

Stuff I've learned at Microsoft - sriramk
http://www.sriramkrishnan.com/blog/2009/12/stuff-ive-learned-at-microsoft.html

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martincmartin
Personally, I'd love to see more stuff on life in non-startups. It's good to
see both, and there's a lot of stuff about startups here (understandably), so
getting some other posts to balance it would be great IMHO.

> (Most) Screw ups are OK

Red Whittaker once told me "people remember you for your successes, not for
your failures." People remember Paul McCartney as a member of the Beatles, and
maybe a little for Wings, but not for any of the crap he's put out. They
remember a director's good movies, not the bombs (unless they're really
spectacular, of course.)

~~~
bmj
"If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

~~~
gruseom
You caught my attention with that one: it sounded like a cuckoo quote. I don't
think of Wittgenstein and silliness as exactly hanging out together. However,
it turns out to be genuine and there's a related one to boot:

 _Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the
green valleys of silliness._

(<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>)

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seldo
_Ask the uncomfortable questions_

This is by far the most important thing I've learned in my big company life.
If you are in a meeting of 10 people and somebody appears to be saying
something insane or stupid, the reason nobody is saying anything is because
there are 8 other people in the room who are all nodding uncertainly and they
don't want to sound like the jackass.

So ask the question. At worst, you will have misunderstood what they're
saying, and since it's unlikely that you are the dumbest person in the room,
there's probably at least one other person who has the same misunderstanding
as you.

At best, you're the guy who has spotted the flaw in the plan and spoken up
before it was too late. Either way, it's a win-win for you.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Back when I used to work with Sriram on Microsoft Popfly (now defunct) I was a
huge believer in asking 'stupid' questions. No matter how dumb or obvious your
question might be, odds are someone else in the room has the same one. Plus,
admitting that you don't know everything pays its own dividends in terms of
not seeming like a total jerk.

You're absolutely right. There really isn't a stupid question. Only fearful
meeting participants.

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johnl
Sounds like he had a good manager. You've heard the saying: Give the employee
only enough rope to hang himself, but not enough rope that he can hang the
company. I've learned far more from my failures than successes and your
ability to recover from a failure shows even more than either the success or
the failure.

~~~
sriramk
I've had many - some good and some not so good (my current one is one of the
best I've had).

The best ones typically trust me to do my job well and would back me up if I
got into trouble. They also assumed that I screwed up and they needed to know
about it, I would let them know first.

The bad ones...not so much.

~~~
shrikant
_(my current one is one of the best I've had)_

Isn't this always the case when posting non-anonymously? :)

~~~
sriramk
I'm pretty sure he doesn't read Hacker News :)

------
brandonkm
"Understand what normal people are trying to get out of technology."

This is key. I've found that public transportation gives you more insight into
how people use smartphones than anything else.

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spuz
I have to say, that after 3 years in the corporate world, I've come to realise
many of the same things and I think if I were to write a blog post on the same
subject, I would make many of the exact same suggestions.

However, it's one thing to read this article and think about how to improve
yourself and your life at work but how do you go about improving _others_ and
the way they work? Sriram mentions is that the people you work with is much
more important than the work itself. If your team-mate is reluctant to go out
of his comfort zone, or thinks so much of himself as to brush off other
people's requests for help, what would you do? Email the team a link to this
article? Or jump ship to another team?

I'm a big believer in constant self improvement, but unless you're very lucky
to be in a team wholly of smart, friendly people, improving others is surely
the only way to a happy, productive team.

PS: Does this mean I'm turning into a manager? I hope not... :p

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felixmar
_Try out stuff_

How common is that at Microsoft? My perception is that few Microsoft employees
participate in projects not directly related to their work, even if it's
Microsoft technology. Take for example F#. I haven't seen much from Microsoft
employees other than from the F# team (who do a great job) and (paid)
evangelists.

~~~
sriramk
If it's Microsoft technology, people do try out things (it is hard to avoid it
- dogfooding is a big part of MSFT culture. What they don't do as much is talk
about it in public or share the code out (it typically lives on some internal
site). Look at people trying out Silverlight or VS 2010 or .NET 4 for example.

When playing with non-Microsoft tech, people are much quieter. There are too
many people who would love nothing more than to say "Look there - a Microsoft
employee using an iPhone/Google/Linux/whatever" and cause a few headaches. The
truth is that a lot of Microsoft employees are just plain geeks who like to
try out things.

~~~
CamperBob
_There are too many people who would love nothing more than to say "Look there
- a Microsoft employee using an iPhone/Google/Linux/whatever"_

Such as their own executive management:
[http://garywiz.typepad.com/trial_by_fire/2006/03/ballmer_fam...](http://garywiz.typepad.com/trial_by_fire/2006/03/ballmer_family_.html)

I wonder what happens if Steve Jobs catches you with a Zune at Apple? My guess
is, nothing.

~~~
barrkel
From what what I know about both companies, Steve Jobs' reaction would be much
more severe than MS management. Apple doesn't seem to tolerate "different"
much - it's either the Apple way or the highway.

~~~
CamperBob
His reaction would be severe if you tried to _pitch_ a Zune at him. I don't
think he'd feel threatened by seeing an employee _using_ one, the way Ballmer
clearly is when he catches somebody with an iPod.

~~~
Elepsis
"Hey, I know neither of these guys, have never met either of them, and wasn't
actually at the event where the infamous 'Ballmer mocks iPhone guy' incident
happened, but _clearly_ Ballmer is threatened and Jobs isn't!"

Plenty of Microsoft employees have iPhones. Microsoft makes several iPhone
apps. I know several people whose work laptop is a Mac (usually running
Windows). And--as you might expect at any good technology company--Microsoft
employees are some of the first to try out any new software or gadget.

Ballmer feeling 'threatened' by the fact that an employee is using a non-
Microsoft product? Don't be silly.

~~~
endtime
>wasn't actually at the event where the infamous 'Ballmer mocks iPhone guy'
incident happened

FWIW, I _was_ at this event, and he was joking around.

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ramchip
_Uncomfortable topics are tricky. A few topics are taboo for good reason
(again, legal issues are a good example)._

I didn't get that bit. What does the author mean by legal issues and why
should it be taboo in a meeting?

~~~
nostrademons
You know how they say, "anything you say can and will be used against you"?
Lawsuits are like that too. Often it's better to say nothing than something
that can be used out of context in court.

