Late commenting on this (been kinda busy.) Im really glad to see Microsoft finally abandoning stack-ranking. Its a system that makes sense when a company needs rapid short-term housecleaning (i.e. Yahoo) but is just so toxic long term. As a manager, it was intensely frustrating to have to force-fit teams to a curve. It was very rare for a group to naturally fit - there were always people who wound up being over-valued or under-valued. I saw good people get the shaft and leave the company, I saw unhealthy competition that took the form of people trying to make themselves look good by making others look bad. Worst of all, A-players were incented to seek out teams of B and C players, so you could never reach the critical mass of A-players necessary to do great things. (There were some exceptions, of course.) Good move, and happy to see it happen. With this system gone (and assuming the feedback I hear from friends still at the soft is positive in the next year or two on whatever replaces it) I would be far more willing to consider going back to Microsoft in the future (Im happy where I am, but you never know what the future holds.) Of course, they would have to start paying a lot better-- they are still not competitive with what I am willing to concede is a Silicon Valley pay bubble. That may make sense in the long term (its near impossible to downwardly adjust pay if as the market evolves) but in the short term its hurting their ability to attract and retain top talent. jrj.io/StackNotMS
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 17:23:17 +0000
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