6 ms·

> I understand that Microsoft has a similar crew they can dispatch to any customer to get their business software working again. There is a saying that these t

> I understand that Microsoft has a similar crew they can dispatch to any customer to get their business software working again. There is a saying that these teams are dispatched by private jet and consist of 8 executives and 2 engineers.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
I imagine these 8 executives are there to lay down suppressive fire, keeping customer's management at bay so that the engineers can go in and fix the problem uninterrupted.
- ethbro 7y ago
  Point. It'd be a bit aggressive to fly trained German Shepherds in with the engineers.
- Moto7451 7y ago
  Hehe. The comparison is both amusing and apt. I’m often in the “executive” position in this scenario and this barrier between the angry team/customer/partner and the people doing engineering work really pays in spades. The people doing the “real” work on both sides usually avoid animosity and the management teams slugging it out in conference rooms usually understand that the dance they’re doing is just business as usual and not personal. When the separation is violated you can have engineers doing shoddy work because they’re stressed or emotionally overloaded. Early in my career I was in that situation and made some very pointed comments that the company’s CEO had to smooth over. If you do a really good job at handling the communication separation the business relationship is stronger after and each side better understands one another’s needs and motivations. My foot in mouth moment ended up turning into a larger business arrangement because the CEO turned it into a positive experience. While not a universally perfect negotiating book, I’ve found “Never Split the Difference” to be an interesting tome on making the best of adversarial business situations.
  - ethbro 7y ago
    NStD is something everyone in the business world (or who aspires to be) should read. The fact that much of what we say, especially in times of stress, isn't what we really care about is easy to miss in actual practice.
  - technofiend 7y ago
    That job actually sounds like a lot of fun. Thank you for tip on Never Split the Difference.
kmbond 7y ago
> I understand that Microsoft has a similar crew they can dispatch to any customer to get their business software working again. Yikes well I work for a large corporation that uses tons of Microsoft software, and we use their dispatch team constantly. Granted, we are probably one of their largest customers. It's great to have such a resource. But the fact that we need it doesn't speak well for Microsoft -- I would prefer if we didn't need such a dispatch team on a constant basis.
- peterwwillis 7y ago
  The fact that most people don't need to call said team might say more?
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    What, that they are used to failures, expect them, and live with them? Before Microsoft, computers crashing was not considered an ordinary, everyday occurrence. I still recall my shock, back in the '90s, when I remarked to a Windows user that Unix didn't crash all the time, and he remarked that he went months without reinstalling. I learned that "crash" had been redefined! Microsoft really needs that emergency crew. What says more is that most people who call them don't need to call other crews.
    - dekhn 7y ago
      Many people who worked on UNIX for years had plenty of experience with the kernel dumping core. I ran LINUX in the mid-90s and it wasn't extremely stable.
      - ncmncm 7y ago
        I ran Linux, too, starting from Slackware on a CD, graduating to Debian. I don't know about your experience, but in my circles there was real tension between upgrading to a current kernel release, vs. maintaining your 180+ days uptime. I "apt dist-upgrade"-ed for well over a decade without a failure, through a half-dozen generations of host hardware. Only during the period when the i915 display driver was still buggy did I ever have failures. Even then, I could SSH in. So, compared to needing to reboot twice a day (common) or twice a week (lucky), and never once needing to reinstall, yes, it was extremely stable.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

I imagine these 8 executives are there to lay down suppressive fire, keeping customer's management at bay so that the engineers can go in and fix the problem uninterrupted.

ethbro 7y ago
Point. It'd be a bit aggressive to fly trained German Shepherds in with the engineers.
Moto7451 7y ago
Hehe. The comparison is both amusing and apt. I’m often in the “executive” position in this scenario and this barrier between the angry team/customer/partner and the people doing engineering work really pays in spades. The people doing the “real” work on both sides usually avoid animosity and the management teams slugging it out in conference rooms usually understand that the dance they’re doing is just business as usual and not personal. When the separation is violated you can have engineers doing shoddy work because they’re stressed or emotionally overloaded. Early in my career I was in that situation and made some very pointed comments that the company’s CEO had to smooth over. If you do a really good job at handling the communication separation the business relationship is stronger after and each side better understands one another’s needs and motivations. My foot in mouth moment ended up turning into a larger business arrangement because the CEO turned it into a positive experience. While not a universally perfect negotiating book, I’ve found “Never Split the Difference” to be an interesting tome on making the best of adversarial business situations.
- ethbro 7y ago
  NStD is something everyone in the business world (or who aspires to be) should read. The fact that much of what we say, especially in times of stress, isn't what we really care about is easy to miss in actual practice.
- technofiend 7y ago
  That job actually sounds like a lot of fun. Thank you for tip on Never Split the Difference.

kmbond 7y ago

> I understand that Microsoft has a similar crew they can dispatch to any customer to get their business software working again. Yikes well I work for a large corporation that uses tons of Microsoft software, and we use their dispatch team constantly. Granted, we are probably one of their largest customers. It's great to have such a resource. But the fact that we need it doesn't speak well for Microsoft -- I would prefer if we didn't need such a dispatch team on a constant basis.

peterwwillis 7y ago
The fact that most people don't need to call said team might say more?
- ncmncm 7y ago
  What, that they are used to failures, expect them, and live with them? Before Microsoft, computers crashing was not considered an ordinary, everyday occurrence. I still recall my shock, back in the '90s, when I remarked to a Windows user that Unix didn't crash all the time, and he remarked that he went months without reinstalling. I learned that "crash" had been redefined! Microsoft really needs that emergency crew. What says more is that most people who call them don't need to call other crews.
  - dekhn 7y ago
    Many people who worked on UNIX for years had plenty of experience with the kernel dumping core. I ran LINUX in the mid-90s and it wasn't extremely stable.
    - ncmncm 7y ago
      I ran Linux, too, starting from Slackware on a CD, graduating to Debian. I don't know about your experience, but in my circles there was real tension between upgrading to a current kernel release, vs. maintaining your 180+ days uptime. I "apt dist-upgrade"-ed for well over a decade without a failure, through a half-dozen generations of host hardware. Only during the period when the i915 display driver was still buggy did I ever have failures. Even then, I could SSH in. So, compared to needing to reboot twice a day (common) or twice a week (lucky), and never once needing to reinstall, yes, it was extremely stable.