It seems unlikely that there will be many blog entries about it, Open Text makes good software but isn't known for it's good communication skills, but recently three has been another fairly large shakeup of personnel at Open Text (something Open Text is quite fond of doing it seems, they certainly have a lot of practice at it) and this one is a bit different than past.

Mostly because of the way that company has grown and continues to grow, about every six months or so there is a new corporate restructuring where various people are found redundant and provided pink slips. The people on the list are often the right people in that their value to the corporation has waned, for a number of possible reasons. For me, the company had just gotten too large and too impersonal for me, I had been feeling for some time that I had lost my passion and I think it probably showed and it was the right thing for me to leave the corporation.

But one thing that seemed to always happen in the RIF lists is that they included mostly low-level or middle-managers and those beneath them; I was at Open Text for almost 11 years and I can count the number of VPs and above that were RIFfed using the fingers on one hand. So it is quite remarkable, then, that not one but two Executive Vice Presidents -- Kirk Roberts and Bill Forquer -- are leaving / have left along with the latest restructuring (which saw another group of ex-colleagues and friends shown the door). Now I'm not at all privy to what goes on behind the scenes at Open Text, and I'll not even start to speculate as to why these two fine gentlemen are leaving, but I did want to publicly acknowledge their efforts over the years.

While both Bill and Kirk were experienced businessmen before each came to Open Text, neither had experience running a company as large as Open Text has become. They both learned and grew as the company learned and grew ... exuding confidence at all times, though there had to have been times when they didn't feel confident! Two leaders who very much helped drive that corporation to what it is today. I'll not say something stupid like Open Text couldn't have done without them, there are a lot of people responsible for the success at Open Text, but I will say that both of these gentlemen have been a very strong force within the corporation and I dare say that things will be very different going forward.

While I doubt either will ever read these words, if you are I'd like to say thanks to both of you and I hope your next phase is as successful as your last!