If so, what event made you think that?
7 replies (most recent on top)
Steve Herrod was a climber who knew the founders. He started as a manager and eventually became CTO. He didn't particularly add any value, other than being a handsome man with a nice smile.
Form over substance.
Who was Steve Herrod and when was he at the company?
When Steve Herrod left the company.
Company is choking itself to death internally because of Legal and Security barriers that ki-l all progress in the field.
This company is a joke as a cloud and infrastructure provider. They can't even run their own infrastructure and clouds smoothly. Just try using any of the internal tools or look at how dysfunctional the internal processes are. Id--ts in charge.
Excellent assessment by the previous commenter. There is definitely no sizzle right now, particularly among the executive ranks (mostly a revolving door of talking heads). No clear strategy (much less an exciting one), products are very scattered and the new customer success stuff is laughable.
Eh. Middle aged company with less growth shows signs of aging?
I'd say, average...trending toward more average...plenty of life left in the old lady, but not as exciting as she used to be. Maybe getting a new knee or hip this year will help bounce the stock price for a decade.
I don't know if it's 'jumped the shark' vs 'large company noticed it's not a small startup and hasn't been for awhile'. Half the company is still in denial and thinks that process documentation and planning for something in advance is for suckers.
Hiring competent people for sales and biz operations would be like admitting Microsoft and IBM have won over the plucky software independents who need to be nimble to innovate (aka, pick features for release based on engineering whim and not market demand or sustainability)
The VP of biz transformation left 'to spend time with family' right before the front office and back office transformation was supposed to roll out. BU R&D and Internal IT still aren't working in lockstep, but maybe this will get better. Maybe.
Sales leaders still focused on landing big accounts but not as invested in growing future mid market.
More self guided Saas tools for that market might help if it ever goes live.
Every BU, even after last year's reorg to consolidate them, promptly set up silos under the new BU to replicate the previous split of responsibility.
There is a weird flex and prestige internally to hiring consultants over and over who have no intention of 'finishing' something, vs just creating a real centralized PMO for Global Business Operations that isn't helping free up funds to attract top talent.
Rehashing the same transformation plan every year with all new consultants is getting old, maybe some of the lessons will stick eventually and someone will push code.
Global Support is still treated like a relative no one wants to hear from, rather than being part of the design process when making new integrated products.
No central, global business strategy owner from the top down. Geos can hold up internal improvements for years and waste a ton of money. BUs can ignore Geos input for market considerations, so products are launched unevenly.
MD has publicly stated many times he isn't a fan of ESPPs or RSUs so VMW salaries aren't as great, and opportunities for equity suck outside of a core group in Sales and Engineering.
VMware hasn't offered in the US to extend things like student loan reimbursement to employees, and only budgets a tiny amount for college reimbursement each quarter. Health insurance costs in the US still suck.
On the upside, it is a software company. You never know where that next spark might appear to completely reinvent the industry.