4 ms·

How does Mitchell Baker, who has a BA in Chinese studies and a Law Degree, know which divisions to axe? Mozilla is a deeply technical company doing work on comp

by jeswin 6y ago

How does Mitchell Baker, who has a BA in Chinese studies and a Law Degree, know which divisions to axe? Mozilla is a deeply technical company doing work on compilers to internet standards - does the CEO understand the company's core tech (not politics) well enough? Mozilla was actually founded under similar circumstances. I hope engineers who work on the core product (and those who were let go) are talking about another reincarnation of Firefox - from the same code base but with different leadership.

crispyporkbites 6y ago
She’s been on the board of directors for 17 years so she probably does have a good understanding of the company and what each division is doing.
- jeswin 6y ago
  I know (I'm also up-voting you). But here's an example: Mozilla folded part of the Servo team into the Mixed Reality team earlier, and now they have been let go. Many people (incl me) thought that an efficient engine such as Servo will play a big role in the future of Mozilla, with devices going multi-core and apps with embedded browser engines (like Slack, Teams) becoming mainstream. And now, we're at a dead end. The quality of talent that was let go is stratospheric, as you can see from all the interest in hiring coming from various companies. The whole thing has flopped and the browser has lost market share, and if I were Mitchell Baker I'd seriously question my ability to lead Mozilla. She can play senior roles in many companies including Mozilla, but not the CEO.
  - type0 6y ago
    After seeing some interviews shes one of the most tone deaf CEOs I've ever heard, no wonder Moz://a has lost it's soul.
geofft 6y ago
She's been with Netscape since 1994 and remained a volunteer for Mozilla after the 2001 layoffs. She was one of the people who founded the Mozilla Foundation in 2003 and has been with them ever since. Meanwhile, the degree in Chinese studies is from before C++ or TCP/IP even existed, so I'm not sure what you expected her to learn in college instead that would have helped her run a company doing compiler development and internet standards. There are valid criticisms you can make of Baker (see the compensation issue discussed elsewhere in these comments) but "She has the wrong degree" doesn't seem like one of them, unless you think that Mozilla engineers - the people doing the deeply technical work - must be required to have a CS degree.
- jeswin 6y ago
  My point is that since Mozilla is a technology product company, she will have to rely on advice (from within Mozilla) to make the most important strategic decisions for the company. As a CEO, that's a huge handicap. Mozilla needs a CEO who can understand its technology and its partners (developers) at a very fundamental level. Mozilla needs a Lisa Su.
  - adamsea 6y ago
    > She's been with Netscape since 1994 and remained a volunteer for Mozilla after the 2001 layoffs. She was one of the people who founded the Mozilla Foundation in 2003 and has been with them ever since. That sounds like pretty solid technology industry experience for an exec, no?
    - hu3 6y ago
      Not necessarily. Her experience very much depends on her positions there. For example in my tech related company, the HR folks know little beyond Word and Excel despite some having worked for years there. What were her roles up to now?
      - geofft 6y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker President and founder of the Mozilla Foundation 2003 onwards, and also previously CEO of the Mozilla Corporation 2005-2008. Also she wrote the Mozilla Public License before that. I suspect she knows a little bit more than Word and Excel. Seriously - go criticize her for her salary, or failure to execute, or for-profit vision, or something. There's lots of criticisms that can be actually substantiated. The hypothesis that she doesn't understand what Mozilla is requires significant evidence. It's entirely possible a Mozillian could show up and say that actually she's been a clueless and politically savvy leader, but outsiders speculating that she can't possibly be qualified need to provide more than speculation.

by jeswin 6y ago

crispyporkbites 6y ago

She’s been on the board of directors for 17 years so she probably does have a good understanding of the company and what each division is doing.

jeswin 6y ago
I know (I'm also up-voting you). But here's an example: Mozilla folded part of the Servo team into the Mixed Reality team earlier, and now they have been let go. Many people (incl me) thought that an efficient engine such as Servo will play a big role in the future of Mozilla, with devices going multi-core and apps with embedded browser engines (like Slack, Teams) becoming mainstream. And now, we're at a dead end. The quality of talent that was let go is stratospheric, as you can see from all the interest in hiring coming from various companies. The whole thing has flopped and the browser has lost market share, and if I were Mitchell Baker I'd seriously question my ability to lead Mozilla. She can play senior roles in many companies including Mozilla, but not the CEO.
- type0 6y ago
  After seeing some interviews shes one of the most tone deaf CEOs I've ever heard, no wonder Moz://a has lost it's soul.

geofft 6y ago

She's been with Netscape since 1994 and remained a volunteer for Mozilla after the 2001 layoffs. She was one of the people who founded the Mozilla Foundation in 2003 and has been with them ever since. Meanwhile, the degree in Chinese studies is from before C++ or TCP/IP even existed, so I'm not sure what you expected her to learn in college instead that would have helped her run a company doing compiler development and internet standards. There are valid criticisms you can make of Baker (see the compensation issue discussed elsewhere in these comments) but "She has the wrong degree" doesn't seem like one of them, unless you think that Mozilla engineers - the people doing the deeply technical work - must be required to have a CS degree.

jeswin 6y ago
My point is that since Mozilla is a technology product company, she will have to rely on advice (from within Mozilla) to make the most important strategic decisions for the company. As a CEO, that's a huge handicap. Mozilla needs a CEO who can understand its technology and its partners (developers) at a very fundamental level. Mozilla needs a Lisa Su.
- adamsea 6y ago
  > She's been with Netscape since 1994 and remained a volunteer for Mozilla after the 2001 layoffs. She was one of the people who founded the Mozilla Foundation in 2003 and has been with them ever since. That sounds like pretty solid technology industry experience for an exec, no?
  - hu3 6y ago
    Not necessarily. Her experience very much depends on her positions there. For example in my tech related company, the HR folks know little beyond Word and Excel despite some having worked for years there. What were her roles up to now?
    - geofft 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker President and founder of the Mozilla Foundation 2003 onwards, and also previously CEO of the Mozilla Corporation 2005-2008. Also she wrote the Mozilla Public License before that. I suspect she knows a little bit more than Word and Excel. Seriously - go criticize her for her salary, or failure to execute, or for-profit vision, or something. There's lots of criticisms that can be actually substantiated. The hypothesis that she doesn't understand what Mozilla is requires significant evidence. It's entirely possible a Mozillian could show up and say that actually she's been a clueless and politically savvy leader, but outsiders speculating that she can't possibly be qualified need to provide more than speculation.