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I worked for Cisco for a long time: the integration of acquisitions in large companies (at least there) involves a calculus of size vs. current profits vs. comp

I worked for Cisco for a long time: the integration of acquisitions in large companies (at least there) involves a calculus of size vs. current profits vs. complexity of integration. A company like Meraki or WebEx that’s making a lot of money and is larger or more complicated to integrate (because they have lots of their own systems and infrastructure) may get left alone, particularly if the former owners are aggressive about maintaining their existing culture. Cisco badges rather famously didn’t even work at Meraki offices, they were that pointed about keeping hands off. Scientific Atlanta was another one that got left alone for a long time, to the point that when Cisco people visited we all had to remember to dress up a bit because their offices were much more “casual Fridays means khakis and a polo shirt” than Cisco’s rather laid-back “it’s Friday, you’re lucky I’m wearing pants” culture. Once it suited Cisco to integrate them, though, the gloves came off and things moved much more quickly. So if the LinkedIn/GitHub leadership are aggressive about pushing a “hands off, we’re making money here” approach, Microsoft likely won’t deem it worth their time to bother as long as it’s not causing issues for the mother-ship. Much easier and cheaper to simply replace the hiring process for them and let the culture gradually acclimate to the larger company through attrition instead, while integrating the pieces that matter for now.

galkk 4y ago
I had similar experience at Amazon. My Amazon badge didn’t work at SF Twitch office. After experiencing that I started to periodically write at amazons elevator whiteboards “Twitch is NOT Amazon” as little petty rebellion.
- wging 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's just how the badging system works. Amazon is orders of magnitude too big for 'everyone has access to everywhere' to make sense. When I traveled I sometimes had to talk to people (or send email) to make sure my badge was activated in a new location, even for offices in a different city but the same business unit. There were also restrictions based on whether you actually worked on a particular thing, even for non-acquisition parts of the company.
  - galkk 4y ago
    My badge was working at Amazon's SF location without anything of that. Only international travel required security contact.
    - saagarjha 4y ago
      Companies do this all the time. The Android team famously had their own isolated building for the longest time. Some of the newer acquisitions and bets are not accessible to Google employees. Most places have this sort of thing.
kogepathic 4y ago
> A company like Meraki or WebEx that’s making a lot of money and is larger or more complicated to integrate (because they have lots of their own systems and infrastructure) may get left alone, particularly if the former owners are aggressive about maintaining their existing culture. Thanks for this, it goes a long way toward explaining how Cisco has a software list and a written offer for GPL for their products, and Meraki has an unpublished email address (open-source@meraki.com) that they ignore for months on end. I often wondered how Cisco, who was famously sued for GPL non-compliance after the Linksys acquisition, could repeat that blunder with Meraki.

galkk 4y ago

I had similar experience at Amazon. My Amazon badge didn’t work at SF Twitch office. After experiencing that I started to periodically write at amazons elevator whiteboards “Twitch is NOT Amazon” as little petty rebellion.

wging 4y ago
I'm pretty sure that's just how the badging system works. Amazon is orders of magnitude too big for 'everyone has access to everywhere' to make sense. When I traveled I sometimes had to talk to people (or send email) to make sure my badge was activated in a new location, even for offices in a different city but the same business unit. There were also restrictions based on whether you actually worked on a particular thing, even for non-acquisition parts of the company.
- galkk 4y ago
  My badge was working at Amazon's SF location without anything of that. Only international travel required security contact.
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    Companies do this all the time. The Android team famously had their own isolated building for the longest time. Some of the newer acquisitions and bets are not accessible to Google employees. Most places have this sort of thing.

kogepathic 4y ago

> A company like Meraki or WebEx that’s making a lot of money and is larger or more complicated to integrate (because they have lots of their own systems and infrastructure) may get left alone, particularly if the former owners are aggressive about maintaining their existing culture. Thanks for this, it goes a long way toward explaining how Cisco has a software list and a written offer for GPL for their products, and Meraki has an unpublished email address (open-source@meraki.com) that they ignore for months on end. I often wondered how Cisco, who was famously sued for GPL non-compliance after the Linksys acquisition, could repeat that blunder with Meraki.