Nadella memo: Open to interpretation.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella enjoys writing a good memo. His latest tome written to employees -- published online Thursday -- has continued to incite bloggy controversy the entire weekend. After reading the screed, some bloggers predict job cuts or perhaps a flattened organization structure for Microsoft in the near future.
Strangely, some of the lets-nitpick-analysis was critical of the memo's length. This is because a long memo could only be justified if Microsoft ranked among one of the top software companies. It would be a different story, if say, Microsoft's products ran on hundreds of millions of machines world-wide, it employed thousands of people, or if it was worth more than the GDP of an entire populated continent.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers lie down on a couch.
Filling in for our humble blogwatcher Richi Jennings, is a humbler Stephen Glasskeys.
Gregg Keizer cuts to the chase:
Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella distributed his Thursday memo beyond the halls of his company to signal to everyone -- employees, investors, customers and the press -- that big changes, likely including staffing cuts, are in the near-future cards, analysts said. MORE
And Nancy Gohring is a speed-reader:
One thing we know about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- he's a fan of long memos....
The biggest takeaway is that Nadella has high hopes for shedding Microsoft's image as a slow-moving, bureaucratic, old-school business culture. MORE
Brier Dudley makes a prediction:
One analyst predicted Nadella will announce he's cutting at least 6,000 jobs, which would be the largest layoff in Microsoft's history....
But my guess is the biggest cuts will be...in the far-flung operations of the Nokia phone business the company acquired in April. MORE
Straight from the horse's mouth:
On July 22, we'll announce our earnings results for the past quarter and I'll say more then on what we are doing in FY15 to focus on our core. Over the course of July, the Senior Leadership Team and I will share more on the engineering and organization changes we believe are needed. MORE
Then, Chris Matyszczyk recommends counseling:
It's hard to make things clear in 3,100 words. It usually takes 300 or, sometimes, just three....
At the core of [Nadella's] thinking, however, is a bracing reality: Microsoft doesn't know who it is anymore....
It used to be clear. Its personality was forceful, bullying to some. Its purpose was a computer on every desk. It was damned if it was going to let anyone get in the way. MORE
Brian Madden punts a question:
One thing missing [from the memo] was a discussion about Windows desktop apps. Nadella did write that "Windows will create a broad developer opportunity by enabling Universal Windows Applications to run across all device targets." This is nice, but it's about the new-style touch-based apps that can run on phones, tablets, and Windows 8 touch-based laptops. But what about the existing Windows desktop apps that enterprises rely on today?...
Dunno. (I guess we're still on our own?) MORE
And Jean-Louis Gassé begins to teach:
Nadella is a repeat befuddler. His first email to employees, sent just after he assumed the CEO mantel on earlier this year, was filled with bombastic and false platitudes....
Rather than ceding to the temptation of quoting more gems, let’s turn to a few simple rules of exposition....
First, the hierarchy of ideas. MORE
Meanwhile, Ed Bott does a bit of editing:
How to write 1,364 words b****ing about someone else writing 3100 words. MORE
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