NetApp

The much-vaunted NetApp culture still exists. Perks are great, pay is good, and the company really does have some moral grounding and a strong set of core values. Work-life balance is generally good, and executive-level management is decent and respected.

Several factors are working to destroy the NetApp culture: the current economic climate, the company's growing headcount, and ineffective middle management, etc.

The focal (review) process is not equitable; stack ranking is very much a reality here, and if you are fortunate enough to find yourself on a high-performing team, it could cost you.

From an execution standpoint, the old "Fast, Simple, Reliable" NetApp is rapidly eroding, mostly in the simplicity area. ONTAP is immensely complex, and the company only gives lip service to simplifying it. Manageability is terrible, in part due to that group being poorly run, but also because the ONTAP group refuses to acknowledge their own (large) part in that being the case. Geographic diversity within many teams is a problem, as is an over-reliance on the Bangalore site, which produces products of questionable quality.

Tom Georgens is great at projecting optimism under pretty much any circumstance. That's usually great, but I think he does it so effectively that when things turn out badly, employees really feel blindsided. Case in point: recent layoffs.

The focal process needs work. In particular, the company should take a cue from Microsoft, which has run away from the process that NetApp seems to be running toward. Stack ranking pits employees against one another instead of against NetApp's competition.