Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets and Manages People [Paperback]

Michael A. Cusumano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1998

Today, Microsoft commands the high ground of the information superhighway by owning the operating systems and basic applications programs that run on the world's 170 million computers. Beyond the unquestioned genius and vision of Bill Gates, what accounts for Microsofts astounding success?

Drawing on almost two years of on-site observation at Microsoft headquarters, eminent scientists Michael A. Cusumano and Richard W. Selby reveal many of Microsoft's innermost secrets. This inside report, based on forty in-depth interviews by authors who had access to confidential documents and project data, outlines the seven complementary strategies that characterize exactly how Microsoft competes and operates, including the "Brain Trust" of talented employees and exceptional management; "bang for the buck" competitive strategies and clear organizational goals that produce self-critiquing, learning, and improving; a flexible, incremental approach to product development; and a relentless pursuit of future markets.

Cusumano and Selby's masterful analysis successfully uncovers the distinctive way in which Microsoft has combined all of the elements necessary to get to the top of an enormously important industry -- and stay there.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a "facts ma'am, nothing but the facts" examination of how Microsoft works, both internally, and in the marketplace. Unlike the raft of gossipy Bill-bios or sardonic and shrill pro- or anti-screeds, this book is focused clearly (if sometimes ploddingly) on one central question: the relationship between business strategies and software development. And, as Microsoft becomes increasingly focused on the Internet, it is essential reading not just for software companies, but for all Internet companies as well. Highly Recommended. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The authors of this surprisingly candid report interviewed 38 Microsoft employees, including chairman and CEO Bill Gates, other top executives, middle managers and software developers, and they were also given access to internal documents and project data. They provide a detailed look at how the software giant develops new products, competes and strives to improve its operations. Seven key strategies central to Microsoft's approach are identified, among them: continually improve products incrementally, with direct input from customers during the development process; organize small teams of overlapping specialists who formally share tasks; aggressively target emerging mass markets. Microsoft has retained much of its loosely structured, small-team culture, and this study helps to explain how the company is able to do so while designing and manufacturing tremendously complicated products. Although some chapters are targeted to people familiar with personal computer software, this pragmatic handbook provides instructive lessons for firms and managers in many industries. Cusumano teaches management of technology at MIT; Selby teaches information and computer science at UC-Irvine. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (December 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684855313
• ISBN-13: 978-0684855318
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in MIT's Engineering Systems Division. His research focuses on technology management and strategy, especially in the software business. He received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in production and operations management at the Harvard Business School. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and a Japan Foundation Fellow at the University of Tokyo. In 2009, he delivered the 13th annual Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies at Oxford University and was named one of the most influential people in technology and IT by Silicon.com. Professor Cusumano is a director of a leading Indian IT services company, Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI, www.patni.com), and of an interactive voice communications provider, Eliza Corporation (www.elizacorporation.com). He is also an advisor to FixStars Corp. (www.fixstars.com), which builds high-performance computing applications for clusters of Sony Playstation consoles and other multi-core processor blade servers; and Buzzient (www.buzzient.com), a social media analytics and integration firm. He is the author or co-author of 8 books, including The Business of Software (2004), Platform Leadership (2002), Competing on Internet Time (1998), and Microsoft Secrets (1995).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well researched, but nothing exciting, February 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: MICROSOFT SECRETS: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are reasons because MS is a 4 billion dollar company, August 22, 1997

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: MICROSOFT SECRETS: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People (Hardcover)

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

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Good But Not The Bad Nor The Ugly, December 24, 2002

By 

K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MICROSOFT SECRETS: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People (Hardcover)

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.