Niall Kennedy is leaving Microsoft. That is a big blow for Microsoft. Niall was a high profile recruit and had joined just a few months back. I had briefly met Niall at Gnomedex. Niall's reason for leaving is very typical of why many smart people are leaving big companies (emphasis mine below):
I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish as a team of one attached to the Windows Live Alerts group. If we had the resources I truly believe we could have tackled the number of users Hotmail, Messenger, Spaces, or even Internet Explorer might supply, and then ask for more by opening up the platform to the world. I was able to borrow resources here and there, but there was no team being built around the platform in the foreseeable future. I could have stayed at Microsoft, waited for the other 85% of the company to ship their products, and then hope support for my group might be back on track again, but I didn't want to sit around doing little to nothing until Vista, Office, and Exchange ship. It's easier to get funding outside Microsoft than inside at the moment, so I am stepping out and doing my own thing.The first point above might come as a surprise to many. How can there be lack of resources in a big company like Microsoft which is flush with cash? While that might come across as an anamoly, resourcing is very convoluted process in big companies. The ability to add headcount rests quite high up the hierarchy. Several layers of management needs to be provided justification for why more heads are needed. Besides, several groups within an organization are competing for additional headcount. So naturally, inspite of best intentions, adding headcount becomes a slow and frustrating process. Unfortunately, in today's "web 2.0" world (loosely the domain in which Niall works), time is money. Startups deliver entire products in the same time a product manager in a big company could barely get her headcount sanctioned.
The second point that I have hightlighted above is perhaps specific to Microsoft. Microsoft is such a huge company that in effect it is really like 50 different companies trying to work together. This creates huge interdependencies between product teams. I personally experienced it first hand while I was there when what I was developing depended on Windows messenger, Avalon, WinFS, MSN, XBOX live to count a few! As a developer, having so many external dependencies is frustrating. It means, having to wait on 7 different teams to deliver before you can deliver your product. It means having to spend too much time in meetings and too little time developing. It means seeing your competitors deliver several versions of their product while you are still held up on your first release.
The final point that Niall makes about doing his own thing is a common reason why many people have left big companies of late. The next generation web is being defined by startups. All the recent innovation in recent times (Flickr, del.icio.us, MySpace, Netvibes etc) has happened in small companies. Companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have been playing catchup by either buying out these companies or trying to imitate what was pioneered elsewhere. For many smart people in big companies, this is a despairing situation to be in. It is like standing behind a glass pane and helplessly see the ship sail by. What they can build in a matter of months outside will take years to build inside a big company. Moreover, with so much VC money available today, startups are well funded and can manage to attract smart people.
These are interesting times in the tech. industry. The innovation is happening in nooks and corners. The talent is gravitating away from the big companies. The small companies are cash strapped but talent rich and nimble. The big companies are quite the opposite. It remains to be seen who will prevail! You know on whom I am betting on :-)
"It is like standing behind a glass pane and helplessly see the ship sail by." Nice !!
For the great work you guys are doing, I'd bet my money on startups too :)
http://www.niallkennedy.com/about/resume.html ... he doesnt stick around long ne where ...
LOL... look at what Sramana Mitra writes about him. Ironically I read that post just before yours
http://sramanamitra.com/blog/339
he he ... nice entry.
you missed one point. Issue with his team can be very specific and might be of a strategic importance to the company.
You made it sound like the issue face by Niall is generic and each team or "ALL" big companies are facing this.
I assume that you are not trying to convey a message that all big companies will bow to startups. They can but only when it comes to Rapid development not when it comes to build a pipeline.
startups are just for rapid development which grab instantaneous attention but fail to live up to that coz they cant go beyond the intial stages. they lack the ability to link their services with the rest of the existing system.
Why do you think Okrut.com is still not linked to your gmail account and google groups? Or flickr is still not convoluted with yahoo like yahoo photos does.
They just share the user base but linking them as a platform and providing a unified pipeline is not their cup of tea ;)
In case of specifically Microsoft i guess you exp the dev side and hasnt looked as a PM once ;)
If the unified communications is taken out or all the dependencies are taken out then it wont be M$ it will be collection of small startup which will fail to grow.
Nice title but failed to live up to the content. BTW, i am still working for a big company. Or lets the for the Biggest :D
We could have met if u wudnt have left
Sach1tb - Thanks! :)
Ankur/Sandeep - I didnt check Niall's work hisotry before posting this. He definitely has changed lot of jobs in very little time. But the points he raised are very much valid for big companies.
Sanyam - I am not implying that big companies will always bow to startups. Talking only of the specific web domain, innovation is definitely happening in startups. The reason, like you mentioned, is that web applications suit well to the rapid development methodology. On the other hand, doing rapid development is hard at big companies. The issues that I have mentioned are general to most big companies. Getting additional headcount is definitely hard. The inter-dependencies between groups is perhaps more specific to Microsoft.
And hey, yes I did leave, but I am sure we can still meet ;-)
he he :)
Ppl on your blog seem to be t00 biased with Startups in web domain. I just see them as an attempt to quick money/fame/promotion if successful.
Very few succeed but its nice to give try these days ;)
(Read a blog post smtime back on How a startup in web2.0 can be the easiest way to get a job@Google)
yes, a lot of dependency. But that makes them unique.
Gimme another option of a so well stiched version of
"Spaces + favourites + Messenger + Mail(both web and desktop) + Ads + Photo Hosting + Personalized Page (live.com) + Gadgets + Xbox Live"
???
many startups became successful and got bought too by big giants. but today how well are they doing as a part of a pipeline?
Flickr, delicious, writely, .... Do you see any diff. in them today and before getting acquired?
btw, ur archives suggest me tht you too going the Startup way ;) wish u luck, in case.
nowadays this pattern seems to be quite common and atleast macthes to most of the profiles who keep attending all sorts of camps (Barcamp, MoMo kinda stuff)
Job -> Quit -> full time Blogger -> Startup
-> Your Destiny ;)
keep writing ;)
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