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The manpower and management crisis that became manifest in June of 1983 prompted many people in the company to suggest means for resolving it. Kern Sibbald submitted the following plan for reorganising the company and making the leap directly from our loosely-coupled mode of operation to full-time professional management.
This plan essentially anticipated all of the development in the company's management through November 1986. One can only wonder how much more smooth the company's development would have been and how much more success would have accrued had we found the courage to take these steps when Kern proposed them in 1983 rather than piecemeal over the next three and a half years.
Recently there have been several Autodesk Business Plans or Organizational structures submitted. These are a very necessary part of a solid business, and I am in general agreement with the plans submitted to date. I have taken those plans, carefully considered the ideas in them, and added a number of ideas of my own. Only by being completely honest with you do I feel that I can present my concerns of the company direction and my proposed solutions, so I apologize in advance to those who may feel offended with my remarks.
I agree with John Walker that our company is beset with serious problems. However, I would say that it is a result of our spectacular success rather than a failing of our company. AutoCAD is very successful, and Autodesk has tremendous people skills and resources to draw on, but we are not making effective use of the resources that we have. For example, neither of our two most valuable resources, John Walker and Dan Drake, are available full time for working on AutoCAD. John seems to be spending much of his time on trivial matters and has complained that he cannot get off the telephone. His Marinchip business continues to occupy some of his valuable time. The situation for Dan seems to be similar. If we could spring John and Dan free from nontechnical work and outside pressures, they would produce four times the output that we could gain by hiring any other two individuals.
Out of necessity, we have begun to hire people to fill critical needs. But, we must attempt to hire those who have contributed the most to the company first. At the same time we must take care to define our needs in terms of job descriptions and only then hire someone to fill that job rather than make a job to fit a particular individual. Once a person is on board, we should make every effort to fit the work to the person rather than the person to the job. This will produce much happier and more productive employees. But fitting the job to the person should not be done when initially hiring.
Because of the constant bickering, I often feel that we have little sense of purpose and direction. This is in part due to our unusual problems of wide geographic dispersion of our founders and primary work force. Consequently, to survive, our company will need to have communications that are better than most companies, yet our communications among each other are far from adequate even within a less geographically spread company. I view our problems as a crisis in management. This company owes its existence and the development of its only product to John, and we should never forget that. John Walker is an absolute genius in computers. He has led us through the early stages of the company, but now more than ever, his skills are needed urgently in enhancing our existing software and developing new software. His abilities are hampered by the trivia and details of a rapidly growing company, and we are deprived of his most needed skills.
To develop into a major multi-million dollar company that we all envision, Autodesk needs additional management skills. I have prepared a proposed corporate structure and preliminary job descriptions for five key individuals that I feel will address the problems stated above. Most of these positions are already filled with qualified individuals; for other positions there are individuals within Autodesk who are qualified; and there is probably at least one position that will have to be filled by someone outside Autodesk. This structure may seem like a big unnecessary leap from our current structure to some of you. I agree, but I cannot imagine how we will get the job of running this company done without it. Each and every one of these positions is essential. Judging by the response to the previous proposals, I expect the only objections to my proposal to be to the two new positions (CEO and Finance & Administration). Consequently, I will discuss only those positions but briefly. First, the CEO position is needed primarily to offload John and Dan. With the structure that I have proposed with the CEO reporting to the board, John and Dan will continue their leadership role in the company but be freed of the daily trivia. His primary tasks would be to promote our company philosophies, improve our company communications, and offload John and Dan by handling the daily running of the company. The Finance & Administration position is equally important since his primary tasks would be to get the administrative parts of the company going (accounting, budgeting, policies, etc.), and more importantly to prepare our business plan and financing. These are essential if we are going to get venture capital or go public and sell stock (the only way we are going to become millionaires). Although, the F&A job may not be critical today, I strongly recommend that we find someone now so that he will be thoroughly familiar with the company when his services are critical.
The structure that I am proposing looks like this:
President John Walker Board of Directors John Walker, Dan Drake, Keith Marcelius, Mike Ford Chief Executive Officer (open) Finance & Administration (open) Marketing Mike Ford Operations John Kern Technical (open)
As a final note, the job descriptions attached should be considered preliminary since I have probably not included all functions, and some functions listed under one manager may be appropriate under another.
Job Title: CEO
Grade:
Full time
Reports to: Board of Directors
Job Description:
Acts as chief executive officer of Autodesk, Inc. and as such is responsible for overall health of Autodesk, Inc. Under broad operating guidelines from the board of directors assumes the full responsibility for keeping Autodesk, Inc. a profitable corporation.
