ideas to fix process have come from Office-softies. So, I'm willing to take a sip of the SteveSi Kool-Aid and have hope here. (Oh, man. For some reason just had a flash-forward vision of our 2006 Company Meeting and yet another demo of Vista. Does it get an award for the most-Company-Meeting-demo'd soon to be released product?) In the meantime, with this potential for leadership results (will Sinofsky lieutenants soon follow in his wake?) we also have Chrisjo keeping his word: on his internal blog, someone asked if he was going to own up to forgoing his bonus if we didn't make the 8/31/06 RTM date. He said "Yes." Simple answer. Solid leadership I'd like to hear some more VPs and Partners kick in to that refreshing "Yes" choir. Administrivia: flipping back into moderation mode for a while. Waaaaay too many zealots crapping out comments I've got to hunt down and delete. Hopefully a temporary state. Any ideas, Clay Shirky? And for all the passionate anti-Microsoft folks out there: I hope your satisfied now that you got that neener-neener-neener out of your system. I never mind reasonable arguments from the ABM crowd, but some of what's typed just makes me wonder if you hug your Momma with those naughty fingers. Updated: gotta pay more attention to those president's names. Thanks for the comment correction. Mini-Microsoft Microsoft Windows Vista Sinofsky Moderation — Mini-Microsoft posted about me joining Windows as would expect and thus began a bit of an online relationship, though I never knew who Mini was. (Source: minmsft.blogspot.com)

And finally, everyone’s favorite anonymous internet whistleblower, Mini-Microsoft, a widely read blog maintained by anonymous author calling themself Who da’Punk offered thoughts. To clarify the record once and for all, I was not the writer and have no idea who was though at least two reporters met the blogger in person verifying that fact. The post on March 23 had a headline that read:

“Sinofsky to the Rescue!. . . (?)”

The article said, “There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s aimin’ to gun down any rootin’, tootin’ varmi[n]t that can’t deliver what he committed to. Maybe.”6

It is probably important to detail Mini-Microsoft at this time because they were a fixture over everything that was going on at Microsoft, even if I chose to ignore them the rest of the Windows team and the company followed every word (and so did the press). Mini, as in “Did you see the latest Mini?” or “Well, that really pissed off Mini” wrote about all topics Microsoft though seemed especially focused on the plight of typical employees struggling to make sense of what was going on. Mini was especially critical of typical big company problems such as organizational bloat, excess hiring, lack of innovation, performance reviews, promotions, salary, and more. Mini was also critical of our technical strategy and challenges around Longhorn. Like many claiming informal whistleblower status, the challenge was always there for an executive to respond to critiques, but it was so difficult to do so knowing Mini did not always have the complete context.

A Rendezvous with Microsoft's Deep Throat didn't have to change cabs twice and slip into the shadows of a suburban parking garage at 2 in the morning. Instead, we agreed to meet at a Starbucks at 5:45 pm. The signal: My contact would have a copy of Microserfs, the legendary 1995 book about employee life in the early days of Microsoft Corp. Sure enough, when I walked in the door, the book was sitting on the table to my right. My heart raced. "Mini?" I said, extending my hand. "It's great to put a face with a name. The proprietor of the Web log called Mini Microsoft may be the most notorious blogger on corporate life. For more than a year, Mini has been a thorn in the side of the software giant, posting a stream of anonymous critiques of the company, Mini's employer. Mini pulls no punches, calling Microsoft a "passionless, process-ridden, lumbering idiot" in a Sept. 4 posting. Yet the blog is also chock full of humor, intelligence, and earnest suggestions for fixing Microsoft. While Mini-Microsoft (minimsft. blogspot.com) is just one among an estimated 2,000 blogs operated by Microsoft staffers, it has become a virtual water cooler for employees. Hundreds anonymously vent their frustrations there without fear of retribution. Mini has emerged as something of a folk hero. Visitors to the site and other bloggers describe Mini as both the employee most likely to save Microsoft-and most likely to be fired. Mini provides a fascinating example of a phenomenon that's sweeping the nation. Employee bloggers are shining a bright light on the inner workings of their companies and thrusting all sorts of bottled-up frustrations out in the open. Whispered DOUGLAS COUPLAND mucroserte Microsoft is a "passionless, process-ridden, lumbering idiot.» -Blogger Mini-Microsoft conversations suddenly become broadcast publicly. That puts a huge amount of power in the hands of employees- for good or ill. Indeed, the balance of power between employer and employee may be shifting Analyst Charlene Li of Forester Research advises companies not to try to suppress their bloggers. "You can keep it hidden, or get those voices out there and deal with the problem," she says. Not surprisingly, it took some coaxing to get Mini to sit down with me. The meeting came with one condition: continued anonymity. So we started with some ground rules. "Can I at least disclose your gender?" ask. "Sure," the soft-spoken Mini says, laughing. For the record, Mini is a man Mini knows, though, that he's a marked man. He might lose his job if the top brass ever figured out who he is. "They'd have to consider the bad publicity of firing me, ." Mini says. Still, there's that uneasy feeling that they would cut him loose anyway, if only to send a message. Prior to our meeting, he had never told anyone outside Microsoft of his double life. Not even his wife. "She has enough stress," he says. So why risk a career to vent about his employer? "Microsoft has been wonderful to me. I really want to improve it. I really want to make a difference, he explains. Mini started posting in July, 2004, with little expectation that he would develop much of a following. He doesn't track the number of visitors, but a recent missive about the unfairness of the emplovee review system generated more than 150 replies. Most seemed to come from fellow Microsofties. Mini sometimes worries that his posts might cause Microsoft some harm, but he believes it's more likely that he'll be a force for much-needed change. "Sometimes you have to destroy the village in order to save it," he says. He just hopes it doesn't come to that. -By Jay Greene in Seattle, with Heather Green in New York — One of two known stories on Mini based on in-person meetings. This one with Jay Greene based in Seattle writing for BusinessWeek. This sidebar appeared in the same issue as the above Story featuring Steve Ballmer. (Source: BusinessWeek Sept 26, 2005, personal)

