Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

@1fn I'd ban certain words.

• scope
• stakeholder
• leverage
• talent
• capitulate
• circle
• back

If I had six months and unlimited authority, I'd focus on making Cisco as effective internally as we aspire to be externally.

1. Accountability at every level. Evaluate leadership on employee development, retention, communication, and execution—not just business outcomes.
2. Eliminate operational redundancy. Standardize processes, clarify ownership, and reduce unnecessary layers of approvals and governance.
3. Align scope, capacity, and compensation. Stop treating employee adaptability as unlimited bandwidth.
4. Invest in talent. Fund certifications, professional development, and internal mobility with transparent advancement pathways.
5. Empower execution. Give teams decision-making authority without excessive oversight.
6. Make transformation meaningful. Leverage AI and automation to eliminate administrative burdens, not simply redistribute work.

Ultimately, I'd build a culture where efficiency doesn't come at the expense of employees.

I think Cisco needs to rethink how innovation moves from CX into its product strategy.

Keep an innovation unit within CX, close to customers and staffed by the technical people who understand their challenges. Give that team the freedom to build proofs of concept, validate ideas with a few trial customers and demonstrate value.

Once an idea is proven, move it into the relevant BU’s product engine, with ownership, engineering investment, support and the full marketing and sales capability behind it. If it represents a genuinely new business opportunity, consider creating a BU around it.

Cisco IQ is an example of something I believe should have become a BU-owned product. I see the same argument for automation initiatives: scaling requires a BU-backed product, solution and strategy.

My concern is that a separate CX product-management organisation creates overlapping ownership, duplicated products and incentives to protect organisational territory. I would remove that separate management structure, retain the engineers and technical practitioners, and build a clear route from customer-led experimentation into funded BU products.

What is Cisco’s intended model here? How do successful CX innovations become part of the core product strategy, and who is accountable for making that transition happen? If the answer is CX PM then why is that organisation so bloated and a monolith ?

Cisco pays to delete unfavorable comments. It’s their layoff site after all.

get rid of directors - reporting to directors - flatten out the reporting -

change back to the old titles - new titles are all confusing

stop hiring so many h1-bs - stop outsourcing - stop off shoring -

stop trying to be like other companies - we dont need open work space - we are not facebook, google -etc

There were a lot of deleted comments!

1) Bring back world-class TAC +1 (This differentiated us from competitors).
2) Expand Expert care - it's one of our customer's favorite CX products.
3) Focus on Security - it's going to be HUGE business over the next 5 years as people figure out how messed up their code bases are from vibe-coding.

No limit.

Since being restricted to reality isn't part of the question:

1. Fire everyone who had anything to do with software at Cisco up through the executive ranks
2. Hire non-existent people with extreme talent and the ability to work together to sacrifice what would otherwise be stellar careers to completely rework decades of legacy spread out across endless branches of too many operating systems and create one well thought out, clean, maintainable software stack
3. The whole sales/marketing/support system can't even find a part number for a consumer level product without opening a TAC case so rebuilding all three would be worthwhile
4. I'm somewhat less concerned about the depth of the management tree as much as the complete lack of competence or even a basic grasp of reality throughout which means this needs to be replaced as well

The common theme is "Cisco is a legacy company without the talent to stabilize it's existing state not to mention seriously grow in new directions and as such will never be able to bring in and use enough top talent to fix all this." Like GE, IBM and others there is no clear end in sight but it's likely they'll never be world leaders again.

@cr Yeah that's genius. LR the people that make all the cr-p Cisco sells our customers actually work on site. Oh that NCE is putting about 70% profit back into Cisco. Making an impact on customer satisfaction and keeping the marketing id--ts from selling vaporware and false promises to our customer.

I'm sure thats far better than what ever impact you are having. Maybe you are one of those selling garbage that can't seem to make a sale because people on site show the customer your marketing is cr-p and you can't integrate with any of the legacy network.

@em Are we going to pay TAC a decent salary?

Gut Cisco, rename company to Frisco AI.

While it's true the fish rots from the head down, it's been so long that promotions are solely based on your a$$ kissing and politicking abilities, that decapitation and replacement with competent leadership is no longer enough. Most of middle management especially at the director and VP level needs to be gutted and replaced. It would take years to rebuild this organization just like it took decades to hobble it. Recommend you don't hold your breath for that to happen.

Bring back specialist SE’s

Train SE’s properly, access to proper labs and decent materials

Bring back the in-person SEVT’s

Less admin BS

Drop all the BS products, concentrate on the core offerings and their quality

Fix licensing

Bring back world class TAC

None of this will ever happen, it doesn’t align with cutting costs.

