I don't know OP or Microsoft, but usually once companies build the Enron-style performance reviews (stack ranking, high stakes, lots of horse-trading behind the

I don't know OP or Microsoft, but usually once companies build the Enron-style performance reviews (stack ranking, high stakes, lots of horse-trading behind the scenes) it becomes really difficult to move internally, because (a) anyone with less than a top-25% review history-- remember that those top-25% scores must be sustained over years, so it might be 15-20% who qualify-- becomes undesirable as a transfer applicant, and (b) managers don't give good reviews to people they see as likely to leave the team if given wings. The result of all this nonsense is that people get stuck where they spawn. That's why companies that stack rank and make performance reviews part of the transfer packet always-- there are no exceptions to this in the long run-- end up with the warring departments phenomenon for which Microsoft is notorious.