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Motorola insider tells all about the fall of technology icon

engadget.com — [...]Motorola's current CEO, Greg Brown, is so technologically out of touch he refuses to use a computer for communications, and has all his email correspondences printed by his secretary and replied to by dictation.

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  • sxugomper, on 03/26/2008, -14/+9Great letter from "the father of the RAZR".
    • badqat, on 03/26/2008, -3/+13Uh, no...it's by the dude that was his personal assistant.
      • dabdinoor, on 03/26/2008, -0/+8A senior adviser does not equal a personal assistant. The introductory text is a tad misleading.
    • rspeed, on 03/26/2008, -1/+4From beyond the graaaaaaave!
  • MrViklund, on 03/26/2008, -14/+3Heh. Interesting. But that doesn't mean he is a bad CEO but it sure doesn't look good.
  • superpixel, on 03/26/2008, -3/+65so what does it take to be a bad CEO??? yeesh, Motorola, at one time, was a source of pride in the industry of communications, not to mention the US economy. once again we see rich CEO's flaunting their money instead of using their peabrains to build a successful company. the prevailing attitude is they'll just cut and run once they'd had their way with the company, who gives a damn?

    the fact that Brown doesn't even use a computer... we wonder why our economy is in the crapper?
    • thcobbs, on 03/26/2008, -8/+3How in the hell is one man indicitive of our economy? unless they happen to be the chair of the Federal Reserve.
      • prophetpimp, on 03/26/2008, -0/+10Because there are too many idiots like them running big big companies (Enron, Worldcom just to name a few).
        • fkr3, on 03/26/2008, -4/+1I don't think him refusing to use a computer is the real problem. It's defininitely strange behaviour in this day and age but it's his general failure to understand their business that is the issue, not his dictating emails.

          Also wow @ engadget..... they actually put or left relevant links to other websites all through their post. I think that's the first time I've seen them do anything for their readers.
        • MellerTime, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3I would say that in order to successfully understand the technology market and head a major corporation in that market, one should... you know... be familiar with said technology. How familiar with it can he be if he doesn't use it?
      • altinnovation, on 03/26/2008, -1/+5Enron wasn't run by an idiot, but an *****.
        • MellerTime, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Works out to be the same in this instance. Like he said, they just cut and run when times get rough. Why the times got rough is a minor detail...
    • caleb4mj, on 03/27/2008, -0/+0"the prevailing attitude is they'll just cut and run once they'd had their way with the company, who gives a damn?"

      This attitude seems to permeate throughout capitalism. What incentive do I have to invest or help this economy out in any way? Nobody seems serious about this reality. Should we give up on it and just wait to move on to the next one? Is it too broke to fix?
  • redfan, on 03/26/2008, -1/+49There are companies which are run to develop innovative products, keep their employees and customers satisfied, and make a long-term profit, and there are companies where the goal is to raise the share price and meet earnings for the current quarter.
    It's not tough to figure out which one Motorola has become.
    • Amiga500, on 03/26/2008, -2/+2Ditto for Commodore.
      • badqat, on 03/26/2008, -1/+2Uh, they died many years ago, just FYI...

        And the Amiga was a great computer...wish I still had mine.
    • LOVEANDEQUALITY, on 03/26/2008, -4/+9ditto is a pokemon!
    • jsd8cc, on 03/26/2008, -0/+2I was just about to buy a Moto Q 9h. :(
      • badqat, on 03/26/2008, -0/+4Uh, and if that's what you want, why not get it?
        • MellerTime, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Yeah, it's not like they'll ever do any kind of update to it anyway. These days you just release a whole new "model" and make another $400 / device.
    • Charlotte_Web, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3I think Motorola's downfall began in the 90's when they couldn't keep up with the aggressive development schedule that they had laid out for the PowerPC microprocessors. It got worse when Intel siphoned off most of their top engineering talent in the late 90's.

      MOT had a great business model at one time; Apple Macs would subsidize the cost of developing the processors, and as efficiencies and economies of scale brought the per unit cost down, they would repurpose those processors for the devices and cellphone markets.

