IBM

I worked with some very high-caliber people dedicated to producing a high-quality product for more than 14 years. I had some very good opportunities to grow my technical skills, to mentor new team members, and to grow a team to a high level of performance and professionalism. We were building world-class technology, and it was fun doing it.

All of the good was undone by the company's single-minded policy of only thinking of shareholder value. Nothing else mattered, and all costs that could be cut were, to ludicrous extremes. Between the shareholder-only policy and an army of project managers, executive project managers, and program managers, all requiring status updates on a daily basis for their respective VP chains, it became difficult to actually get any quality work accomplished.

I was glad when I was selected for a severance and layoff from a team that I had loved, within a company I had grown to despise. The atmosphere had morphed from one of fostering creativity to one of instilling fear. Fear of the constant layoffs, fear of the stack ranking system, and fear of being asked to work just one more weekend (like so many other weekends). I had coined IBM as having a siege mentality for years, and this is how it felt. Barring the door from even good opportunities because the teams were so overloaded trying to keep up with current workloads with greatly reduced resources. Reduced not just in numbers but also in terms of capability.

After being laid off and actually slowing down, I was able to look at the situation objectively for how "nuts" it had gotten. I talk to my former colleagues frequently, and they tell me that it's only gotten worse. I can't imagine. I'm glad that I no longer work there full-time, although I do miss working on the product I'd spend so many years pouring my life into.

If you don't value your highly skilled technical contributors, someone else will - it's as simple as that.

At the end of the day in software development, one person is not equal to another person. A very good programmer/designer is worth much more than two or three, even five, who can't think outside the box. This is what you're creating by laying off the "old and expensive" (read experienced) and putting your entire "bet" on off-shoring -- and it shows in IBM's lack of leadership in the industry.

My advice: reduce the levels of management and VPs. In other words, half of management should resign. The "troops" have been decimated; it's time to decimate the generals who drove the company into this state.

Start to value PEOPLE again.