Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Hi Chuck - Software quality has been a problem at Cisco for your entire reign.

Software quality was a problem in the 1990s when it was just IOS. In the 200Xs they added IOS-XR, IOS-XE and NX-OS, all of which were bug riddled and many branches never completed nightly builds more than once or twice a month. By the time Chuck took over it was a pit so deep Cisco will never be able to dig it's way out.

It’s the CEOs fault he outsourced annd offshored it all. And chambers.

There wasn't much offshoring in the 1990s when the code quality at Cisco was still garbage. Those offshore quickly adopted the bad habits developed in the US.

Rather than outsourcing, Cisco was dragging stuff the other direction by acquiring companies, many of which were also US based. Those who were any good quit the day they vested because they knew that staying at Cisco was career death. It's those acquisitions that define the current company with revenues and earnings that still dwarf its competitors.

Go look up the origin story for Cisco. They couldn't even develop their first products - they were taken from Stanford without permission. This fantasy that there were good old days and if it weren't for some X which came along long after the damage was done everything would be great again is simply insane.

@4vva+1m0UkFkM

Hi Chuck - Software quality has been a problem at Cisco for your entire reign. The huge amount of money Cisco has had to spend fixing customer issues could have been used to create the next wave of growth. You know, like Microsoft.

You won't take responsibility for your inaction and attempt to blame the minions. That's real leadership right there.

It’s the CEOs fault he outsourced annd offshored it all. And chambers.

Who do you believe is accountable for those two facts?

I definitely blame more than 90% of the software engineers along with lower levels software management. Basic software quality is about eight levels below the CEO's responsibility which is more focused outside the company than in. CEOs build image and relationships with suppliers, partners, customers, investors, etc... and leave the details to the lower layers, and those lower layers are directly responsible for a wide range of expensive mistakes. Saying "the ELT was stupid enough to hire us so it's their fault" is worse than a cop out. The ELT is stuck with most of you because no one better will take your jobs.

"Cisco probably wouldn't have to lay thousands of employees off each year if it actually focused on innovation instead of indoctrination."

That's like telling Macys they would be worth more money if they transitioned to manufacturing airplanes. Cisco has always been a sales & marketing company, we are really good at marketing ourselves as a technology company.

"People who “maintain” (I can’t really use the word “fix”) the equivalent of nearly 40 year old COBOL are by definition the opposite of innovative and they along with a management chain that’s built almost immutable metrics that are designed to prevent innovation are the obstacles..."

Do you even read what you write? Cisco is still running on 40 year old code and has management metrics that prevent it from innovating.

Who do you believe is accountable for those two facts?

The ELT.

Cisco probably wouldn't have to lay thousands of employees off each year if it actually focused on innovation instead of indoctrination.

They didn’t have to teach people to be tolerant for most of the past 30 years yet the quality has always been poor and the work has mostly been trying to maintain code from acquisitions until it dug itself so far into the ground that they needed more acquisitions, so your assertion is clearly false.

People who “maintain” (I can’t really use the word “fix”) the equivalent of nearly 40 year old COBOL are by definition the opposite of innovative and they along with a management chain that’s built almost immutable metrics that are designed to prevent innovation are the obstacles, and short of firing almost everyone and finding hundreds of capable people who can refactor and fix four or more routing/switching operating systems there won’t be the development dollars and talent to develop new technologies. To quote Elon Musk out of context, “no one who could do the job would take it” because it means wasting a decade or more fixing things before innovating which they can do elsewhere right now.

“Oh, the ELT!” “Oh, people who differ from me in trivial ways!” Most of the posts to this site are saying the company is going nowhere and many posts are written by employees who are also going nowhere. Figure it out.

"As for the social issues, if you need all 2,040 paid hours a year to fail to learn that tolerance is necessary for freedom the more complex skills required by any company are clearly beyond your reach."

Cisco probably wouldn't have to lay thousands of employees off each year if it actually focused on innovation instead of indoctrination.

It's fun watching the individual contributors argue over social issues while the executives pad their bank accounts.

It's funny how you never hear the "individual contributors" who were pining for the good old days here complaining that they were given millions in stock options to write extremely poor quality code. They padded their bank accounts pretty well too. The same goes for many kids pulling six digits straight out of college who will become the next generation of useless older engineers.

As for the social issues, if you need all 2,040 paid hours a year to fail to learn that tolerance is necessary for freedom the more complex skills required by any company are clearly beyond your reach.

@1ruj+1m0UkFkM Bro don’t be so naive. Chuck is a red neck. He uses it for show at the checkins. It has zero impact on actual work being done. Stop wasting your time (and therefore contributing to the downfall of Cisco) with silly distractions and get back to work!

"Zero mention of the maniacal focus on liberal social issues and what toll this has taken on the company."

Liberal social issues took the attention away from our lackluster products. It also kept employees distracted on social issues instead of compensation and health insurance costs.

It's fun watching the individual contributors argue over social issues while the executives pad their bank accounts. $$$$

Zero mention of the maniacal focus on liberal social issues and what toll this has taken on the company. In my time at Cisco I saw way more time spent on these topics at all hands vs. the actual business. This has absolutely had a negative impact on the business and employees. Leadership has failed to realize they are running a business and instead using the companies cash to further their social views. The board needs to clean house. This is exactly why at this point I own zero shares of Cisco other than what may be in mutual funds.

How many multi-billion dollar companies did Cisco create by not funding internally developed ideas while simultaneously laying off tens of thousands of engineers?

But hey, Chambers, Robbins, and the Board all accumulated several multi-million dollar homes, private jets, luxury vacations, etc. while stifling innovation.

Cisco is still living off of the innovation created in the 90s. Since 2001, it's just been a bank - collecting checks from their installed base and distributing the profits to shareholders and senior executives.

Cisco hasn't delivered any significant market innovation for two decades. This is why employees have an annual target on their backs. The senior executives have to ensure they can pump up the stock price via cost savings to pay for their second and third homes.

The level of buy backs was a surprise.No wonder IoT and 5g are passing us by.2 more technology shifts that we will miss.
At the moment it's not even about the lack of innovation ( which doesn't exist anyway), we are actively defunding so much due to cash flow shortages in the BUs.

That’s insane!! I knew stock buybacks were huge but not basically all profit since 2001!