      MOT's PowerPC development dragged so far behind that Apple had no choice but to switch to Intel.
    • caleb4mj, on 03/27/2008, -0/+0I'm confused. Who's to blame? Motorola or their CEO? Or nobody, business as usual?
  • acitcratnA, on 03/26/2008, -2/+38Bring back phones that are made of metal instead of plastic. I don't care if it's slightly heavier, it wouldn't kill us to gain some finger strength. I liked how my v60 could drop a few hundred times and still function as if it were brand-new, whereas phones nowadays have trouble working right out of the box.
    • eviljolly, on 03/26/2008, -0/+4I loved my V60. It took several 50+ foot drops before it stopped powering on. I like my Sony Ericsson walkman phone, but it's nowhere near as tough.
      • dougmc, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1350 foot drops? _Several_ of them? What the hell were you doing with your phone? Playing catch?
    • prophetpimp, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3Thats exactly the reason why i love my E61.
    • colin8651, on 03/26/2008, -0/+4The V60 is the best cell phone ever made in my opinion.
    • altinnovation, on 03/26/2008, -1/+2I swam in a lake with my Motorola L6. It was apparently on at the time. I then short-circuited the phone by attempting to turn it on while it was wet. Three days later it just turned on and I got an SMS :D. Still works like a charm.
    • CamperBob, on 03/26/2008, -0/+2Actually, you'd probably like the iPhone. Compared to most other phones it feels like a portable monolith, as if it were carved out of a block of granite.
    • zdwade, on 03/26/2008, -1/+3 The SLVR is the toughest phone that ever was. Had I had any other phone I would of gone through at least 5. Long live SLVR. Althought i lost it drunk skiing.
      • MellerTime, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2I can't even ski sober. I don't know how you could possibly do it drunk... Who's your trainer?
  • wayback09, on 03/26/2008, -1/+42I hope they stop putting free V3 RAZRs in my box of Cheerios and Lucky Charms.
  • bringmeupmusic, on 03/26/2008, -9/+3Well. I think more people should look into what Motorola is really doing rather than immediately discuss the "fall"
    http://scrink.com/blog/geek/2008/03/motorola-split ...
  • jh2480kim, on 03/26/2008, -6/+4Lost of words.... sad day for all of us.
  • Celeron, on 03/26/2008, -0/+38How is this guy still CEO of a technology corporation?! Boot him out.
  • dets, on 03/26/2008, -0/+21Its articles like this that make me believe the Bear Sterns bail out is a really bad idea.


    Motorola has been going downhill for years. This is just proof that it was never a market that outpaced them but rather the incompetence that was put in charge.
    • CC440, on 03/26/2008, -1/+5They are just further proof that regardless of how you actually run a business it is really only the products you make that matter. Look at Asus with the Eee, they were a no name company that built a runaway popular product, and they continue to develop on the idea. Moto built one good phone, the RAZR, and followed it up with poorly built ROKRs and KRZRs. If they had just focused on making a great product instead of making a profit by selling 4 billion ***** phones, they wouldn't really need to worry about making a profit.
      • PhantomZmoove, on 03/26/2008, -0/+8Asus a no name company?
        • MellerTime, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1In the pre-built computer market, yeah. MoBo's are another story...
      • Myonosken, on 03/27/2008, -3/+2Krzr wasn't that bad. I've got one and its perfect for general use. Gotta replace the outer glass screen with a tougher plastic one as soon as you buy it though.
        • luchid, on 03/27/2008, -1/+4Having to replace the screen of a new mobile phone is OK for you? Are you a Microsoft customer?
          • Myonosken, on 03/27/2008, -1/+1I didn't say it was OK. I said it wasn't that bad.
  • strafefire, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3Motorala should steal this from Toyota:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen
    • badqat, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3Continual improvement philosophies aren't exclusive to Toyota. We did it at the Japanese company I worked for, which did business with Honda.
    • Lewie, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1I *heart* Deming! If only American companies used even a few of his 14 points, they wouldn't be so far behind in technology. Well, that, and the fact that the US Government would rather spend money of the infrastructure of foreign companies rather than its own.
  • EdwrdDiggrhands, on 03/26/2008, -0/+9Anyone who thinks that these tech giants can't lose prominence overnight if they don't keep up just needs to look at Lucent.
  • jc7012, on 03/26/2008, -4/+4Best part was the leopard ad on the side.
  • smacksaw, on 03/26/2008, -0/+5Well, the stockholders could toss out the board and appoint people that actually know what they're doing, but if they haven't done it due to the obvious lack of products, performance and return...a clever letter from some guy's secretary isn't going to tip the scales.

