https://www.quora.com/Was-it-Qualcomms-fault-that-it-ended-up-as-what-it-is-today
10 replies (most recent on top)
Anon8041: Great post.
Here is the problem: if you get paid big bucks - and our management does - then you can't just take the praise when things go well, you have to take responsibility when they go badly also.The reality is our success has largely been due to our legacy position in the market, not because of the genius moves by the management. They have been largely missing in action. Junior was busy with other things and S&M has been focused on one thing: how to not do a thing. May go down as the least involved manager at Q. So, no surprise when the tide turned these guys were sleep at the switch. Not that there weren'the signals, but our team was sitting home complacent and counting their loot. Daddy Jacobs must be the most disappointment person on the planet.
Months ago MR+SM touted the 810 switched gear to 64bit with no delay. He took credit not the fall.
what are these VP level all-hands that people keep talking about? Sounds like a good idea.
Meh. Part of the problem is that articles like this that attempt to be objective inevitably wind up blaming something as nebulous as "fate," or in this case, "economic forces" as a cause of the problem. Let's lay a little blame where it truly belongs: at the feet of Qualcomm's management structure. First, the chip started out as a 32-bit deal back in 2013. Then when Apple announced their new phones would have 64-bit chip, word came down from RM that the new 810 chip would be 64-bit. QCOM had originally not planned to release a 64-bit chip until late the following year. Second, the scope of the project grew considerably without the ship date changing very much. Third, the 64-bit ARM software similar to the krait was still unfinished and was not of the same quality as the 32-bit in terms of both the kernel and Android userspace. Fourth, the project required far more coordination between divisions and groups than Dirs. and VPs were willing to allot to it, both in terms of planning the product for efficient utilization of time, and the workforce allotted. Many segments of the project were short-staffed, because PMs and Dirs. were more interested in guarding their internal political fiefdoms by covering their asses. Finally, it was not until about April of 2015 that management even admitted that this was one of the most difficult projects undertaken by QCOM. In the meantime, engineers who failed to meet the time limits were downgraded on reviews--despite the fact that this was a management f*ck-up that started at the highest levels.
Same way our VP was trying to motivate us in post layoff allhands ,All done NO more layoff and things looking very rosy looking forward...LOL
*dumb
I don't believe our executes are that dump and not see it coming and they aligned our interest accordingly and profited hugely from it. What they project and say in all hands has nothing much to do with underlying realities,It's show to keep folks motivated and work hard....do you think MR or SM will say in all hand that OMG,we may be in serious trouble in 2-3 years if we cant come up with some solution??? and do you think they can keep their job if they say that?..
Makes sense so that Q execs can cash in bonus, stocks options at the time;
It's kinda funny because last year when most of competitors in China were already predicting a slowdown and saturation in the mobile markets for China (IE Spreadtrum, MediaTek,etc), Q management was still stating of ridiculous growth targets. It left a lot of the execs at other companies thinking "what kind of crack qualcomm was smoking?"
Commoditization of mobile market makes what Q is today.