The 12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management: How to Think and Act Like a Microsoft Manager and Take Your Company to the Top
David Thielen,Shirley Thielen | 1999-01-26 00:00:00 | Mcgraw-Hill | 181 | Management
Concise and to-the-point, David Thielen's insider's report on how Microsoft achieved the impossible - retaining the responsiveness of a small company as it became one of the largest corporations in the world - is a primer on what any company must do to reach the top. Painting a compelling portrait of Microsoft's culture, this ready-to-use book encompasses the core principles that propel every Microsoft employee to excel and direct every manager's thought process. Turn to any page and you will find valuable practices and insights that can be applied to your own company.
Imagine how following these Microsoft standards could instantly increase your firm's productivity:
Immediately after each project is completed, a ruthless "post-mortem" process ignores the project's successes to dissect its failures...and how they can be avoided in the future; Instead of wallowing in profit-induced security, Microsoft immediately begins to develop replacements for its cash-cow products - knowing that if they don't, the competition will; Smaller is not just better, it is essential, but work groups, while functionally independent, still pursue a common strategic plan; Could your company survive outside the 9-to-5 ritual? Find examples of how Microsoft's focus on task completion instead of time clocks leads to unmatched employee morale and superior effort.
Can you honestly expect to build a company the size and strength of Microsoft? Possibly not...BUT by adapting Bill Gates's aggressive, common-sense strategies for use in your own company, you CAN position yourself for outstanding growth and success in today's intensely competitive, Microsoft-influenced marketplace.
You may admire him for his chutzpah or detest him for his audacity, but you can't deny that Bill Gates has developed a company capable of dominating any market it resolves to enter. This is not an accident, contends David Thielen--a 20-year veteran of the technology industry who once toiled at Microsoft as a senior software developer on Windows 95 and other projects--and in fact stems directly from the chairman's own unique attitudes on corporate administration.
The 12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft Management, subtitled How to Think and Act Like a Microsoft Manager and Take Your Company to the Top, is Thielen's inside look at the way Gates and his lieutenants have successfully harnessed those particular practices that initially put the firm on the map and subsequently used them to build their business into one of the world's largest. "Microsoft's management style is its core strength," writes Thielen. "There are other companies that produce better software, market better, and make fewer mistakes, but no other large company manages its business as well." In chapters with titles like "The Top 5 Percent," "Require Failure," and "Shrimp vs. Weenies," he dissects Redmond's specific methodologies on hiring, quality control, budgeting, performance expectations, and more. --Howard Rothman
Reviews
I purchased this book to get a better insight into the management methods within MS, and walked away with that and more.
I think the positioning for this book is off the mark - yes, it provides a quick list of the 12 principles that together make Microsoft unique, and yes, I agree that more companies need to apply these principles if they want to continue to grow and to succeed in the future. But the folks who need this book the most are those who are interested in working for Microsoft itself. Not the major niche the publisher is shooting for, of course, but I'm telling you - this book is a stellar resource for how people work and thrive in the MS culture. From my interaction with former and current employees, this book is dead-on.
I'm telling you -- read this book and you'll be better prepared for one of Microsoft's famous all-day interview loops.
Reviews
This book has a number of great principles, suggestions for implementation, and ample proof of their usefulness. Even adopting just a few of these ideas can make anyone a better manager. If this is not how you're company's being run, maybe your boss could use a copy. This book goes well with "The End of Office Politics as Usual" by L. B. M. Serven.
Reviews
The most important things to remember about Microsoft is this: Its success comes from ONE decision, made by IBM twenty years ago. The selection of MS-DOS as the IBM PC's operating system gave Microsoft a large, dependable cash flow that continues right up to this day. Microsoft's success depends solely on this cash flow; Office finally became profitable, but only after about ten years of losing money. Microsoft has taken a near-infinite fortune and turned it into a merely immense one.
Reviews
12 Simple Secrets is an insightful look at how things get done in Bill Gates' company. David Thielen provides a wealth of info and anecdotes from his experience working with Microsoft presented with a light, often humorous, flair.
The book covers several topics including how to hire the best employees, how to decide who to promote, how to operate a megacorporation with a startup's capital, etc. The concepts are simple and straightforward and can be applied to any business.
This is book is great for managers, and is an even more powerful tool for entrepreneurs who have full control over decision-making within their company. If you own or want to start your own business, this is one of the books you should definitely read.
12 Simple Secrets of Microsoft is one of my favorite office desk references, and highly recommed it for managers and entrepreneurs who are motivated to bring out the best in themselves and in their people.
Reviews
This book treats the eminently fertile soil of Microsoft's management style, and its obvious success. From hiring to project management and from office design to esprit d' corps, Microsoft is distinguishes itself by pushing its employees to their creative limits in achieving total domination of their chosen markets. This is accomplished through a zero-crap management style, individual authority and a stringent requirement to back up proposed courses of action with facts. While readable and terse, the text does tend to confuse the distinctive Microsoft traits and those of technology companies in general. Still, the book accomplishes the objective of communicating the formula for how Microsoft went about building its empire.
Download this book!
Free Ebooks Download
0 comments:
Posting Komentar