Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Six months at Intuit

I’ve been working at Intuit for six months now. It seems like a good time to step back and think about my impressions of my first six months. Keep in mind that my impressions are  parochial. I have a view of my little corner of the company and the project I am working on. Your mileage may vary. But I don’t think my experiences are necessarily atypical.

My view of Intuit is also colored by the fact that this is the first individual contributor job I  have had in a long time. I’m managing the customer care organization for PortfolioMinder. But right now it is just me. This is by design and absolutely the right strategy and what I signed up for. Up until now If things were going to get done to build the customer care organization I’m pretty much the one who did them. I’m starting to bring customer care agents on but these first six months have been very much about doing instead of managing. I have enjoyed it. I certainly had stints at Sun when I wasn’t managing but I was always getting things done through people.

I have to smile a bit because I think I am getting payback for all the meetings I scheduled as a manager. I thought my meetings were really important and I think I discounted people’s complaints about too many meetings. Now I am feeling the reality that when you are in a meeting you aren’t getting tangible things done. I always knew that intellectually, but now I am really feeling the pain of having to work extra hours to get things done around the meetings.

On the other hand the meetings are also a sign of one of the many things that are right about Intuit. I truly feel that my opinions count and that I am making a very real contribution to my group and to PortfolioMinder.  My group makes a very big effort to keep every one informed and I think we are a much more effective team because of  it. I really appreciate the attitude towards employees at Intuit. We are encouraged to have a balanced life and not work 16 hours a day.

Intuit has a very strong culture of being customer focused. From what I have seen they don’t just talk the talk. They walk the walk. Intuit is known for its emphasis on the user experience. From what I have experienced it is part of the DNA of the company. We have had more contextual interviews, end to end user experience discussions, and reviews of the user interface than anywhere I have ever worked. It would be very easy as we push to deliver our product to say we’ll worry about the user later. But we really are researching what works and making changes as a result of it. Even though at times it is frustrating I know that at the end it will be better product.

I heard an interesting story in an all hands meeting the other day. Apparently Steve Bennett was talking to some people and they asked him if Intuit hires anthropologists. He answered "Why would I hire one anthropologist when I have 7000?" There is no doubt that we pride ourselves on listening to consumers and knowing what they want. I would agree that it is a very real part of the Intuit DNA.

All of our goals are structured around Intuit’s three stakeholders; customer, stockholders and employees. I not only see the emphasis on employees and customers that I described above, but I definitely see a focus on shareholders. There is a strongly articulated understanding of and commitment to the need to fuel the growth of the company and to do it for the long haul not just for the next quarter.

So what are my impressions? I just took my first annual employee survey. I like working here. I like the company vision, strategy and focus and I would recommend Intuit to others. I think we have a bright future.

Why I Blog

I  received an email the other day from  HD Honscheid, an old friend with whom I used to work at Spectra Medical Systems,. HD also worked at Sun while I was there and his wife, Una was my pediatrician’s nurse when the girls were young. HD and Una are retired now and just took a wonderful trip to Japan. The pictures on their web site are fantastic. Looking at them really gives you a feel for the cultural experience they had. Getting to know people on a trip is so much more rewarding than  just a site seeing.

His email really made me remember one of the main reasons I blog. I blog to keep in touch with friends and family. Every once and a while my mind strays from my purpose in blogging and I wish for a bigger readership. His email snapped me back on track. Blogging has not only helped me stay in contact with old friends who I cherish but it has also enabled me to make several new friends. In my mind that is what blogging is all about.

A Legacy of love

My former mother-in-law passed away this morning. She had been fighting Alzheimer’s for sometime so in many ways it was blessing but still it is a very sad day for all of us. I owe her a lot. She was a wonderful giving person. Almost 25 years ago when Allison was born it wasn’t nearly as common as it is today for women to go out on maternity leave and go back to work.  Going back to work after she was born was harder than I ever imagined it would be. Pat took care of Allison for the first three months of her life while I worked. She did the same thing for Shannon when she was born. At that time we were living in Carmel so she drove down from San Jose every Sunday night and back home every Friday night. She also  took care of the girls whenever they were sick. Raising children and working full time is really hard and I don’t think I could have done it without Pat.

Pat and Lloyd were very giving people. Lloyd passed away back in 1998. They loved and cared for their grandchildren in tangible ways that made them a very real part of who their grandchildren have become.  As the girls got older, Lloyd was the taxi service for the girls. The girls were involved in a multitude of after school activities. Lloyd always talked about driving the girls by saying that he was driving Miss Daisy. Allison remembers how how all the St Francis cheerleaders knew her grandfather because he came to all their football games and Shan remembers him coming to all her soccer games. Even after the divorce Lloyd and Pat never stopped supporting their grandchildren and me. Pat and Lloyd leave behind a legacy of love that will never be forgotten by the many people whose lives they touched.

Busy, busy, busy

Work has been super busy lately. Along with helping to support the PortfolioMinder pilot I have also started talking to potential PortfolioMinder customer care agents. I blogged a while ago about the unique approach that we are planning to take  for agent recruiting and compensation. I have talked to some fantastic candidates. This is going to be great!

It has been interesting to see how people hear about the opportunity. One person read about it here on my blog, several have seen the posting on the FPA and NAPFA web sites, and others have picked up job descriptions I have taken to local FPA meetings.

Joel  Bruckenstein just published an extensive review of PortfolioMinder in Financial Advisor Magazine. It is a great review. I did PortfolioMinder webinar for him a couple of months ago so it is kind of fun to think that I contributed to his review.

More on Sun shareholder proposal

Mike Langberg has a an opinion piece in today’s San Jose Mercury News titled "Sun seems hearing-impaired on shareholder concerns".  Langberg talks about the Sun shareholder  proposal that was approved at the shareholders meeting. The proposal that was approved recommended getting rid of  Sun’s anti-takeover defense. The article said that so far this year there have been 25 proposals to remove poison pills at public companies in the U.S. and of those 16 have passed.  His main point is that "Sun ignores last week’s vote at its peril". He says that if some change doesn’t happen the shareholders might unseat board members at next years annual meeting.

I’m still interested in finding out more about William Steiner  the shareholder who put forward the proposal. I wonder if these kinds of shareholder proposals are a hobby for him and what motivates him to submit shareholder proposals.. It would also be interesting to know how many of his proposals pass.

I hear that Sun is doing more lay offs. I talked to a Sun employee today who told me a couple hundred more IT employees were just notified that they are being laid off.  I can tell you from my time at Sun that being in a company that is constantly doing lay offs is demoralizing.