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"We want to become a tech company" is the new management fad. Culture change is incredibly hard and requires really great leadership. Capital One wanted to beco

"We want to become a tech company" is the new management fad. Culture change is incredibly hard and requires really great leadership. Capital One wanted to become a software company just like Ford says, the difference, Capital One already had great leaders. Is Ford full of great leaders? Sure Ford can throw some money at a few labs and occasionally turn something into a product. Spending money on R&D doesn't make you a software company. I wish them the best.

barry-cotter 11y ago
> Capital One wanted to become a software company just like Ford says, the difference, Capital One already had great leaders. Is Ford full of great leaders? Chrysler and GM both went bankrupt during the financial crisis. Ford didn't. It's by far the best run car company in North America.
yompers888 11y ago
The fact that Ford didn't need the bailouts that GM and Chrysler got (though I'm aware they still had the line line of credit available) suggests that their leadership is at least strong within the American car making industry, for whatever that's worth. On the side of whether they're developing/integrating tech effectively: on the one hand, that Microsoft system they farmed out for info/music is abysmal and everyone knows it; on the other hand, the Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) At least in what I've seen, Ford is one of the few mass-production car makers doing some pretty interesting stuff.
- Caprinicus 11y ago
  >Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) That sort of system, while important, is not particularly complicated or advanced though. The tech been employed in various forms for over a decade, I don't see the software implementation as evidence of competency within ford.
- tobltobs 11y ago
  A credit line of up to $9 billion (which no bank would have ever gave them), additional legislation (Ford was the second most profiteure of the cash-for-clunkers program) and 5$ billion from the DOE loan program does sound like a kind of bailout for me.
  - yompers888 11y ago
    Yeah, from the perspective of them getting easy access to the taxes I've paid, I definitely agree that they got a bailout. Maybe I should have said that they were 1st place in the field of losers that was the American auto industry. And while that isn't particularly inspiring, it may lend support to the notion that I was trying to propose, which is that they have at least some ability to handle potential crises that were evidently easy to fall into (at least for GM and Chrysler, who comprised the American car industry, aside from Ford.) In hindsight on the whole comment, though, I'm probably just pleased with Ford right now because I'm quite impressed with the Focus RS, but that certainly doesn't prove that their leadership is strong.
- ryanmarsh 11y ago
  That has nothing to with the ability to transform an organizational culture into one that values validated experiments over plans, resiliency over zero defects, collaboration over turf.
mkhpalm 11y ago
I wonder if its a fad so much as recognizing the threat from 200k+ people reserving a car before they've ever seen it with their own eyeballs. I know if I ran a car company I would be deathly afraid of becoming another nokia in an iPhone world. They are extremely far behind on these fronts.
- serge2k 11y ago
  1. The Tesla is a status symbol for people. 2. It's a 1k deposit. I just purchased a car last year, otherwise I probably would have put down 1k on the chance I do decide to buy a Tesla.
  - olalonde 11y ago
    I'm not sure #1 is meant to be a counter argument but so is/was the iPhone.
  - lsiunsuex 11y ago
    Point #2 - exactly. If the car was available now - in production - I think a lot more people would of put the 1k down. I myself, my lease runs out March 2017 - I can't not have a car waiting on the Model 3 to come out. I'll have to wait for the next round.
    - erikpukinskis 11y ago
      You can't extend your lease?
  - drumdance 11y ago
    The deposit is also 100% refundable.
  - mseebach 11y ago
    Ford makes status-symbol cars, so that's irrelevant. The important question is, could Ford produce a car, status symbol or not, that 200k people would put down even a refundable $1k deposit on, sight unseen?
blackoil 11y ago
It may be a fad, or a realization of 'software is eating the world'. Each year more industries are moving from software enabled, to software being key component and differentiation. Unfortunately software is also fastest moving and most labor intensive of all components, it is also permeated across business. So you have to build a culture for it. So a company moving earlier will have key advantage over a company trying to acquire software and its culture at last moment. We have seen it happen earlier in industries, and it will keep on happening. Will Ford be able to pull it up a question, but there is no other road to take.
- Animats 11y ago
  Ford has a deployment advantage. They can make stuff in volume at low cost. Tesla has to learn to do that, and fast. (It's nice having an order backlog, but now you have to produce at a cost where those orders are profitable.) Apple outsources their manufacturing. Google has very little manufacturing capability.
  - serge2k 11y ago
    Case in point, even Ford was having trouble meeting demand for their new F-150 last year. Something else to consider. Tesla sold about 50k model S last year. Ford sold that many F-150s, in a month.
    - marincounty 11y ago
      I told my mom it's time for you to look for a new vechicle. I've always worked on her vechicles. I mentioned maybe a Subaru? A few weeks went by, and through an email she said she wanted a new F-150. She, is I belive in her 70's. She always lied about her age, so I don't know her exact age. I just thought it was a strange pick. Ford is doing someting right with that truck. I asked her why, and she said she liked the aluminum body. I think it has more to do with just the ride height? She's small in stature. I've always liked the f-150, but went away from Ford when I realized I can put 250,000 on a Toyota.
therobot24 11y ago
my brother works for a startup that was acquired by Ford, for what it's worth, Ford is letting them work as they were with little intervention
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
exabrial 11y ago
Agree. How about they open source their ECUs and infotainment systems so we can actually own and service our vehicles?
GrinningFool 11y ago
> "We want to become a tech company" is the new management fad I'd say that it's the new necessity for any large-scale operation. Software (and tech overall) is integrated into everything, and relegating it to an expense column is increasingly a mistake in any enterprise.
- ryanmarsh 11y ago
  It is most certainly the new necessity. That said: 1. This fact is not widely recognized by CEOs 2. The culture change required is immensely difficult I do this for a living (teach Fortune 500 to make software like SV). The culture change is immensely hard and most organizations flat out cannot make the change. They will see more nimble competitors emerge, margins will shrink, then they'll consolidate, and continue to seek regulatory protection via lobbyists.
  - GrinningFool 11y ago
    It is an extremely difficult shift to make, particularly in tightly regulated areas.
shas3 11y ago
People underestimate the importance of culture change. I hate this word, but there has to be a company-wide re-education if any company is serious about becoming more high-tech. Often, measures like opening a new R&D lab or pumping more money here or there gets wasted since it rarely has a wider effect. When the effect isn't wider, there is a lack of critical mass for high-impact high-tech projects to get out of the door. The internal friction is generally high in big old companies, and most people causing the friction tend to be old-school "company-persons" who have fixed mindsets about where the company should be. Many of these people aren't necessarily tech savvy and some even pride themselves on not understanding computers as though the ignorance burnishes their skills in science/mechanics/biochem or whatever is the core of their company.
my_opic_farseer 11y ago
Ford hasn't had great CEOs for a while. I think they're all just connected military and intelligence goons now. "National Security" and all.

