Rosedale resigns....

Aww! Well today I'm just the voice of goofiness.

I'm sure they will have this huge search *cough*itsgonnaberobin*cough* and spend lotsa money and have massive interviews and scour the country and users all over the grid will try for it and *cough*robin!*cough* and they will finally figure it out after a great deal of effort who is best to lead.

Gee, I wonder who it will be? We'll all wait and wonder and squirm in suspense.

* * * * *

Serious note: Nika, I think they need to 'build expectation' for residents and customers alike by announcing sensible steps rather than shocking the userbase with: "Look what we did today, wheeeeeeee!!!!" It's just good business.

Consideration for such a job is a formal process, yes... which is good *especially* if they consider recruiting from within.

* * * * *

Caledon's succession will be soooo much easier.

The lost Princess in Exile is on the Teen Grid, her identity hidden, and won't assume the burdens of leadership until the end of book three of the series.

That is, well after many brave adventures with young friends destined to be great in their own right.

After many mis-steps and trials fraught with danger, she will eventually win the hearts and trust of the people she will serve... and only at that moment will they discover her true lineage and rejoice. (if *anyone* hints of a storybook wedding at the end I shall use my long-suspected FIC powers to destroy them where they stand)

So yes, I am a daddy! Just the regular kind though.

"On this momentus day, we are bringing into our midst...Nobel Prize Winner,
Academy Award Winner, former Vice-President of the United States, statesmen, creator of Live Earth Day........

and creator of the internet himself.....Mr. AL Gore....


Uh...Mr. Gore are you comforatable...would you like a ladder?...

I guess nobody asked can we get Phil's stuff cause he isn't going anywhere.
I am curious how they will find someone to help make SL grow...
I think the only way its going to grow more is if they would need to be more appealing to many different type of players.
Like create new areas that was more game oriented in traditional sense that was bit more user friendly for gamers but its not something average resident could take on because of cost involved to create something like that.

Any idea, Desmond, on who you think it will be?

Robin would be a very poor choice for CEO. She has a role to fulfill at LL, but it is not at the VP level, much less running things. Cory, Robin, and Philip had been in over their heads over the last 18 months at least.

As for Joe Miller, where is his public face? I'm not seeing anything from the engineering side as far as "top person posting to the residents on the blog". Not good. Where is the new CTO? (looks at calendar...)

They need to toss the Tao, bring in the 3 key people (CEO, CTO, VP Community) that grok SL, and balance culture vs getting things done...

.. or the competition will step in and get the goals done on their platform...

If this gets to be long and dragged out, Second Life will become to Virtual Worlds what The Well is to ISPs. (need to look it up? that's my point

I have to agree with Chip

Its not micromanaging to make sure people ...

are doing their jobs.

Exactly what I said. Micromanaging is when you are trying to get your nose into every department and make sure each individual is doing their job. That's impossible. A good manager makes sure their managers are doing their job by making sure their people are getting results.

If you aren't getting results, which SL has not been in many areas, then you find the right person to manage that area that isn't working, you don't get in and start telling individuals in that department what to do.

No one person can expect to be an expert at graphics, database management, customer service management, human resources, and the list goes on...

I don't know the management structure of LL very well. It is not uncommon though for companies to bring in specialists to audit individual departments and what they do with their billable hours.

I would think after 8+ years of Tao just trusting the emplaced managers to give an accurate reporting would be a pretty hands off management style. And one unlikely to produce measurable change.

I once worked for a company that lost 300+ Million dollars 2 years running. The amount of management scrambling going on to account for everything was pretty staggering.

Oh great. The Goreans are going to be in charge.

Hmmm speaking of Linden sightings..I was just at Straylight looking for some sculpty trees and I seen one. She was the only person near me and didn't show up on my mysti tool. Do they have special powers?

One different person on the supreme court and they would have been in charge of the entire country.

Put that in your Paga and drink it.

Are you trying to depress me on a Friday afternoon? Would we have more women in silks if the supreme court had gone the other way?

.d

Yes. They can bend spoons with the power of their minds. And a few of them see dead people. Well, mostly they just see Bruce Willis. It's not like they see ALL dead people. That would be creepy.