It is difficult to parse today but when reading Mini’s posts one of the most interesting aspects is how they turn the phrases of Microsoft’s HR and leadership back on them. From accountability to synergy to integrated innovation and even “I love this company” which was classic SteveB. Beyond that I proved to be a subject, directly or not, over the next couple of years in many of his (eventually their gender was identified in the press) over 100 posts. Mini even got himself a profile in BusinessWeek, as part of the much larger negative story about the loss of talent at the company.

Share this post with a friend who remembers Mini :-)

I had no real direct reports at this point because everyone, including BillG, was finishing Vista. Still, I needed a way to quickly connect with a large number of people in a way that felt more . . . intimate.

To move forward, I chose a decidedly non-traditional path. The Microsoft way might have been a big all-hands meeting, a follow-up email with vague statements of support, or an immediate gathering of a staff meeting. Instead, given the need to both ship Vista and meet a lot of people I looked for a way to communicate broadly while connecting in-person with many, all while not getting in the way at all of Vista. This meant, for example, turning down all the escalations or crisis moments that people would bring to me. For example, in July AMD announced the intent to acquire ATI, the graphics card makers, which caused a brief panic in how to handle shipping ATI drivers in Vista. Given the future impact of this choice many tried to pull me into this crisis. This was a brilliant acquisition and noteworthy that Intel did not lead or follow up with acquiring then similarly-sized Nvidia.

I browsed over to the internal SharePoint site and created a new blog called Office Hours in an effort to signify openness and a risk-free place where ideas could be shared. Blogging the goings-on proved to be the best way to reach a team of approximately 10,000 people and, as I would learn, the rest of the company.

Over the course of six-and-a-half years, I wrote more than 400 posts amounting to nearly three quarters of a million words (1,700 pages), answering questions, discussing the how and why of all we were doing, not doing, or considering, and detailing almost every aspect of the business. I wrote something substantial most every week, sometimes twice. Posts covered product strategy, organization structures, people management, competition, features, culture, my personal management, and just about everything in between. I posted the trip reports I dutifully wrote after conferences, recruiting trips, and customer visits. Many of these posts were included in a book I co-authored with Marco Iansiti of Harvard Business School, One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making (Wiley, 2009.)

My first post on the “Office Hours” blog I maintained. A new feature of SharePoint in the beta were blogs with RSS feeds, which made it easy to archive posts and to deliver them to Outlook to easily share by forwarding as I did with this one. I saved all of these for use in the book *One Strategy*. (Source: *One Strategy* materials)

I had one last meeting with the Office team. We gathered the Senior Managers, the most senior 120 or so people (the dev/test/pm triads as well as general management and discipline leaders across design, planning, localization, content, operations), in the big conference room where I shared the news that was about to break. Even to this day it was the most emotional day of my years at Microsoft. I looked out over the room and saw people I had all but grown up with professionally, many of whom I’d known for my entire time at Microsoft. Mostly I sensed they were worried about me—the look on their faces said no one goes over to Windows and lives to tell about it.

As I was packing up my office to move across the street to a temporary office in Building 50, a member of the team stopped by and delivered the most wonderful hand-made lightbox of Office logos and packaging over the past dozen years. It still sits on my shelf with the signed note. It means the world.

A lilghtbox collage containing small images of all the boxes of Office that I worked on going back to Office 4.2. A member of the team presented this to me. It means the world to me and sits on my shelf today with the signed note. ❤️ (Source: personal)

This was just my first couple of days. Even though for the time-being I had no direct reports, I still needed to figure out who and what would eventually be on my team. The team was incredibly anxious and clearly expected both a master plan and a reorg. I realized that many people had observed or become a fast study in how the Office team worked. Many were prepared with arguments as to why the way Office worked (at least their perception of that) would never work in Windows.

I had a sneaking suspicion that SteveB and BillG wanted a quicker “fix” than I might deliver. Even though I had not only lived the Windows challenges for at least a decade and many of the people were well-known to me through countless meetings, offsites, email exchanges, and more, the one thing that is certain is that talking about fixing something is a lot easier that actually fixing something.

On to 084. Who’s On the Team, Exactly?

Newsweek, May 31, 1999, “Microsoft’s New Office”

Microsoft Annual Report, June 1999. https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar99/download.htm

End of the PC Era? Hardly! by Bill Gates and Paul Otellini, 15 May 2006, The Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal. Guth, R. A. (2006, Mar 22). Microsoft delays windows vista debut again; consumer version to miss critical holiday season; unit shake-up is expected.

https://money.cnn.com/2006/03/24/technology/business2_msftreorg/index.htm

http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2006/03/sinofsky-to-rescue.html

Rahul Prasad

Jun 5, 2022

So excited about this upcoming section! I joined cosd in '06 out of grad school. First jobs leave deep impressions. Your framing, vision, and planning memos, 3-milestone dev cycles, etc informed how I've thought about large scale software (and hardware) development later in my career.

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Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky

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