Customer Reviews

MICROSOFT SECRETS: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
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The authors definitely did a fine work by doing excellent research about Microsoft's product development and marketing. This book would prove to be very helpful to those who are coming from a non-technical perspective. It occasionally offers some valuable insights into Microsoft's strategies but it is quite dry for the most part even for a person who has plenty experiences in software development. The Microsoft 'secrets' are not exactly impressive. It would be impossible to know the true secret in a book, otherwise every software company would become a Microsoft (then again, not every company wants to). The book is a bit dated, but nevertheless offers the curious reader some insights into the development and marketing of Microsoft's past successful (and unsuccessful) moves. This book made Microsoft seems to be more fallible than its invincible image of every day praise.

You have to admit: you can adore them or you can hate them, but if your work is related to the IT you should care about Microsofties. They shape our lives each day, with their software, their operating systems and their languages and so you should know about them. And, between the books I've read about this subject this is absolutely the best. Well written, informative and not too caring about pleasing Microsoft (as other books, from people working for MS, could be). Beside the inside stuff (really useful, for example, if you plan to do a job interview with Microsoft) a lot of the technologies explained in the book for dealing with people, sofware development and organization could be adopted to your way of work, also if you're not Bill (but maybe you're planning to become one!). Highly recommended

The Good

Where do most of the worst business people come from? M.B.A. schools usually. Students with strong academic skills with the honored M.B.A. can do the accounting, statistical work, and market research analysis. But does that mean they have a "business mind," or good "business sense?" Absolutely not. (That's why a new test is being devised to determine the "common sense" abilities of MBAs). Gates is a perfect example of the many successful business people who didn't spend time in front of Ph.ds in ivory towers regurgitating "business theories and paradigms."

A look into the technological and mainly business side of Microsoft, the author breaks down the organization into the "how's, why's, and what's" of MSFT.

It's common knowledge that Gates is a genius in the technical realm, and MSFT is a behemoth organization that has the majority of market share. But how did Microsoft grow to where it is and thrive in this ever-changing and competitive industry? This book explains the business (more than technical) philosophy, model, and actual examples from products and projects. Interviews with former and current managers and employees are also included.

Again, it's common knowledge that Gates is exceptional at business. Ask their competitors. Note that Steve Jobs had a better product that was on the market earlier but he lacked the business, marketing, and management acumen. Gates not only seeks out brilliant techno minds but considers their business sense equally important, and this is heavily weighed when he decides to hire prospective candidates. Those hired are also individualists who will challenge him and other superiors, and argue and debate with him, in the search for the best idea or model. An employee gets Gate's respect, the author writes, "when his employees yell back." If Bill is converted by their arguments as opposed to his, he likewise changes course, taking the best route.

One of the most dangerous and damaging things to a company, and any organization, are "yes men." A company culture that rewards the "yes man/woman" mentality leads people to misrepresent themselves and their work, and the managers and ownership eventually become "out of the loop." This leads to uninformed decisions, cover-ups, resentment, and alienation that benefit no one.

This is written for the laymen, but can be a bit dry. Things such as shipping strategies, keeping teams small on projects, constant self analysis and critiques, and the reliance on customer feedback, are some of the many interlinking factors of the organization. The company likes people and departments that are interdependent upon one another to be physically close to one another. I.e., in the same building or on the same property, so if there is a problem or a need for clarification, they can see each other face to face to discuss it, instead of swapping emails, voicemails, and engaging in converence calls from across the country. Again, it's common knowledge that a major tenet of MSFT is to find out where the industry is going in the future, become the leader, and provide products with such strong quality that they become the "industry standard." The author even provides some organization charts to pin-up on your wall.

Not The Bad And The Ugly

The point of this book was to focus on the positives. The strategies and models that make the company pre-eminant. What is not in the book is: the common claim that the company is a monopoly, engages in unfair business practices, and limits the choice of consumers by ramming its product down their throats. There have been numerous charges and lawsuits that MSFT treats employees poorly. This company hires a lot of temps, work them overtime, plays with them, and then discards them. For the positives, read this book. For information on the not-so-great things about this organization, there are plenty of other books to read.

