Monday, January 31, 2005

Building Microsoft to Last

I wasn’t surprised by the theme in this interview with Steve Ballmer. Recently posters proclaiming Good to Great have appeared around the campus. The top management are clearly Jim Collins fans. They’ve constructed the company’s new vision statement with its mission, values, and core tenets. The new mission is to help companies and people around the world to realize their potential. No difficulty then for me in identifying my day-to-day work with the company’s mission. My job is to help software developers and their management around the world better realize their potential by building better software, faster, and cheaper. For me, it is as Steve says, “galvanizing”. Unlike the tone in the article, I don’t see it as a problem. It’s part of the reason I joined Microsoft.

It’s not surprising that the founders of Microsoft have turned their attention to leaving a long term legacy. It’ll be interesting for all of us to follow this over the next twenty years. Is it possible to imagine a Microsoft without Bill and Steve? I’d love to speculate but I’ve decided to keep those thoughts to myself.