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September 07, 2004
Office Supplies
Larry Osterman, my former co-worker on NT, discusses the recent cost-cutting moves at Microsoft, specifically the fact that office supplies are now only stocked on the first floor of each building, instead of on every floor. He also references Dare Obasanjo's more sarcastic take on the same issue.I do find this particular cut annoying, and it's true that conference rooms never seem to have whiteboard markers. BUT I question the implied assumption that executives did not consider this scenario when planning this change. YES, it is possible that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer live in such a rarefied space, where their admins have admins, and everybody else they talk to has admins, and they have technical assistants who probably pre-check any conference room they are going to be in for adequate marker supplies (and they have their own private conference rooms to boot)...it's possible that it never occurred to them that this policy might result in a meeting being delayed while someone went to get markers. However, I doubt it. I think Bill and Steve are perfectly capable of playing the mental game called Let's Imagine a World Where Supplies Are Only On the First Floor, and anticipate precisely the scenario that Larry lays out, and despite that, still decide to proceed with the new supply policy.
Not sure if that makes it better or worse, however.
Posted by AdamBa at September 7, 2004 09:45 PM
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