Well, maybe not killing, but dragging down into an ocean of mediocracy.
First: confusion. Skype’s payment options are confusing, unclear, and potentially misleading in that (for me at least) it seems entirely possible for the casual purchaser to pay for two or more packages that actually cover the same thing. Skype Pro, SkypeOut, SkypeIn, etc: all with different prices, and different features included and excluded. Confusing.
Second: unhelpfulness. I use Skype call forwarding, which uses up a little of my Skype credit every time someone calls me. When my whole call forwarding package is about to run out, Skype email me (reminders are great), so you’d assume that they’d also email me when my credit was running low? No. So I find myself having to sign in to my account on a regular basis when a simple email could let me know what I need to know.
This is turning into a bit of a rant, but my basic point is this: eBay’s huge edifice of marketing and corporate structure is suffocating the innovation and freshness that made Skype great in the first place. There are too many ‘packages’ and not enough simplicity. For all the talk of revolutionising the telecommunications industry, if they’re not careful it’ll end up just another half-digested corporate buyout used by yeah, maybe a few million people, but without the freedom to actually do anything really wonderful.
It’s a cliche, but big business really can be dangerous. </rant>
Appraisals for all staff will take place any time from now on up until the end of april. Corporate team will complete 360 degree appraisals linked to competencies, and in an exiting new development, senior managers will complete 270 degree appraisals using information from their director and two peers. All other staff will have appraisals in the normal way using the existing form, but it is planned to roll-out further competencies during the year.
A nice post over at the 37Signals blog exploding startup myths; most notably, the idea that you have to work yourself to the bone in order to get a business off the ground:
You need to work for no pay, you need to put in 120 hours/week, you need to preferably sleep under the desk and live off pizza as a sole form of nutricient. As a result, you need to abandon your family andrisk life without insurance.
Hogwash!
I sometimes think that the guys at 37signals are just focusing their attention on common sense — a good thing of course. But I’m pretty sure that there are loads of businesses out there who are already ignoring the common business myths, and I’d love to hear more from them.
Anyway, I couldn’t agree more with what’s written in the post; I see no reason why businesses need massive amounts of work — in fact, I think if you’re consistently needing to put in loads of work, then chances are you’re doing something wrong. The best kind of success and innovation is almost effortless; most of the panic, blood, sweat, and tears just gets in the way.