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A Microsoft veteran reveals the company's insider strategies and interviews "Microsofties" to learn how they launch new products, design Web sites, and more.
List of contents
ContentsIntroduction
1. People: Hiring the Best and Keeping ThemHiring the BestNew Employee Success Factors
Hire the Person for Three Jobs, Not One
Retaining the StarsWhen Making Changes, a Little Human Goes a Long Way
Five Ways to Make Sure Your Employees Will Look for Another Job
Don't Wait until They Threaten to Leave (to Find Out What They Need to Stay)
Be As Religious about Retention As You Are about Recruiting
Turn Everyday Assignments into Employee Compensation
Settlers vs. PioneersLet the Pioneers Go a Little Wild
Settlers Need to Innovate without Putting the Business in Jeopardy
At Some Point, a Pioneering Project Turns into a Settler Business
Competitors Can Teach You Interesting Things, and Not Just about ProductsMake Your Own Map of the Stars
Employee Surveys
Junior Boardroom: Training the Next Level
Setting Up the Sales Force to SucceedOrganizing Everything around Customers
Data Analysis: Examining the Market, Setting Goals
Creating Global Initiatives that Everyone Owns
Setting Up Compensation to Meet Corporate Goals
2. Doing Business on the WebDon't Abandon Your Web Site When It Is "Complete"
Make It Sticky
Walk through Your Web Site
Get in Front of a Bad Experience
Constant Product Improvements
Use Your Customer Contacts
Free Samples on the Web
Your Web Site: Space for Quiet Reading or Place to Get Things Done?
Building Your Community
There Is No Manufacturing...or Is There?
Advertising: No Time to Be Cute
Communicating with Netiquette3. New ProductsWhat a Dumb Idea? You Might Not Be the Right Person to Make That Statement
Change the Center of Gravity
Right Target and The Right Time
Integration Day
A Core Business Will Be Jealously Guarded
Teaming Up with a Competitor to Enter a New Market
Keeping It Simple Takes a Lot of Thought -- the Message Is the Message
To Ship or Not to Ship....4. Not-So-New ProductsMomentum Releases and Other Tricks to Keep Your Product in the NewsPress Buddies
Rapid Response Teams
Momentum Press Releases
Ride Someone's Coattails to Get the Most Out of a Small Budget
Create a Shadow Competition
Who Is Your Competitor?
Your Worst Critics Can Turn into Your Biggest Advocates
A Defense So Strong It Becomes an Offense
Just Because Customers Didn't Ask for It, Doesn't Mean They Don't Want It
Don't Fix It, Feature It
Shut Down and Salvage5. The Partners You May Not Think of As Partners (Coworkers, Service Agencies, Dealers, the Press)Getting the Most Out of Your Hired AgenciesInformative, Inspiring Input to Generate Creative Compelling Output
Involve the Agency Early
The Ad Team Should Create the Ad
One Agency Doesn't Fit All
The Right-Flavored Carrot Along with the Properly Sharpened Stick
In a New Job, Start with What You Already Know
Absent Partners: Be Nice, Even When They're Not in the Room
Think You've Really Screwed Up?
Managing through People's Filters
Starting with a Graceful Exit
If Something's Eating Up Your Time, Make Sure Your Boss Agrees on the Menu
Let Your Boss Say No (to Other People)
Keep the Pricing Simple so Your Distributors Can Concentrate on Selling the ProductEpilogue
About the author
Julie Bick is the author of
All I Really Need to Know in Business I Learned at Microsoft and
The Microsoft Edge.
Summary
How did the team at Microsoft pioneer, build, and shepherd the company through exponential growth in a constantly changing market? How can you apply what they've discovered to your own career? Microsoft veteran Julie Bick reveals all the insider strategies in this invaluable book, packed with on-the-job insights and practical techniques.
From vice presidents to front-line managers, Bick interviews Microsofties to learn how they:
- Launch new products and get the most out of not-so-new products
- Design websites and do business on the Internet
- Work with service agencies, dealers, coworkers, and the press
- Hire the best people they can and keep them happy
Additional text
The Orlando Sentinel (FL) What better way to learn the most cutting-edge business strategies than to take a glimpse behind the scenes of one of today's most successful companies? Bick...offers precisely this in her newest book.
