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Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. All companies have to constantly work to maintain and grow their customer base. Customers

Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. All companies have to constantly work to maintain and grow their customer base. Customers will eventually figure out if a company is selling snake oil, or a shoddy product. Also, the tech industry is extremely competitive. Leaders frequently become laggards or go out of business. Here are some companies who failed or shrank because their products could not complete: IBM, Digital Equipment, Sun, Borland, Yahoo, Control Data, Lotus (later IBM), Evernote, etc. Note all of these companies were at some point at the top of their industry. They aren't anymore.

worik 2y ago
> Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. Eventually By then the principles are all very rich, and no longer care. Do you think Bill Gates sleeps well?
- s4Brains 2y ago
  People stop caring when they see their friends getting laid off while the CEO and head of HR get big bonuses. That what happens at most big companies with subpar executives these days.
geodel 2y ago
Keyword is eventually. By then C-level would've been retired. Others in top management would've changed multiple jobs. IMO point is not where are these past top companies now but where are top people in those companies now. I believe they end up being in very comfortable situation no matter which place. Exceptions of course would be criminal prosecution, financial frauds etc.
- feoren 2y ago
  Bingo! It's the Principal Agent Problem. People focus too much on why companies do X and companies do Y, it's bad in the long term. The long term doesn't exist. No decision maker at these public companies gives a rat's ass about "the long term", because their goal is to parasitize from the company and fly off to another host before the damage they did becomes apparent. And they are very good at it: it's literally all they do. It's their entire profession.
jjav 2y ago
> Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. Eventually is a long time. Unfortunately for all of us ("us" being not just software engineers, but everyone impacted by this and similar lack of proper engineering outcomes) it is a proven path to wealth and success to ignore engineering a good product. Build something adequate on the surface and sell it like crazy. Yeah, eventually enough disasters might kill the company. Countless billions of dollars will have been made and everyone responsible just moves on to the next one. Rinse & repeat.

worik 2y ago

> Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. Eventually By then the principles are all very rich, and no longer care. Do you think Bill Gates sleeps well?

s4Brains 2y ago
People stop caring when they see their friends getting laid off while the CEO and head of HR get big bonuses. That what happens at most big companies with subpar executives these days.

geodel 2y ago

Keyword is eventually. By then C-level would've been retired. Others in top management would've changed multiple jobs. IMO point is not where are these past top companies now but where are top people in those companies now. I believe they end up being in very comfortable situation no matter which place. Exceptions of course would be criminal prosecution, financial frauds etc.

feoren 2y ago
Bingo! It's the Principal Agent Problem. People focus too much on why companies do X and companies do Y, it's bad in the long term. The long term doesn't exist. No decision maker at these public companies gives a rat's ass about "the long term", because their goal is to parasitize from the company and fly off to another host before the damage they did becomes apparent. And they are very good at it: it's literally all they do. It's their entire profession.

jjav 2y ago

> Not caring about the actual product will eventually kill a company. Eventually is a long time. Unfortunately for all of us ("us" being not just software engineers, but everyone impacted by this and similar lack of proper engineering outcomes) it is a proven path to wealth and success to ignore engineering a good product. Build something adequate on the surface and sell it like crazy. Yeah, eventually enough disasters might kill the company. Countless billions of dollars will have been made and everyone responsible just moves on to the next one. Rinse & repeat.