Mini-Microsoft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mini-Microsoft is the name of a blog maintained by an anonymous Microsoft employee. The term is also generally used as a pseudonym for the author of the blog, although on the site the author is listed as "Who da'Punk". The nominal goal of the site is to shrink Microsoft down to a smaller, more efficient company, but Mini-Microsoft has become a place where Microsoft employees and others engage in an open discussion about all aspects of the company and what it is like to work there. The site is credited with providing some of the impetus for internal changes at the company in 2006, specifically concerning how employee reviews are done.
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[edit] History
Mini-Microsoft began on July 6, 2004 with a post entitled "Blast off for Mini-Microsoft". Throughout 2005 the site began to gather attention, culminating in an interview by Jay Greene in the September 26, 2005 issue of Business Week, part of a cover package about trouble at Microsoft. In November 2005, Mini-Microsoft turned on comment moderation as a way to increase the quality of the comment section, which he frequently highlights as an integral part of the site. This followed several experiments such as allowing comments for registered users only, and turning off comments completely.
After a May 28, 2006 article by Danny Westneat in The Seattle Times, in which Mini-Microsoft admitted that his secret identity was wearing on him, he announced on his blog that he was taking a break from posting. After a short delay and an outcry from his readers he began posting again, initially with articles containing mostly links, but in the late summer of 2006 he returned to his previous posting style.
[edit] Effect on Microsoft
One of Mini-Microsoft's favorite targets in his early posts was the Microsoft review system, which required that employee ratings be fit to a curve. For the summer 2006 review process, the system was changed so that evaluation of an employee's past performance was no longer curved. Mini-Microsoft is widely credited with inspiring this change, although company officials have made no statements to that effect.
Mini-Microsoft has also been responsible for bringing some transparency to the compensation structure at Microsoft. Employees have anonymously posted their own salary, bonus, and stock grant information, as well as provided information on the compensation of others (particularly executives). Although any individual anonymous information is of dubious veracity, the aggregation of them provides insight into the overall compensation system.
[edit] Anonymity
Unsurprisingly, Mini-Microsoft has been very careful to guard his anonymity. An in-person interview with Jay Greene of Business Week and a phone interview with Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times are the only known instances in which he has revealed himself. Although he posts vague details about his job, he has also stated that he deliberately posts misinformation to mislead searchers. For a brief time after his June 2006 "retirement" he seemed eager to be discovered, but that has since faded.
From his two known interviews, it is known that:
- Mini-Microsoft is male (reported in both interviews).
- He is married (reported in both interviews and occasionally referenced on the site).
- At least one co-worker has figured out his identity (reported by Danny Westneat).
From his blog posts, it is assumed that:
- He is a manager (since he knows the details of review meetings that involve managers).
- He works on the main Redmond campus of Microsoft (since he regularly attends meetings there).
People have speculated that Mini-Microsoft is actually a Microsoft blogger who also posts under his real name, such as Robert Scoble or Dare Obasanjo; both have denied it. Mini-Microsoft's posts continued after Robert Scoble left Microsoft, and Dare Obasanjo is not married.
[edit] Copycat Sites
The success of Mini-Microsoft has led to a few copycat sites, though none of them have been very prolific.
