Hello mar8tin,
I wanted to jump in and say a couple of things ...
First, I want to apologize to those people who were upset about my post the other day about departures of employees ... I received numerous PMs and e-mails from a lot of people ... both positive and negative.
It seems that the people who are leaving Novell, or have left Novell, sent me positive messages, and indicated that they still feel that much of the incredible engineering, and many of the ideas, inside of Novell are still being stifled. But they also commented that even in this situation, there are still many employees that continue to "fight the good fight" and produce incredible products and technologies ... and a small percentage of them get through the product management maze ...
But I also received numerous messages from folks who were very strongly worded about why I would say such things, and what my intentions are. I thought about it this weekend, and wanted to answer a few of those people.
I am still a shareholder of Novell (I exercised all of my outstanding shares when I left Novell) and I am not shorting the stock or anything along that line. I actually was hoping to see a pop with Brainshare (read back through my posts) and with the end of the quarter coming.
Instead, what I saw and heard was that a lot of my friends inside of Novell, who are/were trying to pull Novell to the forefront of the industry, continue to be "punished" by old-time management and their buddies ... people who seem to have more interest in building their own empires internally, and they protect these empires by destroying and keeping down alternative ideas which might disrupt them. And so frustrated people leave ... innovative ideas die or are grabbed by the idealess ... and Novell does not become what it could become. And this makes me very angry ...
I'll admit that I then get pretty upset with "Novell" ... not the whole company ... just the people who are in charge in Provo who are making decisions which are painful to so many people. I don't like to see a place with so much potential, bogged down by a few self-serving individuals. If only management would allow the best and brightest to deliver what they know is needed ... if only product management would trust the people who actually *use* the products, instead of guessing what is right by reading magazines and sitting on the sidelines.
One other issue about departures of employees ... in some cases they might be very good! And I'll be the first to admit this. Obviously as employees leave, new employees will be brought in to replace them ... and this "change" can often spark what is needed. Maybe this change in people will be good for Novell ... maybe it will shake up the management that is stifling innovation, and trapped in "control" mentalities ... maybe it'll be a good thing in the long run ...
So I'll try to sit back and watch through the next month or so ... I'm not sure if I'll be able to ... but the next 30-60 days seem to be the time table for the biggest indication of success.
Scott C. Lemon |