    The employees don't deserve Motorola, but it seems it's shareholders certainly do.
  • cyborg, on 03/26/2008, -9/+6........is this guy a republican too? damn, I could be a better CEO than this guy.
    • Stochio, on 03/26/2008, -3/+6That Republican/Democrat crap is so Web 1.0
    • LOVEANDEQUALITY, on 03/26/2008, -9/+1HILARY CLINTON IS GOING TO WIN!!!!
  • digitallysick, on 03/26/2008, -1/+6It could be that most the motorola phones have the same OS! Its not very functional.
    • sevenalive, on 03/26/2008, -0/+5They got a new OS called MotoMAGX, its linux based. The new Z8 and Z10 have kick ass features, but i don't like sliders, rather have a candybar or a flip.
    • ThreeDee912, on 03/26/2008, -1/+4Sadly, depending on which carrier you use, you won't ever get to use the new OS, as it will be written over by the carrier's usually crappy firmware. Unless you get a phone before the carrier gets its hands on it...
    • CC440, on 03/26/2008, -0/+8The Moto OS that most people are used to is the god awful version found on the RAZRs that aren't Verizon based. I would rather shoot myself in the face that use it convoluted backasswards menus. This is the experience people got, and 5 bajillion RAZRs ans KRZRs later its the one everybody associates Moto with.
  • kurtwinter, on 03/26/2008, -0/+19This is like so many other companies. The executives' incompetence is rewarded with $30m parachutes and they give the shaft to the workers. This is one more straw on the camel's back.
  • moolaismyfriend, on 03/26/2008, -10/+6Hey he could get a job at the Bush white house. Bunch of Luddites over there.
  • TimeLincoln, on 03/26/2008, -0/+18Seeing as how the CEO isn't some old man like I pictured him to be, this guy must be a total moron.

    Picture of Greg Brown
    http://www.poandpo.com/slikezaclanke2/greg_brown_m ...
    • theAlice, on 03/26/2008, -2/+4What can you expect from a guy with a name like "Greg Brown"?
    • NonLeftistDiggr, on 03/26/2008, -0/+5You have to be a total FKing moron to not be able to use and appreciate email. It nearly automatically documents everything said, technical information can be included and used as a tracking checklist right from the memo, it is totally flexible time wise for different personel schedules, pictures can be included to make a discussion super effective...... people who can't manage email piss me off. Getting 200 a day isn't a big deal, anyone with a brain can learn to recognize what's important.

      It amazes me what we can do in this country given how many managers and decision makers can't answer email.... even the important ones like, what features do you want on the product you're buying from us, you said we need to meet - so how about Monday?, did you get the design drawings yet - please forward our shop is waiting, the PO is 5 days overdue please forwrad.

      And no, the phone isn't always a better alternative.
  • Stochio, on 03/26/2008, -2/+6Honest question here, is disenfranchised the right word in this sentence?
    "Like many (ourselves included), over the years Numair has become increasingly disenfranchised with the company's direction"

    I see people use it this way a lot but shouldn't it be disillusioned?
    • krellor, on 03/26/2008, -2/+1Both would work, but would carry slightly different meanings. Often times a person can be disillusioned about something, or feel disenfranchised based on the actions of someone or something.
      • fridgetarian, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1NO FN way! It is completely wrong. How about disillusioned or even simpler, dissatisfied?!!
    • Tenoq, on 03/26/2008, -0/+4No, disenfranchised is NOT the right word in this sentence. Disillusioned would be much more appropriate.

      Disenfranchised:
      adjective
      deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote; "labor was voiceless"; "disenfranchised masses took to the streets"
    • fridgetarian, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3You are so very correct. This word has gotten out of control lately and it drives me crazy. To see it abused and misused is so sad.
  • dizilbdog, on 03/26/2008, -6/+6there are lots of CEO's who don't believe in stuff and run a company into the ground, or for example a President who doesn't believe in much and runs a country into the ground...
  • mmx2000, on 03/26/2008, -1/+6Too many CEO's these days seem to live in a reality of their own making, while visionaries are often left unheard and discarded.
    His message that the "lower" end of the economic spectrum drives innovation is absolutely correct. The Digg community is a perfect example - economic status is irrelevant, the inherent worth of an idea is what brings it to the forefront.

