
Inside the Cult of Nike - pmcpinto
http://www.wmagazine.com/story/nike-march-madness-sneakers-smart-design
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Ocerge
I'm actually surprised they let this much out. Nike is incredibly tight with
just about everything. Amazing place to work though.

~~~
eikenberry
> Amazing place to work though.

I found it to be a terrible place to work. Highly political, bait-n-switch
hiring tactics, constant re-orgs, no project ownership, lots of silver
bullets... It had 1 redeeming quality, they paid well. Hated the place and so
glad to have moved on.

~~~
erikb
what means "lots of silver bullets" in this context?

~~~
eikenberry
For general background if you haven't heard the term.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet)

More specifically they'd buy into the idea that everything would be better if
they just did/bought/adopted X. And they did this a lot with everything;
technology, processes, organization principles, etc. During my short time
there they adopted scrum, then extreme programming, then back to scrum, they
switched their development from monoliths to extreme micro-services (one
verb/service), they reorganized the teams 3 different times based on different
principes... this continued ad nauseam.

~~~
billsmithaustin
I'm not sure IT is their core competence.

~~~
rch
Nope. That'd be marketing.

~~~
ravitation
I know this is a day old, but...

I'm not sure that's true. Strong marketing for sure, but I think they're more
akin to Apple in this regard.

Where (to use Steve Jobs' comparison) Pepsi's core competency is marketing
(they rarely put out "new" products, so revenue is driven almost entirely by
marketing), Nike's core competency is probably more apparel (specifically
athletic) design - since, essentially, every new thing they release is a new
product, and they release a lot of new things.

~~~
rch
One first-hand anecdote: the women's track team at a university was given a
generous sponsorship and all they had to do was wear free high-end Nike shoes.
Unfortunately, the shoes caused physical discomfort for almost everyone, so
the team collectively decided to only wear them in competition.

My impression is that Nike apparel is designed to support the brand, not the
athlete.

~~~
ravitation
Would love to read more about this anecdote.

Either way, I'm not sure that it points to marketing as a core competence over
apparel design (though it may point the focus of the design away from the
athlete).

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samstave
Make sure you check out the Nike documentary on Netflix:

[https://www.netflix.com/watch/80093805](https://www.netflix.com/watch/80093805)

~~~
gk1
And read Phil Knight's memoir, "Shoe Dog."
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176M1A44](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176M1A44)

~~~
diego_moita
It is a very funny and fascinating book, the kind you get stuck on it and
can't let go.

From the start until the IPO, Nike was constantly on the verge of bankruptcy.
It is a fascinating story with lots of backstabbing, desperate moves,
improvisation and insanity. It is a company created by, pretty much, manic
obsession.

The only defect of this book is that it finishes, you keep wanting more when
you're over.

~~~
moonka
>It is a very funny and fascinating book, the kind you get stuck on it and
can't let go.

I made the mistake of starting it late in the day on Saturday. Chewed up my
entire weekend between reading it and not being able to put it down until way
too late at night. I also found the portions when he talks about his dealing
with the Japanese companies fascinating.

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Synaesthesia
The way they get made in exploitative sweatshops in Indonesia for barely
anything is not so romantic.

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m0llusk
What amazes me about Nike is how they are great masters of design and yet the
whole barefoot minimal shoe movement has completely passed them by. If they
know so much about what people need from shoes then why don't they even have
any options comperable to anything from Vibram or Vivobarefoot? For me their
shoes have always been aesthetically impressive and unusably uncomfortable.

~~~
JofArnold
This is not strictly true. They've just not done it quite he same way. Their
Free Run is flexible, light and with zero stack. It's thicker than, say,
Innov8 or VFFs but they compact down. Astonishingly comfortable shoes for me
and, via NikeID, the only truly wide running shoes other than maybe some
models of Vivos.

