Satya Nadella: Microsoft's new man presses all the old buttons in LONG memo

Is there nothing new in this? Funny you should mention that

Yet another Microsoft re-organisation is in the works: no company re-organises as frequently or with such passion as Microsoft, and Microsoft under Nadella will be no different.

Just one year since Ballmer's supposed root-and-branch changes that produced the "One Microsoft" structure and abolished the product-silo business units, more changes are coming.

Nadella promised more this month on "the engineering and organizational changes we believe are needed" to focus on the company's core. He'll announce more on 22 July, the date of Microsoft's quarter and full-year earnings and the opening of fiscal 2015.

Microsoft has nearly 130,000 staff thanks to the Nokia Mobile acquisition. Expect cuts.

As was the case one year ago, the new structure is supposed to make engineering more efficient - get things done more quickly - and to cultivate more innovation.

According to Nadella, Microsoft's engineering will be modernised and streamlined to "reduce the amount of time and energy it takes to get things done. You can expect to have fewer processes but more focused and measurable outcomes."

Where have we heard this before?

Again, no details but this does sound rather familiar. It sounds like an extension of the triad system or organisation introduced by former Windows chief Steven Sinofsky.

The triad system brought together developer, tester and program manager and stripped out Microsoft product development, product managers and marketing managers.

The structure sped things up and kept new versions of Windows and Office coming quickly - ending the company's infamous late shipment dates.

Nadella is very pro-triad and we reported here on how Sinofsky's triad system was rolled into Nadella's old server and tools group from Windows.

More ominous for Microsoft's engineering is this: there will be spending on data science and analysis. This comes with new spending on data and applied science and software engineering for use by devs.

It was the rise of the belief in the power of data to drive development that landed Microsoft in trouble on Windows 8.

It was Sinofsky who used telemetry on the use of Windows to justify each and every development choice in Windows 8, to justify removing familiar desktop features and generally march the Windows development over a cliff. Microsoft is still backpedalling its way to the desktop.

Sinofsky's love of data cut out the human factor from the development equation.

Don't believe the headlines: Nadella's supposed email to employees is not some memo that spells out a vision. It's intended to convince you, the outside observer, that the wheels of change are in motion at Microsoft. And this should not come as a surprise, given change is the ticket upon which Nadella was "elected" after Ballmer.

The changes you'll see, however, are classic Microsoft. Despite his pragmatism in the area of server and tools, Nadella was, after all, the safest of choices and the most company of company men available as Microsoft's new CEO. ®