microsoft fixes their process

SmartOfficeNews summarized a Wall Street Journal article on Microsoft, covering how they fixed their software engineering process. Spin aside, the best part (emphasis mine): By late October, Mr. Srivastava’s team was beginning to automate the testing that had historically been done by hand. If a feature had too many bugs, software “gates” rejected it from …

the ten crazy ideas

the ten “crazy” ideas for Microsoft are: Schedule Unscheduled Time into Performance Reviews "Break Up" the Company Encourage Loose but Prominent Couplings Exile and Empower Incubation Projects Offer Super-exponential Rewards Offer Different Risk-Reward Compensation Profiles Cut Back on Bureaucracy Review Cost Cutting Reduce Headcount on Large Dev Projects Eliminate Exec Reviews

josh’s ten insane ideas

Josh Ledgard, a program manager at Microsoft, has an interesting blog entry: “Ten Insane Ideas for Microsoft.” Some of it is pretty mundane, like towel service, but he makes a few great points: 1. The “2 Secrets” Rule So, I propose the “2 secrets” rule. Every VP must tell their groups what the two protected …