    Dugg for the author having the balls to scream this out publicly.
  • sagat, on 03/26/2008, -2/+3I have one of the cheap Motofones. it's fantastic, best phone I've ever owned. No internet, no camera, it barely sends text messages but for making calls it's class. I call it my retard phone and I wouldn't be surprised if the boss at moto has one.
  • Tyr7BE, on 03/26/2008, -1/+10Motorola hasn't been worth ***** for a long time. The razr was a great phone, but everything they put out before and after have been complete *****. Unintuitive menus, hardware that barely works, and software that falls to pieces within 6 months of getting the phone. I've owned several motorolas and they've all fallen completely to pieces within half a year of activation. One wouldn't place calls, another just gave me a white screen when I opened it up. With my girlfriend's moto you had to hold the screen at a weird angle to make a proper connection so the screen lit up, and then shortly afterwards she lost half the menus on the phone (half would work just fine, but the other half just didn't appear when you hit the menu button).

    Garbage in garbage out. I for one couldn't be happier to see them leave.
    • LOVEANDEQUALITY, on 03/26/2008, -2/+1i got a samsung cell but i wish i had a iphone!
    • Tenoq, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1My experience has been the opposite - my Motorolas seem indestructible. That said, the software on my V3x is complete ass. Not quite as bad as say, an E65 (which takes 30 seconds to open the SMS Inbox), but still pretty bad. TBH, I need a new phone now, but I have NO IDEA what to buy. I want a reliable one, but there doesn't seem to be ANY manufacturers who can do that these days. It used to be: "buy a Nokia, get an old-tech but reliable phone." Now even Nokia sucks ass. SE phones are apparently the most fragile on the market... What now? :p
  • nastronomical, on 03/26/2008, -1/+14And thus we see the death of American industry, American innovation, and America's place in the world economy. American corporations are becoming so blinded by the almighty dollar that short-term gains, windfall profits, and personal stock portfolios have taken the place of any pride in quality, craftsmanship, and originality. "As long as I get mine" is the new standard of corporate success. Long-term stability, and producing quality products that actually help people do what they want to do, is literally a foreign concept to CEOs in this country.

    By: kalfeer
    • droplet, on 03/27/2008, -0/+0dugg for insight
      ++for nas ref in name
  • franklymister, on 03/26/2008, -1/+5It seems blindingly obvious that Motorola ought to install Numair Faraz as the CEO.

    Stockholders, rise up!
  • asspants, on 03/26/2008, -1/+7Greg Brown is a ***** pimp that's why he makes his secretary print out his email and dictates answers back. I know if I had fists full of dollar bills I would too.
  • s0lid, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1kaboom....
  • 6minuteabs, on 03/26/2008, -8/+4The guy writing the letter sounds like a real ***** too. He's got great points, but what manager is going to notice when he takes a cheap shot at them every other word. Learn some emotional intelligence.
  • LOVEANDEQUALITY, on 03/26/2008, -9/+1i wish i had a newer phone mines like 1 year old wen i see all my friends get 1 every 6 months!
    • SteveMax, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1If you buy a good phone, it should be good for at least two years. You either bought a ***** phone (in which case you should know you would have to replace it soon) or you only care about "looking cool" with a shiny new phone (in which case I pity you).
  • defektiv, on 03/26/2008, -2/+4i seem to remember an interview not more than a year ago where bush sr was telling the reporter that dubya doesn't use email either. seems to be a prevailing problem among failures of leaders.

    personally i think it should be a strong clue as to the level of competence in a person.. or rather a lack thereof.
  • roserg, on 03/26/2008, -4/+5Good. Go under. It was a ***** hole place to work. In 25 yrs it was by far the worst place I ever worked for. After mot I worked at Nokia in Irving, TX for a short stint. What a difference! Not only in their vision, but their willingness to take risks and by far & away how they treated their employees. Tremendous difference. Long live Nokia. Good bye mot. Flush.....
    • exMIELemployee, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Exactly. MOT seemed to think that they owned their employees. "You there, come over here and piss in this cup for me" was the limit for me.
  • vaga222, on 03/26/2008, -1/+6So he was the guy who made the RAZR? Now I know who to send all my hate mail to.

    Bloody thing is the worst phone in the world to develop for (except maybe the D500).
  • pleckos, on 03/26/2008, -1/+1Who is John Galt?
  • triskele, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3"... he refuses to use a computer for communications, and has all his email correspondences printed by his secretary and replied to by dictation." Sounds almost like something Marlon Brando would've done.
    • CrushThemTorg, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2He coulda been someone, he coulda been a contenda?
  • boot20, on 03/26/2008, -1/+14Once again the Baby Boomers screw the rest of us. Way to go Browny.
    • altinnovation, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3Finaly someone who shares my oppinion!!! :D
      But you can't blame them... They were the "me" generation.
  • dasunst3r, on 03/26/2008, -1/+11The Motorola RAZR sets the **** standard for cell phones. People around me with them complain about broken phones every month and they make this annoying and very embarrassing "bloop-bloop-bloop" sound when you're trying to shut the stupid phone up.

