Satya Nadella addresses employees at the company’s own hackathon

Jul 30, 2014 06:05 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft kicked off its very own 38-hour hackathon a few hours ago and CEO Satya Nadella himself took the stage before the start of the event to say a few words that were supposed to motivate employees taking part in this new initiative.

Nadella said something that’s clearly an indication that Microsoft is seeking a new identity that’s more based on consumer feedback in a way that would pretty much lead to products specifically designed to address the complaints the company receives before the launch of these new solutions.

“This is the time to stop the criticism and do something about it,” he said according to GeekWire, suggesting that while most employees are internally complaining about some of Microsoft’s products, only a few are actually trying to deal with these problems and address the criticism.

Ever since he took over from Steve Ballmer in February this year, Satya Nadella emphasized that Microsoft is positioned to become a mobile-first, cloud-first company, with the focus to be put on consumers.

“We will obsess over our customers,” he said, explaining that the company’s new strategy is to get closer to all clients and build services that better address their needs.

“Obsessing over our customers is everybody's job. I'm looking to the engineering teams to build the experiences our customers love. I'm looking to the sales and marketing organizations to showcase our unique value propositions and drive customer usage first and foremost,” he added.

Nadella has mentioned from the very beginning that Microsoft needs a streamlined process of creating new products and bringing them to the market, pointing out that reducing the time needed to “get things done” is a priority for the leadership team of the software giant.

“We will be more effective in predicting and understanding what our customers need and more nimble in adjusting to information we get from the market. We will streamline the engineering process and reduce the amount of time and energy it takes to get things done. You can expect to have fewer processes but more focused and measurable outcomes. You will see fewer people get involved in decisions and more emphasis on accountability,” he said.

Unfortunately, Nadella’s changes aren’t all about milk and honey, as the company’s CEO recently announced a massive layoff plan that would impact around 18,000 employees across the world. The job cut is necessary due to the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services unit, but is affecting all company divisions, including the Windows operating system unit.