What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20

by Tina Seelig

You might think it’s easier to challenge conventions and break rules as an individual or a small start-up firm, but you can also break the rules that get in the way from within a large company. I learned about the launch of Zune at Microsoft from a former student, Tricia Lee. This product, designed to compete with the Apple iPod, was on a tight development schedule. About halfway through the project, it was clear they weren’t going to meet their aggressive goals. The software wasn’t close to halfway complete, and on the current course—with the usual checks and balances, feedback loops, and bureaucracy—it was going to take much longer than expected to complete. To address this problem, one of the subgroups on the project isolated themselves from the rest of the team and worked intensely. They completed an essential piece of the software code, which got the project back on track, boosted moral, and allowed the product to be completed on time.