barry-cotter 11y ago

> Capital One wanted to become a software company just like Ford says, the difference, Capital One already had great leaders. Is Ford full of great leaders? Chrysler and GM both went bankrupt during the financial crisis. Ford didn't. It's by far the best run car company in North America.

yompers888 11y ago

The fact that Ford didn't need the bailouts that GM and Chrysler got (though I'm aware they still had the line line of credit available) suggests that their leadership is at least strong within the American car making industry, for whatever that's worth. On the side of whether they're developing/integrating tech effectively: on the one hand, that Microsoft system they farmed out for info/music is abysmal and everyone knows it; on the other hand, the Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) At least in what I've seen, Ford is one of the few mass-production car makers doing some pretty interesting stuff.

Caprinicus 11y ago
>Focus RS they've just released shows some impressive work put into even a lower-end car (particularly I'm thinking of the way they handle power delivery to the rear wheels in tight corners.) That sort of system, while important, is not particularly complicated or advanced though. The tech been employed in various forms for over a decade, I don't see the software implementation as evidence of competency within ford.
tobltobs 11y ago
A credit line of up to $9 billion (which no bank would have ever gave them), additional legislation (Ford was the second most profiteure of the cash-for-clunkers program) and 5$ billion from the DOE loan program does sound like a kind of bailout for me.
- yompers888 11y ago
  Yeah, from the perspective of them getting easy access to the taxes I've paid, I definitely agree that they got a bailout. Maybe I should have said that they were 1st place in the field of losers that was the American auto industry. And while that isn't particularly inspiring, it may lend support to the notion that I was trying to propose, which is that they have at least some ability to handle potential crises that were evidently easy to fall into (at least for GM and Chrysler, who comprised the American car industry, aside from Ford.) In hindsight on the whole comment, though, I'm probably just pleased with Ford right now because I'm quite impressed with the Focus RS, but that certainly doesn't prove that their leadership is strong.
ryanmarsh 11y ago
That has nothing to with the ability to transform an organizational culture into one that values validated experiments over plans, resiliency over zero defects, collaboration over turf.

