Microsoft Secrets
How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People
by Michael A. Cusumano, Richard W. Selby · first published 1995
67% recommend17% neutral17% critical
"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 Microsoft's astounding success?" "For the first time, drawing on almost two years of onsite observation at Microsoft headquarters, eminent scientists Michael A. Cusumano and Richard W. Selby reveal many of Microsoft's innermost secrets. From this inside report based on forty in-depth interviews by authors who had access to confidential d
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'Microsoft Secrets', Cusumano, Selby. A fairly detailed examination of how Microsoft ran in the mid-90's.
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗…to implement it. So anything the programmer wants to ditch, goes. Read more at JOS, 'Painless Functional Specifications - Part 3: But... How?' ~ http://tinyurl.com/3asbrp & in this excellent book, 'MICROSOFT SECRETS' (978-0028740485) ~ http://tinyurl.com/2ke4hf
on “Less programming, more skill?” ↗Selling Microsoft: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Microsoft-Secrets-Successful-... Quoting an Amazon reviewer: > As opposed to most "hot new" sales approaches which focus on changing your personal style, this book does a great job of providing a strategic step-by-step…
on “Ask HN: What are some good books/resources about sales?” ↗Believe it or not, for "selling software": Selling Microsoft - https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Microsoft-Secrets-Successful-... The fundamentals of software sales haven't changed much since this. While B2C SaaS is different, the B2B platform world is still much as described in this book, and more importantly,…
on “Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?” ↗…Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle - https://www.amazon.com/Softwar-Intimate-Portrait-Ellison-Ora... Winners, Losers & Microsoft - https://www.amazon.com/Winners-Losers-Microsoft-Competition-... Microsoft Secrets - https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Secrets-audiobook/dp/B019G2... The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of Cyberculture - https://www.amazon.com/The-Friendly-Orange-Glow-audiobook/dp...…
on “Ask HN: Material on early computing history and innovation?” ↗"... What do you think? Would “developer-driven culture” work at your company? ..." Hasn't everyone read, "Microsoft Secrets" ~ http://www.amazon.com/MICROSOFT-SECRETS-Powerful-Software-Te... ...because what the author describes is pretty much the MS dev process (cf CH4 Defining products and development processes). Reading…
on “How Facebook Ships Code” ↗…Vise), "When the Astors Owned New York" (Justin Kaplan), "Art of the Start" and "Rules for Revolutionaries" (Guy Kawasaki), "Purple Cow" and "Big Red Fez" and "All Marketers are Liars" (Seth Godin), "Microsoft Secrets" (Michael Cusumano), "Damn Right: Behind the scenes with Charlie Munger" (Janet Lowe), "Crossing the Chasm" (Geoffrey Moore), "A Good Hard Kick in the Pants" (Rob Adams), "Innovation and Entrepreneurship"…
on “What startup/VC/tech/internet blogs do you read ?” ↗I've been reading a book called Microsoft Secrets. It is a very dull book so you'll appreciate the summary. Microsoft works on an industrial division-of-labour principle. It also works on the assumption that bugs ("defects") are enevitable. Indeed,…
on “Q: How is software created at Microsoft? A: Very slowly (from the horse's mouth)” ↗