Comments on: The Jelly Manifesto http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/ A daily round table on the tech industry with experts and callers from all over the globe. Join us as we pick apart the news and get to the meat of what\'s happening out there. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:08:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Paul Jardine http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-71055 Paul Jardine Wed, 29 Nov 2006 07:29:55 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-71055 I read Brandon's memo and it looks quite similar to a number of exit interviews I've given in my career. The problem is that, as companies grow, more process gets introduced and more people start to become important through the control of that process. Google seems to be different, if you read some of the Steve Yegge stuff (http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile_27.html), in that they seem to embrace chaos to a larger extent. As someone who now owns their own company, it definitely would take a lot of balls to let people you barely know go and spend the company's money on some 'innovation'. I tend to have a 'Rule of Five'. No team has more than 5 people, no project has more than 5 teams, etc. It basically means that the company should never be more than 125 people. If my company ever reaches that level I'll probably hire an HR Manager....and that will be the beginning of the end! ;) I read Brandon’s memo and it looks quite similar to a number of exit interviews I’ve given in my career.
The problem is that, as companies grow, more process gets introduced and more people start to become important through the control of that process.
Google seems to be different, if you read some of the Steve Yegge stuff (http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile_27.html), in that they seem to embrace chaos to a larger extent.
As someone who now owns their own company, it definitely would take a lot of balls to let people you barely know go and spend the company’s money on some ‘innovation’.
I tend to have a ‘Rule of Five’. No team has more than 5 people, no project has more than 5 teams, etc. It basically means that the company should never be more than 125 people. If my company ever reaches that level I’ll probably hire an HR Manager….and that will be the beginning of the end! ;)

]]> By: Brandon Watson http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-70796 Brandon Watson Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:27:55 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-70796 It's funny how these things come back to haunt you. Consumers tend to be a bit slow moving, and Christensen has been quoted (ad nauseum if you ask me) about how hard it is to change things in large orgs. However, if we relied on the consumers to make all product decisions, we would still be living in the dark ages. There's a reason innovators are called innovators and consumers are called consumers, and not the other way around. It’s funny how these things come back to haunt you.

Consumers tend to be a bit slow moving, and Christensen has been quoted (ad nauseum if you ask me) about how hard it is to change things in large orgs. However, if we relied on the consumers to make all product decisions, we would still be living in the dark ages. There’s a reason innovators are called innovators and consumers are called consumers, and not the other way around.

]]> By: Peter Childs http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-70755 Peter Childs Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:01:36 +0000 http://saunderslog.com/2006/11/28/the-jelly-manifesto/#comment-70755 If customers demanded innovation, companies would work hard to develop cultures to reward innovative people. Most industries don’t need to. We in tech (especially smaller companies) sometime forget how slow-moving most of society is. And we overlook the downside of innovation – how it often requires changing habits and that one change often sets off a chain of unintended changes. The other factor at work – as anyone who has read Christensen knows – is that innovation often requires companies to abandon known business models often for ones that have lower initial profit and a smaller customer base. The larger the company the harder it is to give up on that known revenue. My sense is that Microsoft understand this and what it’s customers value (consistency and application inter-operability} and focuses on delivering this. It likely uses the marketplace to determine when an innovation is mainstream enough to implement. May make life boring for innovators but seems to work well for MS. That said many, many companies – especially in the mid-size arena, could substantially increase their growth and markets by encouraging innovation within their organizations. If customers demanded innovation, companies would work hard to develop cultures to reward innovative people. Most industries don’t need to.

We in tech (especially smaller companies) sometime forget how slow-moving most of society is. And we overlook the downside of innovation – how it often requires changing habits and that one change often sets off a chain of unintended changes.

The other factor at work – as anyone who has read Christensen knows – is that innovation often requires companies to abandon known business models often for ones that have lower initial profit and a smaller customer base. The larger the company the harder it is to give up on that known revenue.

My sense is that Microsoft understand this and what it’s customers value (consistency and application inter-operability} and focuses on delivering this. It likely uses the marketplace to determine when an innovation is mainstream enough to implement. May make life boring for innovators but seems to work well for MS.

That said many, many companies – especially in the mid-size arena, could substantially increase their growth and markets by encouraging innovation within their organizations.

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