mkhpalm 11y ago

I wonder if its a fad so much as recognizing the threat from 200k+ people reserving a car before they've ever seen it with their own eyeballs. I know if I ran a car company I would be deathly afraid of becoming another nokia in an iPhone world. They are extremely far behind on these fronts.

serge2k 11y ago
1. The Tesla is a status symbol for people. 2. It's a 1k deposit. I just purchased a car last year, otherwise I probably would have put down 1k on the chance I do decide to buy a Tesla.
- olalonde 11y ago
  I'm not sure #1 is meant to be a counter argument but so is/was the iPhone.
- lsiunsuex 11y ago
  Point #2 - exactly. If the car was available now - in production - I think a lot more people would of put the 1k down. I myself, my lease runs out March 2017 - I can't not have a car waiting on the Model 3 to come out. I'll have to wait for the next round.
  - erikpukinskis 11y ago
    You can't extend your lease?
- drumdance 11y ago
  The deposit is also 100% refundable.
- mseebach 11y ago
  Ford makes status-symbol cars, so that's irrelevant. The important question is, could Ford produce a car, status symbol or not, that 200k people would put down even a refundable $1k deposit on, sight unseen?

blackoil 11y ago

It may be a fad, or a realization of 'software is eating the world'. Each year more industries are moving from software enabled, to software being key component and differentiation. Unfortunately software is also fastest moving and most labor intensive of all components, it is also permeated across business. So you have to build a culture for it. So a company moving earlier will have key advantage over a company trying to acquire software and its culture at last moment. We have seen it happen earlier in industries, and it will keep on happening. Will Ford be able to pull it up a question, but there is no other road to take.

Animats 11y ago
Ford has a deployment advantage. They can make stuff in volume at low cost. Tesla has to learn to do that, and fast. (It's nice having an order backlog, but now you have to produce at a cost where those orders are profitable.) Apple outsources their manufacturing. Google has very little manufacturing capability.
- serge2k 11y ago
  Case in point, even Ford was having trouble meeting demand for their new F-150 last year. Something else to consider. Tesla sold about 50k model S last year. Ford sold that many F-150s, in a month.
  - marincounty 11y ago
    I told my mom it's time for you to look for a new vechicle. I've always worked on her vechicles. I mentioned maybe a Subaru? A few weeks went by, and through an email she said she wanted a new F-150. She, is I belive in her 70's. She always lied about her age, so I don't know her exact age. I just thought it was a strange pick. Ford is doing someting right with that truck. I asked her why, and she said she liked the aluminum body. I think it has more to do with just the ride height? She's small in stature. I've always liked the f-150, but went away from Ford when I realized I can put 250,000 on a Toyota.

therobot24 11y ago

my brother works for a startup that was acquired by Ford, for what it's worth, Ford is letting them work as they were with little intervention

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

exabrial 11y ago

Agree. How about they open source their ECUs and infotainment systems so we can actually own and service our vehicles?

GrinningFool 11y ago

> "We want to become a tech company" is the new management fad I'd say that it's the new necessity for any large-scale operation. Software (and tech overall) is integrated into everything, and relegating it to an expense column is increasingly a mistake in any enterprise.

ryanmarsh 11y ago
It is most certainly the new necessity. That said: 1. This fact is not widely recognized by CEOs 2. The culture change required is immensely difficult I do this for a living (teach Fortune 500 to make software like SV). The culture change is immensely hard and most organizations flat out cannot make the change. They will see more nimble competitors emerge, margins will shrink, then they'll consolidate, and continue to seek regulatory protection via lobbyists.
- GrinningFool 11y ago
  It is an extremely difficult shift to make, particularly in tightly regulated areas.

shas3 11y ago

People underestimate the importance of culture change. I hate this word, but there has to be a company-wide re-education if any company is serious about becoming more high-tech. Often, measures like opening a new R&D lab or pumping more money here or there gets wasted since it rarely has a wider effect. When the effect isn't wider, there is a lack of critical mass for high-impact high-tech projects to get out of the door. The internal friction is generally high in big old companies, and most people causing the friction tend to be old-school "company-persons" who have fixed mindsets about where the company should be. Many of these people aren't necessarily tech savvy and some even pride themselves on not understanding computers as though the ignorance burnishes their skills in science/mechanics/biochem or whatever is the core of their company.

my_opic_farseer 11y ago

Ford hasn't had great CEOs for a while. I think they're all just connected military and intelligence goons now. "National Security" and all.