Microsoft Secrets takes an in-depth look into the company's management model, it's hierarchical structure, organizational culture and policies for development, HR, and more. May be Microsoft's management model cannot be used in most of industries , but this doesn't make this book less useful, since this book is full of interesting insights about the software company, which remains agile despite its size.

Fascinating detailed account of how the most significant firm in the industry makes product and marketing decisions. Cusumano and Selby were given unprecedented access to Microsoft staff at all levels of the firm.

This text is most interesting to high-tech weenies who want to understand how Microsoft organizes its product development and market introduction. Like IBM, Microsoft feels that a market leader is obligated to create its own language. If you want to know the difference between a MSFT Program Manager and a MSFT Product Manager, get this book.

One must wonder if Bill Gates is an ardent fan of Michael Porter as allowing "Microsoft Secrets" to be written looks a lot like one of several communication strategies described in Porter's 1980 vintage "Competitive Strategy". "Microsoft Secrets" effectively communicates the development tools that they use to match the moves of their competitors quickly. These tools are powerful strategic competencies. Every ally or foe of the Microsoft machine needs to understand them. The reading is slow and the structure is a bit repetitive. Not a novel, not another, "Gee whiz look what Bill did", book. However it is well organized and will serve as an excellent reference work for a long time to come. I see it as a must for any serious player in the computing industry.

Let me start by saying that the only thing I regret about this book is that it's more than ten years old. Michael Cusumano and Richard Selby did a very professional and objective deep study about Microsoft in various dimensions: history, culture, organization, management, process, people. Of particular interest is the daily build process, the testing organization and process and the project structure. If you are a Software Engineer like myself, you are just going to love this book!

Most Microsoft books fall into the "kiss and tell" genre with the authors attempting to inject life into an otherwise stale recounting of the history of Microsoft by exploring topics like what Bill Gates eats for breakfast. This book is refreshing in that it is written in a factual style and offers analysis of the best practices within Microsoft that have contributed to its success. It is particuarly strong with respect to all aspects of R&D; weaker when exploring marketing and sales.

It isn't hard to believe that Cusumano has a History degree and has written books in the style of a historian. In this book (which predates the Internet explosion), he attempts to describe almost everything about microsoft...from product development to organizational structure. Detailed interviews and memos add spice to the story.

This book as the title indicates is suppose to show some of the "secrets" that lead to Microsoft's success in dominating the computer world. The writing was very long, boring, and at times tedious with no passion or emotion. It reads like a textbook analysis on how the programmers and developers put together Windows and Office from determining features to debugging and testing. The author doesn't cover business tactics and market strategies even when addressing the company's future. The first couple chapters seems lifted straight from the company 10Q reports. Covering the company's organizations and job titles and their responsibilities and background requirements. This book is well researched but not well written. In many cases, reading the book had a deja vu feel to it because the information was restated many times through out the chapters. At the time of the writing, Win95 and BOB were coming out and they were starting work on Win98 and WinME. There are many things that were incomplete. There was little info regarding Steve Balmer who would later take over Microsoft after Gate leaves. The errors and mistakes in the post mortem should have improved the quality of the software Microsoft makes but with little documentation and high turn over rate; the company is doom to making the same mistakes over and over again. No documentation of the features and how the software works is a real problem for them. WinME and now Vista shows that the problems they had in 1995 is still rampant today. No mention of MSNBC that was starting up at that time. I now at least have an idea of what they were thinking. I recommend only the last few chapters after three. The book only mention some the MS bad behavior. No documentation; weak debugging and testing practices; weak customer service. Granted, they are a company and can't give away industrial secrets but what I came a way with is something of an overwritten prospective for a stock that shows nothing special about working for Microsoft.