David Erbas-White wrote:

> Allen Bauer wrote:
> > 
> 
> I'm more looking at the situation that missing a quarterly target to 
> enhance an annual target may be the 'prudent' move.  I'm not
> suggesting making anything riskier, just to change the perspective
> slightly.

*If*, and this is a *big if*, we felt it was a 'prudent' move *and*
could prove with reasonable certainty that the end result would be
better for all involved, we could present this case directly to the
investors and banks. The problem is reasonably assuring them of greater
returns, putting together a presentation and then negotiating what an
acceptible "missed target" would be. Knowing now how these things all
happen, given my involvment with all the negotiations surrounding the
sale of CodeGear, this could easily take the better part of a quarter
or more to even get buy-in from all the interested parties. At that
point, there is a chance that the immediate opportunity may have
already passed by :-(.


That is of course *if* they would even entertain the notion or engage
in the conversation. The *best* course of action would be to operate
within the framework given to the best of our ability. This may
sometimes mean that we have to make some unpopular short-term decisions.


All this doesn't mean we make all our decisions in a vacuum. Far from
it. There are a lot of customers that we seek direct feedback from on a
regular basis. Most of the time these are in the form of NDA breifings
and round-tables. Our CEO, Wayne Williams, is *rarely* in the office
because he's out visiting customers and talking about our long term
strategy and goals.


This can be a two-edged sword. It's *great* that our top guy is that
involved with making sure our customers are properly served and is
listening to their feedback. However, it can also cause a few hiccups
for the dev teams since there have been times where we've plotted
course in one direction and based on the feedback we're having to do
some mid-course corrections.


At least our sales and marketing organizations can actually *spell*
Delphi and RAD Studio! Contrast that with the last years at Borland
where a front-line sales guy would be reprimanded and *not* given
commission on a Delphi sale! No matter how large or even if it was
unsolicited! How f**** up was that!?


-- 
Allen Bauer
Embarcadero Chief Scientist
http://blogs.embarcadero.com/abauer