Juniper was a more than a decent company to work for, and I personally took pride in working there. Now it seems like a disoriented company with nothing new to offer, where the very thing that we were ashamed of once is now promoted as a corporate standard. What bugs me the most is the fact that I am not able to determine what led to all of this and when it took a turn for the worst. Maybe I was preoccupied with the work or even chose subconsciously chose to look the other way from those processes, but I can't figure out how once a great company reached the ultimate moral and cultural low.
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I actually don’t think Juniper has changed much. And that’s the problem. The competition has improved. And SP capex ain’t growing like it was 10 years ago.
What's the point in burning a crumpled piece of paper, when they have already set the whole place ablaze?
As mzo rightly pointed out this happened at turn of this decade. By mid 2010 most bright and best people had jumped ship. Personally had witnessed teams working tirelessly across quarters and taking pride in what they did. Mostly mediocre talent and pathetic management was left at J post 2010, few good ones who stuck around eventually became victims. Unfortunate but true - people who really made difference are long gone.!
I feel it too, brothers and sisters. Even when things were dysfunctional in my group, I still thought junpr as a company had promise and generally did the right thing. Not feeling that way anymore. I hope they call it for what it is and at the ridiculous 'winter wonderland' company meeting just have a print out of juniper way, crumple it up in a ball, and set it on fire. Does anyone think they will do the employees engagement survey this year? Hahahahaha
You have a leader who is too tied to the love of his products, and came up from glory days when routing was king. He even dusted off some old leaders from the glory days and brought them back out of retirement. Such a shame when you have blinders on to the market and the customer.
I think it all goes back to Elliott Management and their demands.
Juniper went off the rails when DWard left and PS forced the acquisition of Connedtrail. Any momentum to do true organic innovation died. Momentum kept things going through subsequent disasters (IOP) but the magic was gone. Jnpr is now paying the price for a true lack of technical leadership and vision and purpose.
It has indeed changed and unforgettably not for the better.
The culture of accountability and lack of interoperability between units has existed for over a decade. Too many political do-nothing fiefdoms predominate.
At one point, it didn't matter, as products were being sold regardless.
Nowdays, the market has changed and companies must innovate/pivot on a 1-2 year dime. You can't do this when the framework to EXECUTE is SLOSH. Juniper's feet are tied. Usually always has been that way the last decade.
You have to organizationally/culturally terraform the place so execution and innovation can return.
Stagnant leadership cannot prevail when competition is moving around you like Floyd Mayweather.
Arista is a perfect example of how they're pivoting....aaaand, btw, using LOADS of ex-Juniper people to do it! So then is it the people? No (both companies share the same talent, after all). Is it the culture/leadership? YES (Arista is nimbly executing with their culture, Juniper is not). Heck, even Cisco with their huge size but better culture of groups working together can turn their behemoth boat around. Juniper's ant nest is vastly smaller so there shouldn't be a reason for such massive dysfunction innovation/execution to exist.
I think the turning point was in 2008 when SK became chairman and KJ became CEO. It wasn't obvious back then that Juniper would just spiral down.