Job Responsibilities:
Plans, directs, coordinates, and controls the daily operation of Autodesk through the four division managers. Exercises the responsibility for preparation of all Autodesk budgets, submits these budgets to the board of directors for approval, and monitors expenditures against the budget. Directs the development of and approves standards and procedures. Responsible for development of Autodesk personnel policies and obtaining approval from the board of directors. Provides board of directors with monthly status report and detailed quarterly financial reports. Assumes responsibility for all aspects of daily operation of Autodesk including hiring, firing of employees, determination of employees' salaries within salary guidelines approved by the board, organizational structure, staffing within approved budgets, approving expense reports. Promotes the Autodesk company philosophy of “Excellence in Computer Software”.
Job Qualifications:
Job Title: Finance and Administration manager
Grade:
Full time
Reports to: CEO
Job Description:
Responsible for all aspects of Autodesk finance and administration. Reports on a daily basis to CEO and maintains frequent contact with other division managers.
Job Responsibilities:
Responsible for developing and implementing financial and administrative procedures such as: payroll, bookkeeping, insurance, budget and cost control, personnel policies, accounting functions, procurement procedures, contracts, inventory management and control procedures, security of facilities, legal protection of Autodesk software rights, financial reporting, strategic planning, obtaining appropriate financing, developing the Autodesk business plan. Develops budgeting methodology and aids other division managers in preparing their budgets and quarterly reports. Consolidates budgets from division managers on a quarterly basis or more often as needed for submittal to CEO. Monitors division managers actual cost and recoveries versus budgeted cost and recoveries and prepares monthly reports for submittal to CEO. Prepares comprehensive Autodesk financial reports quarterly. Ensures that taxes and other payments are made in a timely manner to all government agencies. Responsible for maintaining and publishing all software documentation in coordination with the other division managers. Responsible for annual salary survey to ensure that Autodesk compensation structure is competitive with the computer software industry. Publishes monthly report to stockholders. Provides adequate written communication to keep all Autodesk employees and stockholders appropriately informed.
Job Qualifications:
Job Title: Marketing Manager
Grade:
Full time
Reports to: CEO
Job Description:
Responsible for all aspects of Autodesk sales and marketing activities. Reports on a daily basis to CEO and maintains frequent contact with other division managers.
Job Responsibilities:
Responsible for sales, advertising, customer support, marketing research. Prepares marketing budget on a quarterly basis or more often as need for submittal to CEO. Prepares monthly sales forecast and identifies deviations from approved budget. Prepares sales and advertising plans and submits to CEO for approval. Maintains close contact with operations manager to coordinate planned sales, inventory, mass mailings, etc. Hires, trains, and provides supervision to telephone sales employees. Develops and submits sales incentive programs to CEO for approval. Maintains close contact with manager of technical division to coordinate release of new software and to provide customer satisfaction and quality assurance feedback. Responsible for providing support for end users. Recruits, trains, and supports dealers for Autodesk software. Develops OEM contacts with hardware manufacturers and software houses for Autodesk software.
Job Qualifications:
Job Title: Operations Manager
Grade:
Full time
Reports to: CEO
Job Description:
Responsible for all aspects of Autodesk manufacturing and operations. Reports on a daily basis to CEO and maintains frequent contact with other division managers.
Job Responsibilities:
Responsible for manufacturing, shipping, receiving, distribution, courier service, mass mailings, bingo card responses, maintaining a customer database, facilities, and inventory control. Prepares operations budget on a quarterly basis or more often as need for submittal to CEO. Prepares a monthly status report identifying deviations from approved budget. Maintains close contact with marketing manager and technical manager to coordinate planned sales, inventory, mass mailings, etc. Hires, trains, and provides supervision to office employees. Maintains close contact with manager of technical division to coordinate release of new software and appropriate inventory levels. Responsible for stocking and providing supplies to all Autodesk employees. Orders all equipment and supplies for Autodesk and Autodesk employees. Responsible for all incoming mail and maintaining answering and message services for all Autodesk employees. Responsible for paying all invoices. Recruits, trains, and supervises all office employees.
Job Qualifications:
Job Title: Technical Manager
Grade:
Full time
Reports to: CEO
Job Description:
Responsible for all aspects of technical software development and support. Reports on a daily basis to CEO and maintains frequent contact with other division managers.
Job Responsibilities:
Responsible for all aspects of Autodesk software products. This includes: software development, preliminary documentation, source code control, quality assurance, software maintenance, error tracking and reporting, software standards and guidelines, hardware support, software release, implementation of Autodesk software on new hardware, technical user support, and new software product research and development. Prepares technical division budget on a quarterly basis or more often as needed for submittal to CEO. Prepares a monthly status report identifying deviations from approved budget and progress on software development projects. Maintains close contact with other division managers to coordinate release of new software and documentation.
Job Qualifications:
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