Microsofts Vega Project

Developing People and Products

This case was developed by the Professor Christopher and his research associate Meg Wozny for
class discussion and its published on 27
th
June 2! This study was about Worlds biggest
Microsoft Co"pany and the e#pansion of hu"an resource role$ policies$ philosophies in
developing people and products! %t was about "otivation$ retention and the develop"ent of
Microsofts e"ployees and groups! This case illustrated the role of Product unit "anager$ Ji"
&aplan$ on the develop"ent of a 2' years young veteran Matt Mac(ellan who was dissatisfied
with his role of pro)ect "anager and wanted to beco"e a developer or *oftware +esign ,ngineer
-*+,. by /nowing this fact that he never wrote a code and had an e#perience of 0years as a
pro)ect "anager! &aplan was fi#ed! 1s a "entor$ a decision &aplan has to "ade whether to
support such vital career shift of Matt Mac(ellan or not and if is in favour then how this decision
can be turned to not only in Matts favour but also in Microsofts best interest!
C,2 3ill 4ates can proudly e#aggerate Microsoft as one of the best software professional tea"
all around the 4lobe! The "ost worthy co"pany Microsoft accredit the outstanding perfor"ance
due to its continuous effort to encourage$ "otivate$ recruit and retain the "ost co"petent people!
Through this case it was 5uite obvious that people were supposed to be the Microsofts greatest
asset! 4ates deter"ined the Microsofts success on the effectiveness of developers! 1ccording to
hu"an resource e#ecutive 3ill has always inserted us to hire people better than us! %n 6777$
*teve 3all"er grows into first recruiting coordinator of Microsoft who was 4ates personal
assistant earlier! 3all"er always tuned to hire such people who are s"art$ hardwor/ing and has
the responsibility of co"pleting the tas/s! 1ll the candidates had to go through an intense
interview procedure conducted by ten Microsoft e"ployees! %n interviews$ all the "e"bers
atte"pted to investigate candidates not only technical co"petence but also analytical$ logical
reasoning$ creativity$ proble" solving approaches and self8control! 1t the end of this session$
every candidate used to get feedbac/ through an e"ail with hired or not words along with the
follow up and suggestions etc!
4ates and 3all"er had strict principles regarding recruit"ent! 1"ong the"$ first was the
recruiting for"ula n "inus 6 and second$ no one need to be hired until unless the co"pany found
an obvious and definite reason to hire the"! With the increasing de"and of new e"ployees these
policies and practices were beco"ing "ore e#e"plified! The whole responsibility was on the
shoulders of "anage"ent to select$ recruit the right candidate fro" the pool! 1"ong 9 college
recruits in :ed"ond Washington$ 0 were the nu"ber who received offers and a"ong the"
nearest ; accepted! <ow Microsoft was not able to hire new e"ployees in such a higher rate as
used to do few years bac/! 1ccording to =: "anger$ they never co"pro"ised on the 5uality of
people and secondly their "a)or concern was to give the" such right place where along with
own satisfaction$ acco"plish"ent$ autono"y they can turn to be fruitful for Microsoft!
4ates also second the i"portance to "eet and persuade all the superior candidates to )oin
Microsoft! =e used to sti"ulate all the /ey people that should be the part of Microsoft!
Microsofts strategic =: plan was to give e"ployees an a"azing e#perience and to retain the"
in this co"petitive era and their results are obvious through product develop"ent and e"ployee
perfor"ance! 1ssociated to the production area and an at"osphere that gratified the average
>year old e"ployee had "ade this co"pany an incredible place for e"ploy"ent! Microsoft also
offered nu"erous beneficial and co"pensation progra"s which enhanced e"ployees e#perience
over there! %n 679>$ "anage"ent illustrated incentives including ladder levels for developers!
Microsoft selling point was for the pro"otion of new posts$ pro)ects$ success in earlier pro)ect
was not "andatory at all! Microsoft repose the tradition of learning through "ista/es and
failures! 1s per perfor"ance concerned$ their attenuation rate was below 7? in 6779! They also
conducted a survey to get the feedbac/ fro" current e"ployees about wor/ing e#perience with
Microsoft and evaluated re"ar/able positive result! %n 679s to review perfor"ance$ 6 to 0
perfor"ance scale also for"ed by the co"pany where e"ployees used to receive evaluations! %n
brief$ Microsofts wor/ environ"ent was a sti"ulant for e"ployees acco"plish"ents and
achieve"ents!
%n su""er 677'$ Ji" &aplan was trying hard to launch a new pro)ect that was about a toy! =is
ai" was to design a learning syste" along with an interactive toy for >years aged girls! =e was
loo/ing for a person who can give full ti"e to his product idea! =is boss @i/ra" Puri helped hi"
to suggest Matt Mac(ellan$ who wor/ed on 2asis progra" earlier and now want to wor/ for
such pro)ect where he could learn to build and ship the product! Matt Mac(ellan also wanted
change that ti"e and to handover product life cycle stages to so"eone else for the very first ti"e
was a challenge itself for &aplan as well! Mac(ellan was urging to leave so to retain hi" was
also an issue for &aplan! =e too/ as usual a step to "anage the situation by trying to learn the
e"ployees 5uest and providing hi" the right ne#t step for enabling it! =e advised hi" e#plore
opportunities and then decide the "ost attractive one for hi"self!
They both "et after a wee/! Mac(ellan searched a lot about the idea of &aplan and was very
e#cited to thin/ about all the opportunities! Meanwhile$ Mac(ellan identified "ar/et gap and
for"ed a 0 page docu"ent consisting of product vision! =e showed great e#cite"ent for this
pro)ect in his "eeting with &aplan so he offered hi" a )ob as progra" "anger and the part of
%(* tea"!
=is role as a progra" "anger was to design$ build and develop the product along with the
"ar/eting! Matt Mac(ellan prioritizes to develop an interactive toy for girls which can enhance
learning a"ong the"! =e ended up with an ani"ated toy as a learning buddy and a role "odel as
well! 1"elia$ an ani"ated doll has two "odes$ a toy and an onscreen tutorial! Aor the very first
ti"e &aplan felt his role as a coach! Mac(ellan e#pressed satisfaction with its growth$ autono"y
and "ar/etability but at the sa"e ti"e showed a concern about the feeling that he was not behind
the designing$ building and testing of product! &aplan realized his role and brought bac/ the
reward to Mac(ellan! =e offered hi" a post as an %(* lead pro)ect "anager! =e assigned hi"
the "anage"ent responsibilities and let hi" to decide about hiring new e"ployees as well!
Mac(ellan re"ar/ed that 1"elia was a great hit as he gets feedbac/ fro" the /ids and friends!
They all si"ply li/ed and loved the product! %n doubts of Mac(ellan$ &aplan suggested hi" to
thin/ li/e a "anager instead of developer! &aplans head was whirling as he had to guide hi" as
a "entor! What was good for Matt and for co"panyB These all were still the 5uestion "ar/s for
&aplan!