Windows head Steven Sinofsky leaves Microsoft

  • Thread starter Thread starter kingrob
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Bottom line: To be special is not that special anymore. The value of "special" is shifting to the value of the swarm, not the individual.

Youngsters should take note.

That has to be the most painfully shortsighted of all the statements you've ever made. If you hope to capture public mindshare without offering something exceptionally creative, what else have you got? Design-by-committee flabby mediocrity or aimless throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks experimentalism, of the kind which Microsoft has excelled at for the past 10 years?
 
Thanks for that constructive input but you completely missed my point.

I don't think I missed your point. There's no place for 'abrasive' hyper-creative individualistic types in a team-led organisation. And my response is, what place is left for authentic genius, which is necessarily against-the-grain, to run its course in such an environment? What kind of products will such a company end up producing? In a non-creative field such as perhaps data management, that's fine; in consumer electronics it's anathema.
 
I don't think I missed your point. There's no place for 'abrasive' hyper-creative individualistic types in a team-led organisation. And my response is, what place is left for authentic genius, which is necessarily against-the-grain, to run its course in such an environment?

What I'm saying Cerebus is that a swarm of creative team-types will create synergy (1+1 = 3) that the abrasive hyper-creative individual cannot do. Hyper talented people are becoming more readily available (Google is filled to the brim with them from all across the globe) but it is how you get these individuals (often from different cultures) to work as a swarm that matters these days. The day of the one super guy coming up with his own stuff and then gets the team to implement his plan/design is over. The swarm will come up with so much more (synergy). The universities are producing super smart people all over the world now. China and India are packed with them. Globalization. The Google's of this world pull them all together ... and now it is about the swarm, not the individual.
 
Organisations are more and more getting rid of super duper guys that cannot work within a team and get along with others. I see this in my own organisation. The guys that want to do their own thing their own way get sidelined and ignored, irrespective of their genius. You have to be able to work with others else you have to go on your own (consult, whatever). Really smart people are far easier to get these days. Why I said "special is not that special (unique) anymore".
 
You're correct except when it comes to creating products that change markets, or cause consumers to fall over themselves to own. Then you are reliant on something exceptional, to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately Microsoft is not a company that has ever really treasured that kind of uniqueness, which could be why they are where they are today.
 
You're correct except when it comes to creating products that change markets, or cause consumers to fall over themselves to own. Then you are reliant on something exceptional, to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately Microsoft is not a company that has ever really treasured that kind of uniqueness, which could be why they are where they are today.

Bill Gates not fit the Bill?
 
The way I read reports about how MS operates (or operated in the past) is exactly in contrast to what I am saying. They worked in silos with each having it's own king. The organisation did not function in a way that promoted synergy. They are now changing that and that culture shift will result in resignations (as happened today).

When I type these replies I think of Michael Chrichton's novel Prey.
 
Well in a way it is. :)

Microsoft's new drive is to create an Ecosystem with Windows 8 Kernel(Windows Phone/Tablet/Desktop), and old Steven did not wanna play nice with other departments.

Yeah I realise that, but some that were very vocal about the Win8 as a failure would believe otherwise. ;)
 
Well in a way it is. :)

Microsoft's new drive is to create an Ecosystem with Windows 8 Kernel(Windows Phone/Tablet/Desktop), and old Steven did not wanna play nice with other departments.

Just to enlighten you, their "drive" is to reallign themselves as an advertising agency. Their OS along with Internet Explorer will all be pushed into that direction.
 
MS must seriously bring new faces to the company that gives the consumer the impression they're dealing with fresh exciting products/prospects here. The shareholders should demand it. We need Bart, not Homer.
 
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