    So we have RAZR, KRZR, ROKR ... I think the next phone ought to be called LOZR (pronounced "loser").
    • CC440, on 03/26/2008, -1/+2I've always been suprised they didn't use LAZR instead of the bind-bendingly stupid KRZR, which I mentally pronounce kherzher. You need a damn vowel in there for it to make sense.
      • Lewie, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1I always thought the SLVR was "sliver" and not "silver". Oh well, we won't have to worry about any of this soon.
  • rkenneth, on 03/26/2008, -0/+2Not the usual corporate PR message, eh?
  • mitikomon, on 03/26/2008, -0/+3the main letter is very long, but worth reading.
  • ewhac, on 03/26/2008, -0/+14I worked at MOTO for two years. Though I wasn't in the mobile division, I got to see a bit of the sausage factory, and was there when the iPhone was announced last year.

    It was obvious to me when Apple announced the iPhone that MOTO was going to have a problem on its hands in very short order. Although the pricing made it unaffordable for Joe Sixpack, it was immediately apparent that Apple had, at a single stroke, completely redefined the cell phone experience. Every MOTO product that was more than eight months from release should have been killed immediately, and all the freed up personnel should have then stared at the iPhone demo video for two weeks straight until the UI principles became ingrained. New design ideas could have then flowed out of that. It could even have been done inexpensively.

    Had they done that last year, they would have had new prototypes to show by now, they could have started generating buzz, and could have remained relevant. Now, it will take a hugely expensive effort to keep the division -- possibly the entire company -- afloat.
    • Shocky, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Having worked building prototypes for Motorola before and after iPhone was released, there was already work on advanced UIs that are far superior to Motorola's current gen. The problem is not ideas, it's implementing them into a product. There were prototypes before iPhone. The problem is product groups wouldn't pick it up because there was too much risk. With layoffs happening everywhere, why take a high risk prototype to production when another razr was easier to build.

      Needless to say, I left.
  • analogs, on 03/26/2008, -1/+8I worked for Moto around 1998 as a temp and totally did that job! I worked for a guy who was the head of their CDMA division at the time. I didn't really know anything about the corporate structure at the time, all I knew is that that this dude had two full time assistants (and probably a lot of temps) who printed out his hundreds of emails every day so that he could scribble some notes on them. You then had to go back to his inbox, try to find the message, and reply on his behalf. Since my typing skills were the best of the bunch, it soon became my only task. If it wasn't for me wanting a job in the industry so bad, I wouldn't have lasted five minutes. I stayed there just over three months before nearly losing my mind. Since I hadn't worked there for half my life, I didn't understand any of his abbreviations or references. I would just stare at his chicken scratch and be like "What the F does this mean?!"
    Somehow I doubt that these were/are the only two people at the company like this.
  • verkon, on 03/26/2008, -0/+1As long as my IC's has had that little 'M' logo on it, I am happy.
  • cdw070, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Most of the company's portfolio of products is quite strong. Its just their Mobile devices division that has brought the rest of the company down for most of the last decade. (Yes Mobile devices has gone by several different names...but its still part of the cell phone division that once was in Harvard, IL). Separating the weakest division is a sound move financially, but its terrible in terms moral strength. Its a kick to the teeth to most of the employees of the company and to its loyal customers.

    That said, Greg Brown is about as bad a CEO as one can possibly imagine. He has a fake spray on farmer tan that makes Wayne Newton look respectable. He has the backbone similar to Milhouse of the Simpsons. In short he's let Carl Icahn be his personal Nelson. He knows nothing about leading a company, only about being pushed around by shareholders.
    Motorola missed out completely on the cell phone texting craze. This is beyond pathetic. 8 years ago I had a Motorola "two-way pager" which basically enabled people to text back in forth. I loved it. All of my Motorola co-workers also loved it. But it was kind of fat, and the version with with color wasn't marketed correctly. 2 years ago they hit a home run with the Razer. All they had to do was incorporate a slide out keyboard into the thing and they could have retained market share. But they missed the boat.

