After the entry of Apple's leg in the mobile world, all players have seen their position stagger, some are able to adapt to drastic change resulted from the iPhone with its iPhone OS, and there are those who are not managed to recover and still limps , Research In Motion, makers of the popular BlackBerry , until a few years ago was a leader of innovation in this area, but today seems to have lost that intuition of a time.
Research In Motion , to be honest, it would be the only company in the world that could now compete on equal terms with Apple : how the Cupertino company has not only owns the operating system, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry OS Tablet, designs but also from their own smartphones. Below we offer you the letter that an employee was sent to RIM's Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, CEO of both, highlighting all the strategic and organizational problems.
"I lost confidence.
While hiding at work, my passion has waned. I know I'm not the only one, the feeling is widespread and includes many people in your team.
Mike and Jim, please take the time to really absorb and digest the contents of this letter because it reflects the sentiment in a huge percentage of your employees. You have many smart employees, many who have great ideas for the future, but unfortunately the culture of RIM does not allow us to speak openly, without worrying about the restrictive effects on our careers.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, I want to say that I am part of a large group of embittered people who want to embarrass us. Rather, I believe these points should be heard, because I wish that RIM desperately to regain its position as industry leader. Our carriers, distributors, our alliance partners, enterprise customers, and our faithful users, they all want the same thing .. that the BlackBerry is once again leading the pack.
We are in the midst of a period of "transition" and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project falls into increasing delays, in a time when we absolutely have to deliver solid products and excellent time. We urge you to make important decisions about our organizational structure, our culture and, above all, about our products.
While I look forward to seeing the details of the rationalization plan, here are some suggestions:
1) Let's focus on end-user experience :
Ossessioniamoci on what can be better for the end user. Often we make decisions on the basis of our strategic alignment, based on the requests of our partners or on the basis of legal advice, do not worry about the end user. We simply have to admit that Apple has balked at this and is one of the reasons why people have lined up overnight outside stores around the world, and depleted stocks for months. These people are not hypnotized zombies, simply love beautiful products designed around you and act like are supposed to work. Android has a great weakness, will never achieve the simplicity and elegance that comes from the software end-to-end, the middleware and hardware control. We have a really great opportunity to build something new, "only BlackBerry" with the QNX platform.
We start shooting an innovative internal teams focused on what users will appreciate instead of pursuing equality and competitive product differentiation on the basis of any good reason (Adobe Flash is one of the most important). When was the last time we presented an important new experience or new feature that was not already present on other platforms?
Rather than constantly ridiculing the iPhone and Android, we should encourage key decision makers across the board to use these products as a primary device for a week or so, at a time - is in rotation! In this way we can understand why our people go to the competition and get inspiration on how we can build our new generation of products even better! It 'is incomprehensible that our software engineers and our leaders do not use and are not familiar with the products of our competitors.
2) Take SW Senior Leader and allow decision making at lower levels :
I'm going to say what everyone thinks ... in RIM, we need large pieces with regard to software management. Our team does not talk to each other properly, no one is doing and can make important decisions, while the working hours are crazy and yet we are still far behind. We are demotivated. Just look at who our main competitors: Apple, Google and Microsoft. These are three of the largest software company and the most talented of the planet. Now take a look at our software development team in terms of what they have delivered and their past experiences before arriving in RIM says it all ....
3) Reduce the bone projects :
There is a serious need to consolidate our attention to just a handful of projects.
We need to be covered here. We can not afford further action based on the demands of carriers to squeeze more volumes.Once again, return to step 1), let us focus only on end-user experience. They are the ones to make both purchase decisions, and consumer and enterprise.
The strategy is often the things that you decide not to do.
In this sense, we simply stop marketing products that are incomplete are not ready for the end user. This hurt our brand tremendously. It takes courage to not allow a product to market that might be ready to 90% at the end of the quarter on the way, but this will pay off in the long term.
Look at Apple in 1997 for advice. I really want to watch this video, because it has never been more relevant. And 'our friend Steve Jobs in 1997 and it could be you who speak to employees and partners with RIM today.
4) The developers, not the carriers can lead to success or failure :
We urgently need to invest as we have never done before to become developers-friendly. The return will be worth every penny invested. There is no polite way to say it, but it is true, applications for BlackBerry smartphones "suck". The playbook, with all his glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR / Flash.
