Curiouser and Curiouser! on character http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic character Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb The twittering of the no-birds Sun, 09 Oct 2005 09:31:42 +0100 <p>I was reading an article by Mini about <a href="http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2005/10/middle-managers-bureaucracy-and-no.html#c112873672498385918">management at Microsoft</a> and a quote by <a href="http://spaces.msn.com/members/kenmo/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c01_blogpart=blogmgmt&_c=blogpart">Ken Moss</a>, general manager of search at Microsoft, caught my attention:<blockquote><p>No Birds</p><p>2 1/2 years ago, I was asked to be the technical leader for a new team that would build from scratch a world-class search engine. Google already had a huge lead in quality and market share – and many people within Microsoft said "no way" or "Ken, you’re taking a no-win job" or "MSN doesn’t have the technical skills" or even "you’re going to have to use Linux…" I call these people the "no-birds".</p><p>Now, it’s important to distinguish the no-birds from people who are constructively criticizing. No-birds are usually very creative and intelligent people, but their efforts are misguided. All they care about is shooting down ideas. They take pride in talking loudly, getting listened to, and are content measuring their impact based on any change in a plan – even if it’s just making things so confusing that nothing gets done. They secretly are happy when things are screwed up. They are worthless.</p></blockquote>This worries me. I talk loudly, I like being listened to, and I like having impact. I often feel that I can be overly negative and critical. It makes me wonder, am I (sometimes) a <em>no-bird</em>?</p> <p>In my defence I try to admit when I'm wrong about things (which will allow other people to weigh whether they listen to me) and I always try to suggest how I would improve whatever it is we are talking about. Then I try to do it.</p> <p>Hmmmm. How can you know when you have the balance between criticism and support right?</p> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00003016.html