Microsoft

I worked with creative, intelligent, passionate people. The environment was supportive, giving me all the resources I needed. Everyone was generous with their time and knowledge.

The company's products are driven by the marketing department. If marketing thinks the customers want something, then resources are dedicated to it. If marketing doesn't think customers are clamoring for something, it is actively resisted, because you get no rewards for creating features that marketing doesn't want.

This means that innovation and creativity are inherently locked out of product development, because by their nature new ideas aren't yet being asked for by customers. It's foolish and short-sighted by utterly entrenched, and every kind of compensation reinforces this policy.

Anticipate what people want and deliver that, rather than catching up with what others have already delivered.

Devote a group of people to legacy support and create new systems, from Windows to Office and beyond, that start fresh and aren't hobbled by backward compatibility.

Write every error message as though the entire management hierarchy's personal home phone numbers were on the message.

Put the customer first, rather than putting the computer first.