Developing for BlackBerry is painful, and despite what you said, things have not really changed much from the point of Jamie Murai. Our SDK / development-platform is like a summary of the Ford Explorer 1990. Then there's Apple, which has a brand new BMW M3 ... just a pleasure to drive. The developers want and need quality tools.
If we create great tools, we will see great works. By offering tools like shit we do not have to be surprised to see applications of shit.
The truth is that nobody dares say RIM to bad management because they are still our development tools. Developers-even our closest partners are doing their best to put it politely, but they will never bite the hand that feeds them. The solution?Recruit talent, companies that specialize in buying SDK / API, providing a truckload of money to them ... we do everything we can, and quickly!
5) The need for a serious marketing campaign that will create desire in the end-users :
IPad 25 million users are worried that their device does not have Flash or a true multitasking, so why make such a focus in our marketing campaigns? I answer for you: why is all that differentiates our products and this is a lazy marketing. I've never seen someone buy the product B because it has something that the product does not have to. People buy the product because he wants to B and wants the product B.
Another important note regarding our marketing: the technical superiority of a product is not equivalent to the desire, and hence the Linux computer sales ... how many are sold? How did he go to Betamax? My mother wants an iPad and an iPhone because they are simple and attract. A powerful multi-tasking is not the same.
BlackBerry Messenger was our standout, but we wasted our marketing campaigns in strange stories to barber shop. I assure you, this did nothing to help us in mind of the average consumer.
We need an innovative and exciting advertising campaign, which focuses on what we can do. People buy a brand / product not only for its features, but also for what it represents and what it offers them. People do not buy "what you do," people buy "why you do it."
6) No responsibility, Canadians are too good :
RIM has a lot of people who undertake a little but still remain in their chair. No one is responsible. Where is the guy responsible for the software of the Storm 9530? Still with us, who is still driving some major software initiative. We can never achieve excellence with this culture. Just because someone may have been a loyal employee of RIM for 7 years, does not mean that is the best manager / director / VP for that role. It 'time to change the culture to deliver or go ahead and quit. We have too many people in critical roles that fit that description. I can hear the cheers of my colleagues now.
7) The press and analysts are pissed. It is not child's play. It 'time for the humility with a pinch of paranoia :
The public questions about the two CEOs are justified. The partnership is not broken, but the ground floor, this system is not efficient. Maybe we need our period of reign of Eric Schmidt.
Yes, we beat four years ago when everyone said that Microsoft Windows Mobile with Exchange Direct Push would kill us.But he did not ... in fact we have grown stronger.
However, the excessive confidence overshadows good decisions. We lost, not reacting to the threat with courage when we saw the iPhone in January four years ago. We laughed, saying they were trying to put a computer into a phone, and it would not work. We had to make a transition like for QNX at that time. Now we are 3-4 years too late. This is the painful truth ... it was a major strategic mistake, and we know who is responsible.
Jim, in reference to our current transition has recently said: "No other technology companies besides Apple has made a transition (platform) with success. It is almost never done, and it is more difficult than you realize. This transition is where technology companies go to die. "
To prevent this death, perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, innovative, CEO experience. There is no shame in not being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our Carrier / ... customers are our lifeblood.
8) Democratizing. Engage and interact with your employees, please :
Reach all employees asking how we can make better RIM. Encourage input from low-level teams, with no repercussions, to get honest feedback and really absorb it.
Finally, we are all reading the latest news and many are extremely nervous, especially when we see people being laid off.We need an injection of confidence, share your strategy and ask for support. Headhunters have already started shooting and we are at risk of losing our best people.
Now would be a perfect time for a re-brand domestic and re-energize the workplace. For example, renaming the company only in "BlackBerry", to indicate our attention on a new line of products based on QNX. We should also take additional decisions, how to make RIM a nice job. Some of our offices seem to be at work during the Soviet era.
The timing is perfect to seriously consider our position and to make these big changes. We can do it!
Sincerely,
RIM an employee.
How could you read this letter accurately reflects the critical situation in which there is currently Research In Motion, along with this letter I have been published by two other BGR, which focus in some of the points analyzed by the employee who wrote the anonymous letter above. Since these letters into the public domain, as they have been published by one of the most popular news sites in the world, RIM's response was swift,:
Research In Motion has decided to cut 11% of its workforce, or rather, his brains, about 2000 people would have ideas to improve the fortunes of the company . The cuts will focus on locations in North America and some other area, the cuts have started and will end this week.
