4 ms·

Other software companies are run by software guys/gals. IBM is run by the finance people and just happen to sell software/services as a product. At least that i

• devonkim 12y ago
  This is consistent with enterprise software as an industry in general, particularly ones under companies that have lost enough engineers and "product people" that causes a bit of a downward spiral as more and more salespersons are leveraged to make up for diminishing momentum of a once-high traction product / service. Sure, Google sells stuff to governments and same with Amazon, but these teams are usually isolated or farmed off to third parties that serve as bullshit shields for the primary engineering-oriented company. In the inverse, a sales-oriented culture will shed engineering and hold them at arms length in precisely the same way. Neither are "better" exactly, but I like to point out the stock performance of these companies as evidence of the reality that you can't rely upon salespeople and M&A to produce results that pleases anyone.
  • yuhong 12y ago
    In the case of IBM, I think Sam was promoted from sales. I wonder what happened that led to that.