Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Go through the few quality metrics Cisco has (they missed the shift away from KLOCs which started before there was a Cisco) and discover how many tens of billions have been wasted over the life of the company in this one area. More, and more complete metrics would increase that number. Be grateful Cisco is not obligated to account for the losses this imposes on customers.

Unless sales booze, Oprah and failed yard sales of used chairs are each in this territory they shouldn’t be among the lead priorities to making the company more effective.

Fix this and you’d be able to lay off two thirds of the development staff and the lack of damage they could no longer cause would make life much better for the remaining developers, customers and shareholders. All Cisco needs to do is solve the paradox of finding an entirely new staff smart enough to make this happen yet stupid enough to commit career su----e fixing decades of legacy product. FAANG’s countless failures prove money and prestige do not solve this paradox which is good because Cisco gave up on those with the 2001 layoffs.

#2 has already happened, pay attention already.

Good list, but I would say we are still focusing on to stop LR. I can understand the pain of being LR because I went through this in 2011. Back into the same company as red badge with 15% more salary 😊. IMO, Cisco can have all these, travel, building, free soda, stocks etc only if Cisco put their focus back into the industry. Developing better products and provide real solutions. Currently Cisco’s thoughs are limited to have “plans” to survive quarterly financial calls. There is no “strategy” to be the next generation data communication company. In short, no vision. In fact, to have vision you need good ELT members who understand the industry trends. The hidden competitors that ELT never been advised about – Example when Apple release iPhone with good camera, it impacted digital camera makers like Samsung, Kodak, Fujifilms, Olympus too, not only direct mobile competitors like Nokia or Blackberry. Samsung and Kodak might have not discussed about this Apple iPhone competition till Apple release it (hidden competitor). We have many now around us (Cisco). ELT doesn’t care about any of these. Never put money back into the business to attract / retrain talent, research and development, trainings etc.

All the profit we make have been use to provide dividend & stock buyback. So, the stock price remains stable – then provide those stocks as package for all ELT members. Means all profits of Cisco in last few years has been taken by the ELT as their compensation package (both dividend and stocks). They paid themself well. In short, we have been looted openly.

Perhaps you should have titled this "10 ways to ki-l a business".

No travel? Seriously? If you can't meet people face to face, your competitors will. And face to face will ALWAYS build better relationships.

Stop it with these great ideas already..love them.

@1loq+1hUiMjCo And that is not TN or anyone else on the ELT!!

Cisco needs a new CEO ASAP that is technical

Those are excellent suggestions. Unfortunately, your base assumption is that the senior leadership actually cares about delivering high quality products and services to Cisco customers.

That hasn't been the case at Cisco for at least a decade.

RTP will be closed.

No surprise, most US remote buildings will be closed by 2024.

Agreed except for 10. We don’t have good developers.

Hi original poster, great ideas; but regretfully you have joined Cisco about two decades late.

There was a time of "frugality" about twenty years ago, where the masses worked long hours willingly, and were rewarded with stock options. The cool part was the average person was rewarded with options. There was also PIP (Performance Improvement Program), and if on PIP you had a good chance of being managed out.

People did work their behinds off but even the average grade TAC worker could make some good money.

Things changed with work politics, woke culture, and a shift of not being a technology leader took over. It took a long time. But there yes was a day when the money flowed in, and they were also generous handing it out. Lucky to have experienced a good run. Nowadays, all that has been replaced by constant LR worry, and all the options being hoarded by the upper executives.

Doubt those times are ever coming back for tech jobs at all.

I've driven by Corp HQ in SJ twice during business hours recently and was shocked to see how empty the parking lots were at all the buildings. It made me wonder how much the company is spending to keep the lights, water and A/C on in these empty buildings. Long gone are the days when we had to put new hires in conf rooms because we didn't have the space and subsequently built dozens of buildings along Tasman Drive. Most of the alpha buildings (A-P) on Tasman have been sold to other companies in recent years. I agree that many of the remaining numeric buildings can be shuttered or consolidated. I WFH full-time and have no desire to commute and sit in an office all day - ever again - & I'm sure I'm not the only one.

The 10 steps you outlined wont benefit the ELT. Only way the ELT gets a bonus is thru headcount reductions (LR). To them every problem is a nail and the only is a hammer (LR).

You are thinking from the perspective of a grunt worker trying to improve Cisco. Most of the leaders are narcissists that thrive in chaos, and need distractions to take the attention away from their performance.

Cisco is about building empires and fighting for stock grants. Improving products, services, or operations is something a young idealist cares about. I know of an executive that paid money to hire ice sculptures for a meeting, while laying off full-time employees due to budget issues.