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It seems super strange to adopt the market leader’s processes. You’d think the spirit should be that you can outdo/outcompete then instead of adopting what they

It seems super strange to adopt the market leader’s processes. You’d think the spirit should be that you can outdo/outcompete then instead of adopting what they’re doing...

deelly 7y ago
Yes, Its really super strange to adopt Google, Microsoft, Apple processes.. Yes?
- jonathanstrange 7y ago
  If you want to be better than them, then I'd say Yes.
  - sanderjd 7y ago
    The key is to figure out what to copy and what to innovate. This is usually captured by the idea of "core competency": figure out what your company's unique competency is, innovate in that area, and avoid trying to innovate in other areas in order to save time.
- goatinaboat 7y ago
  Correct. Random companies cargo-culting what Google does has made half the industry massively dysfunctional e.g. in hiring processes
- quietbritishjim 7y ago
  This is like assuming that Microsoft or Google is successful because of the version control software they use, rather than because of the actual software they wrote. It may be a useful hint about good practices, but it's quite possible that it's not the best solution for you and it is certainly not THE way to be successful.
  - vasco 7y ago
    The other way to look at it is that if you truly believe your strength is your product (the software you write), you might as well not risk in other areas where you could either make a right or a wrong decision, and just standardize on every other process so you're on a level playing field. This way you lose the chance of innovating on how to do payroll more efficiently, but you focus your innovation efforts on your product (your software).
- Kaiyou 7y ago
  If Google had tried hard to adopt Yahoo, it wouldn't have gone very well for them, I figure.
- iso1210 7y ago
  Apple did not use Microsofts processes to get where they are today. Neither did Google.
- marcosdumay 7y ago
  You mean like stack rating, the microservices crazy, massively parallel cluster for dealing with 1GB of data, letting an army of very competent developers to unproductive companies because all you care about is brain teasers, creating user-hostile interfaces because of "design", and other things like that?
- GuB-42 7y ago
  Scale matters. Unless your company has thousands of employees and billions in revenue, Google/Microsoft/Apple processes are probably not for you.
  - take_a_breath 7y ago
    ==Unless your company has thousands of employees and billions in revenue, Google/Microsoft/Apple processes are probably not for you.== Then you probably don't need and shouldn't buy SAP.
- SergeAx 7y ago
  Actually yes. I saw numerous teams adopting monorepos, k8s, microservices and other buzzwords, and either suffering infinitely or putting enormous effort into dragging those to the point of sheer mediocrity. Because they are not Google and will never be.
m12k 7y ago
Corporations running at the scale where SAP operates are so huge that basically nobody fully understands them or really know what they're doing (but they're also big and entrenched enough that they don't need to - inertia, institutional memory, brand awareness and existing product-market fit will do the job as long as the market doesn't radically shift from under their feet, cf. disruption). Seen through that lens it's no surprise that cargo culting is so widespread, or that huge businesses like SAP, Oracle and McKinsey can make massive profits off of essentially giving upper management in big corporations the reassurance that 'they are doing what everyone else is doing' so hopefully the good times will keep rolling.
cco 7y ago
It makes getting bought by the market leader easier at least.
schnevets 7y ago
Competitors cannot outsmart the leader in every facet of business. They creatively optimize some processes, but for the rest of the business their choices are wing it or purchase the Commercial Software solution. Even a bleeding-edge company will hit an obstacle they cannot improvise through (like in QA or Compliance). That's when enterprise software creeps into an otherwise lean operation.
bingojess 7y ago
Think POs, procurement, payables, receivables, treasury and inventory management etc. Is following what Toyota does strange?

It seems super strange to adopt the market leader’s processes. You’d think the spirit should be that you can outdo/outcompete then instead of adopting what they’re doing...

deelly 7y ago

Yes, Its really super strange to adopt Google, Microsoft, Apple processes.. Yes?

jonathanstrange 7y ago
If you want to be better than them, then I'd say Yes.
- sanderjd 7y ago
  The key is to figure out what to copy and what to innovate. This is usually captured by the idea of "core competency": figure out what your company's unique competency is, innovate in that area, and avoid trying to innovate in other areas in order to save time.
goatinaboat 7y ago
Correct. Random companies cargo-culting what Google does has made half the industry massively dysfunctional e.g. in hiring processes
quietbritishjim 7y ago
This is like assuming that Microsoft or Google is successful because of the version control software they use, rather than because of the actual software they wrote. It may be a useful hint about good practices, but it's quite possible that it's not the best solution for you and it is certainly not THE way to be successful.
- vasco 7y ago
  The other way to look at it is that if you truly believe your strength is your product (the software you write), you might as well not risk in other areas where you could either make a right or a wrong decision, and just standardize on every other process so you're on a level playing field. This way you lose the chance of innovating on how to do payroll more efficiently, but you focus your innovation efforts on your product (your software).
Kaiyou 7y ago
If Google had tried hard to adopt Yahoo, it wouldn't have gone very well for them, I figure.
iso1210 7y ago
Apple did not use Microsofts processes to get where they are today. Neither did Google.
marcosdumay 7y ago
You mean like stack rating, the microservices crazy, massively parallel cluster for dealing with 1GB of data, letting an army of very competent developers to unproductive companies because all you care about is brain teasers, creating user-hostile interfaces because of "design", and other things like that?
GuB-42 7y ago
Scale matters. Unless your company has thousands of employees and billions in revenue, Google/Microsoft/Apple processes are probably not for you.
- take_a_breath 7y ago
  ==Unless your company has thousands of employees and billions in revenue, Google/Microsoft/Apple processes are probably not for you.== Then you probably don't need and shouldn't buy SAP.
SergeAx 7y ago
Actually yes. I saw numerous teams adopting monorepos, k8s, microservices and other buzzwords, and either suffering infinitely or putting enormous effort into dragging those to the point of sheer mediocrity. Because they are not Google and will never be.

m12k 7y ago

Corporations running at the scale where SAP operates are so huge that basically nobody fully understands them or really know what they're doing (but they're also big and entrenched enough that they don't need to - inertia, institutional memory, brand awareness and existing product-market fit will do the job as long as the market doesn't radically shift from under their feet, cf. disruption). Seen through that lens it's no surprise that cargo culting is so widespread, or that huge businesses like SAP, Oracle and McKinsey can make massive profits off of essentially giving upper management in big corporations the reassurance that 'they are doing what everyone else is doing' so hopefully the good times will keep rolling.

cco 7y ago

It makes getting bought by the market leader easier at least.

schnevets 7y ago

Competitors cannot outsmart the leader in every facet of business. They creatively optimize some processes, but for the rest of the business their choices are wing it or purchase the Commercial Software solution. Even a bleeding-edge company will hit an obstacle they cannot improvise through (like in QA or Compliance). That's when enterprise software creeps into an otherwise lean operation.

bingojess 7y ago

Think POs, procurement, payables, receivables, treasury and inventory management etc. Is following what Toyota does strange?