Thread regarding VMware layoffs

As an employee who been part of many Broadcom/CA style buy outs I would like to give some advice to the GMs of VMware on how to handle the buyout.

1. DO NOT PRE-layoff unless required. You think you will look better to Broadcom or show you can make cuts. This will not help you. It will send feeder employees out to poach yours later and possibly scare your star employees away. You need to focus your political cache on how to create a team to get through the buyout. This is the best way to protect yourself. Don’t worry about layoffs and margins Broadcom is an expert in it.
2. ASAP promote and give raises to anyone who you think will help you post buyout. Promote any who fits four of these five criteria. (Engineer, reasonably close to promotion, someone you want to keep, someone who could survive the first layoff, someone who will work at Broadcom) Promoting an employee could help save them. The bean counters instead of seeing an overpriced engineer, will see an at market senior engineer.
3. Move people you want to keep to core products. Pet projects get cut first.
4. Try to figure out and protect the people who could stay on with Broadcom for a couple of year. I have seen many of GM fight tooth and nail for an employee who they liked that the entire division knew would leave and let the less favored employee who could work at Broadcom get cut. In the end being left with neither and a lost position.
5. Think Broadcom not VMware. Think adaptable and multi-function with less employees. You will lose lots of non-engineering employees. You will need engineers who can function and work without an interdivision IT, product management, program managers, etc…. I have watched projects delayed for months waiting for Broadcom IT to setup a network because all the code centric developers were unwilling or unable to set it up.
6. Be kind. Broadcom will do the cutting coldly, professionally, efficiently, and cleanly. You do not need to be mean in anyway. Don’t get angry cause an employee slacks off on a sunny Friday. Focus on determining and protecting the right 25%, be nice to the other 75%. 75% of your division is likely gone in less then two years and unless you figure out, keep, nurture, and protect the right ones you will be among them.