I also don't know the internal structures of LL, but can only comment on my observations. It's not good management to entrust managers in place. They have to be managed as well and they have to produce results. That hasn't been happening.

I've given the analogy before of Roy and Walt Disney. They both founded the Walt Disney Company. Walt got all the glory because he was the great visionary. It's the sexy part. Walt was necessary for his vision and keep the company moving forward but if he were left to run the company on his own it would have been bankrupt very early on and we would likely have never heard of him.

Roy was the opposite. He was the conservative nuts and bolts guy. He kept Walt's vision in check and made sure the operation ran smoothly and profitable. Roy was just as crucial to the company's success as Walt, but his job was not nearly as sexy so most people haven't heard of him.

Phil has been LL's Walt. He is to be commended for having a dream and making it happen. It looks like he's smart enough to know that's where his talent is and is placing himself in a position to continue. Now he's looking for a Roy to successfully manage the company which it needs.

All in all, I see this as a very positive change.

This is the perfect analogy, and I agree completely.

LOL

Are you basically agreeing that LL is a Mickey Mouse Outfit?

This announcement has the opportunity to be a great thing or a disaster, depending on who is chosen and the decisions made. Stability is one thing; but what can we expect in the way of tier increases or decreases (lower would make more sense if you want people to buy in) pricing plans, allowable content and of course whether to continue to allow cash out of Ls for rt $$. I'm looking at buying an island instead of renting, but this really has me wondering if we should wait and see how it all shakes out when the new CEO takes the helm. The sky may not be falling, but it can certainly be changing colors.

I think it's pretty Goofy.

Do you mean like this one??

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/03/14/changing-my-job/

With all due respect, I disagree completely re: Robin. A lot of the stuff that went right had Robin's fingerprints all over it, and a lot of the stuff we didn't see (and are better off for it!) smacked of Robin's involvement too. I won't get into details further because I think I've probably overstepped by discussing specific people. The discussion would get even more inappropriate fast.

* * * * *

The Tao - people focus too much on the Tao thing. It's corporate happy-stuff that is neither here nor there, for when you are working in a startup and people are giving it their 200% day in and day out, living and breathing the dream.

It's not about focusing work, it's about focusing zeal in an engineering environment. There's no Tao for the custodial staff and never was - a bathroom is clean or it isn't. And there's a lot of wiping up to do even at an engineering level - last we heard talk of it, 70% of the engineering effort was bug fixing and uptime.

I *very* much know about The Well - I visited it in its heyday. But I'd offer a totally different analogy. SL is to future cyberspace much like 90's AOL was to the web.

'obi kenobi' - GENIOUS!! lol just for that i'll put in my digital-redoes for that tonight. nyuk

p.s. lol and b.s. on all attempts at political tie-in humor on this one; just too extraneous right now...

yah i think it's a case where anything, 'macro' or 'micro-managerial', is gonna end up presenting an 'obvious face' via code/interface?? yah, it's tough cuz every little move they ever made along the way had ample opportunity to be scrutinized...

I hate to disagree with you, Desmond, but I must. First, I think it's highly unlikely that they specifically plan to replace Philip internally. I can't imagine why there would be any reason to announce them separately rather than Philip is changing jobs and here is his replacement.

As for Robin, I do not know enough about her to make any comments and as you said, it wouldn't be appropriate. I trust your judgment. I think if this company is going to move forward however, and I do think it will in a positive direction, it's crucial for them to bring someone in from the outside. It will take an outsider to take a look at the serious issues LL has and make the necessary changes, and cuts, to make things happen.

Yep - am a former Well user, and.. I personally worked on AOL.Com

And let's be glad Ted Nelson's Xanadu didn't pan out, and that we got the web.

But, steering back on topic, my concern for SL has been how outside parties (with money to invest) perceive the platform stability, and those running it. I think Philip's announcement will carry an undercurrent of "ok we're going to get more professional now", and that it will bode well for 3rd party interest.

Robin rocks, she annoys people because she's honest about not having the answers, other folks wouldn't be that honest. I'd be over the moon if Robin were in charge, she's customer service oriented.