1. How many communications has Skype initiated to ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) this month? Include calls, chats, email, visits to developer-focused web pages, etc.
2. Number of registered individual developers. SkypeAPI knowledge and talent live in the conversations among developers.
3. Number of registered individual developers who put the Skype API on their CV/resume.
4. Number of registered developer companies.
5. Number of signups on the main developer listserv (is there one? are there focused ones for each product?)
6. Days from time new feature is announced until an API is published
7. The existence of draft APIs and public forums for discussion of those APIs
8. Number of developers with Skype tattoos
9. Percent of Skype's in-house developers blogging in public

We seek qualities like vision, heart, strategy, transparency, growth, trust. Operational competence, execution, responsiveness. I think a lot of it is there, but shrouded or repressed.

My sense is the problems are those of young adulthood, in the organizational sense.

For example,

Message Control Freaks. These are "clueless" marketers, in the Cluetrain Manifesto sense. They stifle communication across the corporate firewall. They focus on message compliance instead of dialog. Every company needs people like this, but stronger voices in opposition must prevail.

BizDev-Driven Engineering Priorities. Money talks. So do wealthy partners. Do partner needs really match those of your core audience? Are they pulling for elegance and simplicity? Or for feature overkill? Again, balance counts.

Balance is a sure sign of organizational and managerial maturity.

Skype Technologies is not yet Grown Up

It would be great if we could index for corporate maturity.

A story: When I was hired to train and certify computer dealers by Compaq (employee 56), it was part of a comprehensive strategy to develop an independent reseller channel. Two rungs up the hiring chain from me, Compaq hired the best people they could find who had similar experience selling hardware through reseller channels. A few came from IBM but most were execs at copier companies.

These guys knew everything about keeping dealers happy.

• Lots of information.
• Point of sale support.
• Terms and conditions.
• Inventory and order management.
• Scarce model allocation.
• Co-branding.
• Cooperative advertising.
• Margin creep.
• Territory density control.
• Education and training.
• Rewards and recognition for everyone involved in the dealership, from junior service techs and sales people to managers and integration engineers.

They hired the people and built an organization who could roll-out a channel into major US markets in a year, into world metros in two.

Compaq also had to convince software developers that it was IBM Compatible, that their software would run. Compaq wouldn't have launched successfully if Lotus 123 hadn't launched at the same time and on Compaq's first luggable.

So Compaq mounted an aggressive phone and advertising campaign to recruit software developers, to convince them to test and certify their software. It worked. We published thick directories of compatible products. These directories went to computer buyers and to the dealer channel, because software sales sold computers.

Applications sell platforms.

Skype is like that first and second year of Compaq. Scrappy founders. Growing so you don't know everyone anymore, or even ("we have a department for that?") what they do. The culture of adrenaline. The overwhelming number of demands on time, the proliferation of choices. The sudden fame by association.

I was at Compaq when they grew through this stage. It's a tough phase. People make lots of mistakes because they're making lots of decisions. You just hope you know which ones are key and that you take an extra beat to choose well.

At this time last year, Skype was half the size it is now. In fewer locations. Each time headcount doubles, they will have new organizational and operational challenges.

So I'd give Skype's Developer Ecosystem a "C"

On an absolute scale, with 100% being world-class performance, I give them a "D" for the first six months of 2005. I concur with Stuart's rating of the developer program. They've made more than their share of errors. The effects have been expensive and painful for developers, and have sown fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

But remember they are a small company. Microsoft and IBM and Sun are a hundred times larger than Skype. And they've had a generation to build and optimize their independent developer programs. Skype is just staffing up its developer program, and they seem on course. So I bring their grade for the half-year to a "C". Better days ahead.