    Motorola had a respectable CEO for a short while in Edward Breen, but he went to Tyco. I'd even argue that Chris Galvin was a better executive. This is a very sad day for the company. We can only hope that Greg Brown receives a golden parachute soon so there is a possibility of a real leader to take over.
  • poundingruvz, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1after StarTac, where else is there to go, but down?
  • warnergt, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2While it sold a lot, the RAZR was not a success. The margins were too low; it just didn't make any money for MOT. It actually displaced sales of the money making phones. Arguably, it was a marketing failure.
    Even technically, it is not great. The user interface is better than previous phones but still deficient. The displays can't compete with Samsung.
    So, when someone from the RAZR team tries to tell you why MOT failed, take it with a grain of salt.
  • daborg, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1"and has all his email correspondences printed by his secretary and replied to by dictation."

    You mean there's another way to read e-mail?
  • nitrojunky24, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1now I know why Motorola phones have some of the most retarded menu systems ever. except for for the menus I rather like my motoV195 good battery life and reception. it basic but its all I need.
  • pmccall, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Bob Galvin knew how to encourage innovation and made Motorola great.

    Chris Galvin wasn't his father, but he'd learned enough to focus on the long-term and real innovation. That wasn't good enough for the market, though. Mobile Devices was doing well, but his insistence on putting resources in all of the company and not just the cell phones kept Motorola from growing as fast as tech stocks in the soon-to-burst tech bubble. So, they undervalued the company and forced him out.

    He was replaced with Zander - an empty suit who cut costs and killed innovation, but was lucky enough to be there when the RAZR came out. Now that the RAZR is old news and Zander has nothing in queue to replace it, the market is forcing him out.

    They pulled Brown up from one of the Motorola divisions that was succeeding while Mobile Devices was failing - one that actually kept innovating and owning it's market while Zander rode RAZR's coattails and left Motorola with noting in queue to maintain that dominance.

    And here comes the market again putting the pressure on Motorola to dump him. Well, the last time the market forced out a Motorola insider so they could replace him with a superstar CEO it went great! Why wouldn't you want to do that again?
  • exMIELemployee, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1I used to work for Motorola in their India facility. They don't make much noise about it any more, but this used to be the place which they bragged about as the worlds first CMM Level 5 lab outside of research.

    Anyway, the place was amazing. Amazing in their stupidity. Examples of stuff I saw them do *everyway freaking day* ...

    1. They'd search your bags, coming and and out. Every time you went in and out.
    2. You had to sign out company property. And sign it back in. In a dog-eared book. Most of the entries would be signed Mickey Mouse, but the dumbass guard at the front desk never checked.
    3. For library books, it was even better. You signed out it electronically at the library, then in a book at the library, and then at the front desk.
    4. They had badges for stuff like cellphones and laptops which you wore along with your id card. So if you had a personal cell phone, you needed to wear a badge for it.
    5. They had teams of employees going around spying on each other and reporting back stuff like: "he doesnt have a screensaver." "She doesn't shred her documents after she's done with them." Never mind that the stupid "document" in question was a BLANK piece of paper which one engineer tossed into the trash.
    6. They were always but ALWAYS on schedule. Because they would version the project plan every week and move milestones out whenever there was a slip. One of their "best" project managers (whose still there BTW), would update his MS Project plan EVERY DAY, and the tasks were scheduled down to an hour per person. No wonder that project failed miserably. One of the weekly tasks was a 4 hour project planning meeting every friday with EVERY member of the team in the room where they went around to boo and clap people who had either missed or completely their tasks for the week. The team was 40 odd people, and this moron couldn't understand why we thought it was a complete waste of our time. Oh, and you had to mail in status reports AND timesheets in addition to this meeting.
    7. It never mattered that stuff was broken and didn't work if you could prove that all the requirements were met.
    8. And their idiotic 10x cycle reduction plan.
    9. And IDE ... "individual dignity enhancement"
    10. Spend hours/days making slides for the project mission statement, and it should fit in one line. Doesn't fit? Change the font to 5 pts and make it fit.

    I got out of there as fast as I could. Never doubted that they would fail. Surprised it took them so long.

  • UbuntuX, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1The dude that wrote the INSIDER letter is a self serving egotistical prick attracted to a GREAT brand for self serving purposes. Its funny how many people these days claim that they foresaw the rise of the web (NOT ONE FUTUROLOGISTS DID, ONLY SCIFI WRITERS DID) Seems like this immigrant American was single handedly responsible for Motorola's success, next he is probably gonna claim that he split the dead sea
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