There was also some slight change to the executive team, Thorsten Heins has now expanded role as COO for the products and sales. Other personnel changes have generally been confined to sales, marketing and operations, which really makes wonder if RIM is really convinced to change his future and that of its products this way. It is cutting thousands jobs that improve the prospects for the future of a company, you should rather invest in their employees, but first of all try to listen and understand what they say and ask .
Research In Motion , to be honest, it would be the only company in the world that could now compete on equal terms with Apple : how the Cupertino company has not only owns the operating system, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry OS Tablet, designs but also from their own smartphones. Below we offer you the letter that an employee was sent to RIM's Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, CEO of both, highlighting all the strategic and organizational problems.
"I lost confidence.
While hiding at work, my passion has waned. I know I'm not the only one, the feeling is widespread and includes many people in your team.
Mike and Jim, please take the time to really absorb and digest the contents of this letter because it reflects the sentiment in a huge percentage of your employees. You have many smart employees, many who have great ideas for the future, but unfortunately the culture of RIM does not allow us to speak openly, without worrying about the restrictive effects on our careers.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, I want to say that I am part of a large group of embittered people who want to embarrass us. Rather, I believe these points should be heard, because I wish that RIM desperately to regain its position as industry leader. Our carriers, distributors, our alliance partners, enterprise customers, and our faithful users, they all want the same thing .. that the BlackBerry is once again leading the pack.
We are in the midst of a period of "transition" and things have never been more chaotic. Almost every project falls into increasing delays, in a time when we absolutely have to deliver solid products and excellent time. We urge you to make important decisions about our organizational structure, our culture and, above all, about our products.
While I look forward to seeing the details of the rationalization plan, here are some suggestions:
1) Let's focus on end-user experience :
Ossessioniamoci on what can be better for the end user. Often we make decisions on the basis of our strategic alignment, based on the requests of our partners or on the basis of legal advice, do not worry about the end user. We simply have to admit that Apple has balked at this and is one of the reasons why people have lined up overnight outside stores around the world, and depleted stocks for months. These people are not hypnotized zombies, simply love beautiful products designed around you and act like are supposed to work. Android has a great weakness, will never achieve the simplicity and elegance that comes from the software end-to-end, the middleware and hardware control. We have a really great opportunity to build something new, "only BlackBerry" with the QNX platform.
We start shooting an innovative internal teams focused on what users will appreciate instead of pursuing equality and competitive product differentiation on the basis of any good reason (Adobe Flash is one of the most important). When was the last time we presented an important new experience or new feature that was not already present on other platforms?
Rather than constantly ridiculing the iPhone and Android, we should encourage key decision makers across the board to use these products as a primary device for a week or so, at a time - is in rotation! In this way we can understand why our people go to the competition and get inspiration on how we can build our new generation of products even better! It 'is incomprehensible that our software engineers and our leaders do not use and are not familiar with the products of our competitors.
2) Take SW Senior Leader and allow decision making at lower levels :
I'm going to say what everyone thinks ... in RIM, we need large pieces with regard to software management. Our team does not talk to each other properly, no one is doing and can make important decisions, while the working hours are crazy and yet we are still far behind. We are demotivated. Just look at who our main competitors: Apple, Google and Microsoft. These are three of the largest software company and the most talented of the planet. Now take a look at our software development team in terms of what they have delivered and their past experiences before arriving in RIM says it all ....
3) Reduce the bone projects :
There is a serious need to consolidate our attention to just a handful of projects.
We need to be covered here. We can not afford further action based on the demands of carriers to squeeze more volumes.Once again, return to step 1), let us focus only on end-user experience. They are the ones to make both purchase decisions, and consumer and enterprise.
The strategy is often the things that you decide not to do.
In this sense, we simply stop marketing products that are incomplete are not ready for the end user. This hurt our brand tremendously. It takes courage to not allow a product to market that might be ready to 90% at the end of the quarter on the way, but this will pay off in the long term.
Look at Apple in 1997 for advice. I really want to watch this video, because it has never been more relevant. And 'our friend Steve Jobs in 1997 and it could be you who speak to employees and partners with RIM today.
4) The developers, not the carriers can lead to success or failure :
We urgently need to invest as we have never done before to become developers-friendly. The return will be worth every penny invested. There is no polite way to say it, but it is true, applications for BlackBerry smartphones "suck". The playbook, with all his glorious power, looks like a Fisher Price toy with its Adobe AIR / Flash.
Developing for BlackBerry is painful, and despite what you said, things have not really changed much from the point of Jamie Murai. Our SDK / development-platform is like a summary of the Ford Explorer 1990. Then there's Apple, which has a brand new BMW M3 ... just a pleasure to drive. The developers want and need quality tools.
