Why can’t Microsoft get it right first time?

Owen Williams asks Why can’t Microsoft get products right on the first try? He talks about problems with recent products which mean following a big launch with a series of fixes.

It’s a good question. I’ve followed Microsoft for 30 years. Over the years I've seen dozens of poor product launches and the experience means I have some insight into this.

Microsoft has always done things this way. Getting things wrong first time simply didn’t matter when the company had an effective monopoly. Customers, business partners and the whole damn world had no choice but to stumble along behind Microsoft.

Microsoft has improved

Believe it or not, Microsoft is now better. Remember how it took Microsoft until version 3.1 for a version of the Windows operating system to be usable? That period ran from 1985 until 1992.

Microsoft didn't get Windows right the first time, or the second time or even the third time.

Sloppy was fine when Microsoft’s competitors were dolts. Today Microsoft is up against sharp opposition who leave no leeway.

You might realistically think that stumbling towards getting products right no longer works, but Google has been just as bad.

A distinct lack of focus

Despite turning over US$75 billion a year and thousands of employees, Microsoft is unable to focus. It’s a company that can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

I put that down to poor top leadership which in turn means an out of touch old-fashioned structure where the various parts of the company compete with each other for resources and top management attention. This automatically ensures the various parts don’t join up.

Microsoft won’t go away – at least not in the short term – but it is sleepwalking toward irrelevance. The market won’t forgive many more stumbles.