@d6 PM? I would pick the followings PO, SM instead

@at This is coming. Probably not as much as folks around here would like, but (at least in my part of the company) org chart flattening is happening. Reductions in middle management (sr. manager, director from what I know) are on the docket for the coming LR.

@cr get rid of PMs entirely. They add extra work, extra burden and take up too much time. Nobody likes or needs them

Cisco is past its glory days…. Accept it. Most talent has left or is made to leave. Eliminate the middle layers and rebuild technical competency, not the management layer. Anyone not adding to direct revenue must leave.

@OP Make ALL code compatible across all products.

Get rid of all NCEs that have been on one customer for over 4 years. Most operate in an echo chamber with id--t field DMs and even less competent PMs. Seriously, you aren’t an expert in the field if you’ve never truly seen the landscape. You and your protection need unemployment badly. Watching the hammer drop on a few of you will not be the worst thing I see that day, just saying.

Eliminate CR, FK, OC, LC, G2!

Spin off every business unit into its own company. Cisco in its current form is no longer a winning team, and I don’t see that changing. Every time promising work takes root, another round of layoffs cuts it down. You can’t build lasting success by repeatedly dismantling the teams doing the work.

Let each new company develop its own culture. I suspect the successful ones will put customers first, with respect for employees a close second. A positive workplace where people enjoy their work and feel valued gives them the best chance to serve customers well. Shareholders should come after those two priorities. Get the first two right, and shareholders will be better served over the long run.

Wrong question to address without understanding why ? Start with why.

Why you want improve ?
What you want improve
How you want to improve ?

The challenge is without “why” you want to jump to how ? If you bring clarity about why , people will figure out how.

Make sure leaders are leading. Providing action, strategy, real vision. Tactical plans. Talking on calls instead of being mutes. The ones who aren’t, get them out.

Actually pay people decent income that are crushing it. Give them good bonuses and promote them.

Less offshoring of customer interfacing roles.

Reduce c-suite salaries and put that money back into the product.

Get rid of bad sales people.

Flatten the reporting structure. There are too many executives reporting to tiny teams and filling a seat versus providing real value to the company. Also I would institute an in depth review of products across the company and eliminate those products where they duplicate or conflict an existing product. Also I would impose a moratorium on new mergers or acquisitions until a comprehensive review of the current process was completed. Cisco has wasted millions in failed acquisitions where little to no return on investment has been realized.

Well, there are some seriously awful, psychopathic and (literal criminals) working in tech.

That said, there are a LOT of very good people. And those are the ones to keep.

I would do a few things (no limit right?) first and move to LR anyone who isn't in alignment.

1. deliver some form of the PCL-R to every single person.
2. get very advanced background and lifestyle checks.
3. Review past HR interactions, rumors of breaching code of conduct or company policy for current and past employees. (Because there are some pretty big scandals that just haven't come out publicly yet. Get ahead of that.)
4. LR anyone unethically promoted immediately and all hired via nepotism.
5. Launch civil and other investigations into any past lawsuits where there are rumors of fraud, perjury or violations of company policy etc.
6. Start to review the actual need of certain roles. Mostly nontechnical do-nothing ones.
7. Create a really secure line to the public to report on the bullsh-t some workers are doing on company dime, harming the hardworking ones.
8. Create a way to monitor time theft. Rewarding those who actually work monetarily and LR the rest.

Because good people with fantastic output, talent and morals have had their lives turned upside down by the total fu--ing a--holes. Pick those for LR.

In a nutshell, you are only as good as your staff. Keep real, quality people only moving forward. Stop promoting those with shady histories, giving references for or rehiring pieces of sh-t.

I would have two to three young people share an office with an elder experienced person, who's job for 50% of the time would be to teach the three young persons in the office. Have meeting with them, take a few hours a week to teach them, put them in charge of the task and have them interact with other teams that connect to the input and output of the product. Let them make the mistakes, and let them learn from those mistakes. Ask them for status twice a week and ask them questions that will make them think and move forward onto the next step. But most importantly LISTEN to their suggestions and help them achieve that suggestion. If it seems wrong, explain to them what would happen if they applied that suggestion. Guide them. And don't be afraid to tell them they are doing a great job. An increase in pay is great, but a few words of appreciation, great job, moving in the right direction, a simple Thank You can go a long way.

Sell or shut down all product lines outside of route, switch and wireless.

@a7 yeah man 100% think middle mgmt by 50%

Also... FIRE THE ELT!

Simplify, streamline and reduce multi-layered management processes. There is too much red tape and too many levels of management approval for many processes. It shouldn't take 7-9 business days to get a $10K Purchase Req approved or 3 months to get Cisco Accts Payable to cut a check.