If we create great tools, we will see great works. By offering tools like shit we do not have to be surprised to see applications of shit.
The truth is that nobody dares say RIM to bad management because they are still our development tools. Developers-even our closest partners are doing their best to put it politely, but they will never bite the hand that feeds them. The solution?Recruit talent, companies that specialize in buying SDK / API, providing a truckload of money to them ... we do everything we can, and quickly!
5) The need for a serious marketing campaign that will create desire in the end-users :
Another important note regarding our marketing: the technical superiority of a product is not equivalent to the desire, and hence the Linux computer sales ... how many are sold? How did he go to Betamax? My mother wants an iPad and an iPhone because they are simple and attract. A powerful multi-tasking is not the same.
BlackBerry Messenger was our standout, but we wasted our marketing campaigns in strange stories to barber shop. I assure you, this did nothing to help us in mind of the average consumer.
We need an innovative and exciting advertising campaign, which focuses on what we can do. People buy a brand / product not only for its features, but also for what it represents and what it offers them. People do not buy "what you do," people buy "why you do it."
6) No responsibility, Canadians are too good :
RIM has a lot of people who undertake a little but still remain in their chair. No one is responsible. Where is the guy responsible for the software of the Storm 9530? Still with us, who is still driving some major software initiative. We can never achieve excellence with this culture. Just because someone may have been a loyal employee of RIM for 7 years, does not mean that is the best manager / director / VP for that role. It 'time to change the culture to deliver or go ahead and quit. We have too many people in critical roles that fit that description. I can hear the cheers of my colleagues now.
7) The press and analysts are pissed. It is not child's play. It 'time for the humility with a pinch of paranoia :
The public questions about the two CEOs are justified. The partnership is not broken, but the ground floor, this system is not efficient. Maybe we need our period of reign of Eric Schmidt.
Yes, we beat four years ago when everyone said that Microsoft Windows Mobile with Exchange Direct Push would kill us.But he did not ... in fact we have grown stronger.
However, the excessive confidence overshadows good decisions. We lost, not reacting to the threat with courage when we saw the iPhone in January four years ago. We laughed, saying they were trying to put a computer into a phone, and it would not work. We had to make a transition like for QNX at that time. Now we are 3-4 years too late. This is the painful truth ... it was a major strategic mistake, and we know who is responsible.
Jim, in reference to our current transition has recently said: "No other technology companies besides Apple has made a transition (platform) with success. It is almost never done, and it is more difficult than you realize. This transition is where technology companies go to die. "
To prevent this death, perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new, innovative, CEO experience. There is no shame in not being a CEO. Mike, you could focus on innovation. Jim, you could focus on our Carrier / ... customers are our lifeblood.
8) Democratizing. Engage and interact with your employees, please :
Reach all employees asking how we can make better RIM. Encourage input from low-level teams, with no repercussions, to get honest feedback and really absorb it.
Finally, we are all reading the latest news and many are extremely nervous, especially when we see people being laid off.We need an injection of confidence, share your strategy and ask for support. Headhunters have already started shooting and we are at risk of losing our best people.
Now would be a perfect time for a re-brand domestic and re-energize the workplace. For example, renaming the company only in "BlackBerry", to indicate our attention on a new line of products based on QNX. We should also take additional decisions, how to make RIM a nice job. Some of our offices seem to be at work during the Soviet era.
The timing is perfect to seriously consider our position and to make these big changes. We can do it!
Sincerely,
RIM an employee.
How could you read this letter accurately reflects the critical situation in which there is currently Research In Motion, along with this letter I have been published by two other BGR, which focus in some of the points analyzed by the employee who wrote the anonymous letter above. Since these letters into the public domain, as they have been published by one of the most popular news sites in the world, RIM's response was swift,:
Research In Motion has decided to cut 11% of its workforce, or rather, his brains, about 2000 people would have ideas to improve the fortunes of the company . The cuts will focus on locations in North America and some other area, the cuts have started and will end this week.
There was also some slight change to the executive team, Thorsten Heins has now expanded role as COO for the products and sales. Other personnel changes have generally been confined to sales, marketing and operations, which really makes wonder if RIM is really convinced to change his future and that of its products this way. It is cutting thousands jobs that improve the prospects for the future of a company, you should rather invest in their employees, but first of all try to listen and understand what they say and ask .
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