Today's MS layoffs and thoughts...
To start on a lighter note. I really do need to laugh at all of those that thought the Nokia X lineup signified that Microsoft was thinking of switching to Android. As I said, it would have been in Microsoft's worst interest to kill off a lineup that was already fully baked. So the fact that new Nokia X devices were released after the acquisition was simply a timing thing. Today's email effectively kicks earlier such speculation in the face. As opposed to wider adoption of Android on Microsoft phones, going forward it was stated that certain Nokia X phones would become Windows Phones.
But hey, the state of journalism is pretty damn bad these days and this is what happens when idiots read too far into things without any deeper thought on the matter.
Maybe not the best time to make light of things. Obviously, the email I'm talking about is rife with bad news as well. Especially for those who came with the Nokia merger. Microsoft wants to reduce their staff by 18k people and they want at least 12.5k of those layoffs to come from Nokia. In other words, over 2/3 of the layoffs will come from Nokia's ranks. I'm not intimately familiar with the internal workings of the divisions that Microsoft bought off Nokia, but it is hard to believe that this won't be negatively impactful on both morale and productivity in general. So, it seems that intimations that Microsoft may have over valued and been unable to justify the cost of acquiring Nokia's HW division may have been accurate.
At the same time... Microsoft isn't abandoning Nokia. And while the urge to reduce the layers of management may be sincere it is hard to believe that almost 6k managers will be removed. So, if the Nokia merger is to blame for the layoffs, Microsoft is also sacrificing from their pre-acquisition ranks to make this move possible. Little consolation, I'm sure. But worth noting.
I am interested to see what comes of these changes. I hope something. Even if you just choose not to include the fact that a large mass of people are losing their jobs, the organizational changes sound like they may actually be meaningful. And, no one wants to think that many people were laid off for nothing.
The question remains however. Will the supposed streamlining result in more productivity gained than the efforts by those being terminated? Only time will tell.
But hey, the state of journalism is pretty damn bad these days and this is what happens when idiots read too far into things without any deeper thought on the matter.
Maybe not the best time to make light of things. Obviously, the email I'm talking about is rife with bad news as well. Especially for those who came with the Nokia merger. Microsoft wants to reduce their staff by 18k people and they want at least 12.5k of those layoffs to come from Nokia. In other words, over 2/3 of the layoffs will come from Nokia's ranks. I'm not intimately familiar with the internal workings of the divisions that Microsoft bought off Nokia, but it is hard to believe that this won't be negatively impactful on both morale and productivity in general. So, it seems that intimations that Microsoft may have over valued and been unable to justify the cost of acquiring Nokia's HW division may have been accurate.
At the same time... Microsoft isn't abandoning Nokia. And while the urge to reduce the layers of management may be sincere it is hard to believe that almost 6k managers will be removed. So, if the Nokia merger is to blame for the layoffs, Microsoft is also sacrificing from their pre-acquisition ranks to make this move possible. Little consolation, I'm sure. But worth noting.
I am interested to see what comes of these changes. I hope something. Even if you just choose not to include the fact that a large mass of people are losing their jobs, the organizational changes sound like they may actually be meaningful. And, no one wants to think that many people were laid off for nothing.
The question remains however. Will the supposed streamlining result in more productivity gained than the efforts by those being terminated? Only time will tell.
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