[gaius]

Is their QA department in disarray?

It's not a matter of one department, it's a matter of culture which starts from the top. Jobs insisted on perfection, and that permeated the entire organisation. Cook is satisfied with gimmicks and is contented to just coast on the reputation Jobs earned. He just doesn't have the personal stake Jobs had, he's a manager not a leader. Just like the iconic HP was never the same once Fiorina took over.

[strictnein]

I agree with the rest of your comment, but not this part:

> "Just like the iconic HP was never the same once Fiorina took over."

HP was in trouble well before she joined the company.

[intopieces]

Yep. Same with Yahoo! and Marissa Mayer. Women get blamed more frequently than men when a company is failing [0]. They are also more likely to become CEOs when a company is already in trouble [1].

[0]https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/female-ceo-blame_us_581...

[1]https://www.glamour.com/story/women-ceos-company-trouble

[xeeeeeeeeeeenu]

Marissa Mayer was a terrible CEO. Period. She was responsible for a string of 48 (!) (mostly) terrible acquisitions[1], banning remote working[2] and wasting company money on things like motivational books[3] or lavish parties[4].

She is getting more flak than the other terrible CEOs, but IMO it isn't caused by the fact that she's a woman. At least not directly.

Back when she was appointed as a CEO, media were treating her like a second coming of Jesus (which probably indeed was caused by her gender, she was a perfect role model for feminists). That set expectations bar really high, and when she failed to deliver, people turned against her.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...!

[2] - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/feb/25/yahoo-chi...

[3] - https://www.recode.net/2016/2/2/11587472/marissa-mayers-big-...

[4] - http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-blows...