"Nothing Is Off The Table" Warns Microsoft CEO

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wants to change the whole culture of the company through a wide range of changes and tweaks that come with the warning “nothing is off the table”.

In a lengthily letter to staff quoted by PC World, Nadella explained that the “important steps to visibly change our culture” are being implemented to position Microsoft as a company where “smart, curious, ambitious people” can do “their best work”.

“Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy. Organizations will change. Mergers and acquisitions will occur. Job responsibilities will evolve. New partnerships will be formed. Tired traditions will be questioned. Our priorities will be adjusted. New skills will be built. New ideas will be heard. New hires will be made. Processes will be simplified,” he stated.

The change in business culture is needed in order for Microsoft to become the best “productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world.” In this regard, Nadella has put it to every team in the company to devise working processes that are faster and more efficient with everyone from the top downwards being persuaded to adopt the new approach.

“Culture change means we will do things differently. Often people think that means everyone other than them. In reality, it means all of us taking a new approach and working together to make Microsoft better,” Nadella stated.

Microsoft will “modernise” its engineering processes so they are geared towards customer needs, and more data driven, as well as being faster and more focused on quality. To “reduce the amount of time and energy it takes to get things done” in engineering teams there will be less people making decisions and more accountability.

Every engineering group gets new “data and applied sciences” resources that are concentrated on measuring outcomes on products and forecasting future trends thus resulting in increased innovation.

Software engineering teams, on the other hand, will grow and allow information to travel faster “with fewer breaking points” between thinking up a product and delivering it to the end consumer.

Nadella’s Microsoft will also up the ante when it comes to investing in employee training and development, issue more encouragement for new ideas and innovation incubation, and employees will get increased room for manoeuvre within the company.

The new mobile-first, cloud-first strategy being adopted by Microsoft has already seen one extensive reshuffle in April and as Nadella’s vision is realised you can only imagine there will be even more movement.