Sleepless in
Seattle: The Microsoft culture
Microsoft, the
company which changed the software world forever, produced three billionaires
and 12,000 millionaires from its employees and now has around 90,000 employees
and 60 MBA interns for the summer. I could talk for a whole day about the
culture of the company which can be consider as an 18 wheeler, but I would
start with one word - intricate !
The dictionary
define 'intricate' as difficult and complex, and there is no better word to
describe a company that is actually 7 different companies (divisions) with
their own agenda, fighting over the attention of the CEO. In the last couple of
years, Steve Ballmer (CEO) did some re-org that put the technical people
(engineering background) at the top of those divisions and reduced the internal
fighting almost to zero. Although the willingness to look unite, the internal
structure and culture of every division is different and mainly defined by its
president.
In general I could
say that the culture in Microsoft is very open - since I has a vast hi-tech
background it is like returning home, to the open door of your peers and
managers (in all levels), to the flexible hours of work, to the open mind for
new (sometimes crazy) ideas and opinions and the casual approach to the working
environment (jeans and t-shirts). I was lucky to be able to work and
communicate with people from all over the company and to understand that there
are three major pyramids in the company - the main one is the engineering (the
heart and soul of the company), the business (the head of the company) and the
field (the arms and legs of the company).
Talk to you soon,
Barak.
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