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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:The Digital way of working
Moderator:QUARK::LIONELON
Created:Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5321
Total number of notes:139771

2552.0. "Thoughts from a fellow employee - TFSO'd" by FRMENG::NELSON () Tue Jun 22 1993 17:35

    Mods,  I asked for and received permission from the author of the
    attached to include it in this conference.  I could not find an
    appropriate note for it so feel free to move it as you see fit.
    
    Dana Nelson
    
    
    Author:  Chuck Snow
    TFSO'd:  June 1993




                           Ah, Digital
                          -------------

	Ah, Digital. At last you've laid me off. What a loss.
	I was Invisible Child and have become Invisible Man,
	and who will love you as I have when I'm gone?

	You who were my mother and my father,
	who sprang to take their place,
	I leaped for you across the chasm of belief
	when I needed someone to take care of me,
	and you answered, "I am here. Come to me."

	In the days when you had a soul, 
	we built The Magic Box together
	till I discovered it would not work and told you.
	But you would not, could not, dared not listen
	until at last it broke.
	And how did you repay me?

	"We will not talk of it again.
	It is best left dead and buried, like an unborn child.
	We do not wear our troubles on our sleeve.
	What happens in The Family is not for them,
	the others outside our circle
	who do not understand us."
	And despite the madness I loved you still.

	In the days when we were real,
	intoxicated and addicted to our own success,
	a legend in our own mind,
	how we thrived on long debate!
	How we played The Truth Game with each other,
	wearing down hypocrisy until at last the naked, precious gem
	stood in our midst and shined,
	and we knew it was all right to go ahead
	having birthed "consensus".

	And I was there when one of your children said,
	"The notion we should listen to our customers
	is the worst idea ever imported into Digital!"
	How certain we were then we knew the way.
	How pitiful my battles to dispel the lie,
	tilting at careening windmills about to fall.
	You would not listen, could not, dared not,
	like a shameful parent who could not understand his child.





	In the days we had a father,
	loving, lumbering bear of a big man, bigger than life,
	how I loved the stories
	of how he would roam these halls
	searching, caring, ranting and exhorting,
	like the injured child he was inside,
	whom we knew so well, for he was us.
	How I loved his checkered shirt, 
	rolled up at sleeves for honest work,
	when he sat down at the laboratory bench with us
	and made the circuits dance again.

	When we had a purpose, how I fought against the Holy Wars.
	Could we not see one way was no better than the next?
	But no, we would have our ripping, mindless war,
	as we parented two children and tried to love them both.
	But the madness was entrenched: "No survivors!
	Either you are with us or against."
	I told you the solution was to place both children in one box,
	but you would not, could not, dared not listen.
	Until another child deserted you in anger
	because you could not see him, and made the marvelous amalgam
	for someone else.
	And now we cower in fear of it.
	Why? Why could you not see his pain and need to be cherished?
	Why could you not see mine?

	When we were brothers and sisters, madly vying for your love,
	egging you forward by sheer dint of will,
	forgetting the mindless waste, forgetting the world outside,
	how foolish, how pointless, and how magnificent!



	But now you have corrected that.
	It is a good thing, really,
	and we should be grateful.

	You have at last become mature.
	You must cut, and cut, and cut. Pare to the bone ruthlessly,
	despite the anguished cries.
	For there is no other way, clearly, is there?
	"Here, Wall Street, do you see? How brave am I,
	for I have spilled our life and blood into the streets
	and not blinked once.
	Surely this proves at last I am a man.
	A man inspires true fear,
	and then his children will love him. You will see.
	They will love me yet."

	"For what good is it to be powerful and not destroy?
	How will anybody know I am strong without my killing first?
	It is, you see, the law of the jungle."






	"Hear me! I am manhood. For this did I strive 
	in the shadow of my father
	struggling in his mighty wake,
	until the day he died and I assumed my rightful place.
	It's best the old man's gone. He was weak.
	See, I am strong.
	Now you will surely love me."

	In the days of our dying, how we left in silence stoically,
	without a whimper.
	Yes, this must be right.
	Children, after all, are meant to suffer, are they not?
	Our parents taught us well.

	And willingly we ran over the cliff as we were commanded,
	for to rebel was made unthinkable.
	To rebel required we band together.
	But we were isolated in our pain,
	each in our own silent cubicle,
	and did not know our neighbor was crying just like us.
	And so one by one we bent our heads and went.
	It really is for the best. What can we do, after all?
	Nothing.

	And when I screamed and told you, "No! No! No!
	This is not manhood! This is not strength!
	This is Fear. Fear is what fills up the heart when there is not love!
	Real manhood is not this!" 
	But you would not, could not, dared not listen.
	How could you, with the whole world applauding?



	So when I ran to you in your caregiving days,
	when you became the family I never had,
	when you extorted my obedience, though I struggled to rebel,
	and tamed me at last,
	when I walked these hollow halls subjugating my will to yours,
	rebelling no longer, but gladly accepting your weekly bribe,
	when the passion within me was at last extinguished,
	and I settled in and at last became being without doing,
	when at last I sought consensus and learned not to antagonize
	what did you do?
	You spit me out into the cold.

	Ah, Digital. At last you've laid me off. What a loss.
	I was Invisible Child and have become Invisible Man,
	and who will love you as I have when I'm gone?


                                           17-June-1993
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
2552.4Where is the accountability ??????????ELMAGO::JMORALESTue Jun 22 1993 22:1518
    Correct me if I'm wrong.  I think I read that the commitment from our
    top management was to finish TFSO during Qtr. 4, because we didn't
    what to go get more loans (1) and that if we were going to do it
    IBM had a 26 week cap and our top management were going to emulate (2).
    
    Now, although I have not seen the official word yet, it seems that we
    will have a package after all.   I have some questions:
    
    	1) Our goal is/was 85,000 by FY'94 - have we reached it ?
           If not, then it is our manager's fault and they being
           accountable (or are we Lip Servicing AGAIN !!) should
           be terminated, for not doing what they were supposed to do.
    
    	2) When we do this new one (if we are actually going to do it)
           Will it be over in Qtr. 1 or we slip again to Qtr. 2.
           WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY ?????????????????????????
2552.5Get off his case...!ICS::MORRISEYTue Jun 22 1993 22:1821
    re: .3
    
  >  ... and the subject inspires laughter.
    
  >  ... The best thing I could say to .0 is: get a life.  Digital
  >  is just a company.  The rendering of Ken Olsen as a father-figure
  >  makes me puke.
    
    	Yeah, LET'S GET the basenoter.  Right!  Bash 'em!
    
    	"Real men" don't have feeling such as he expressed, right?  
    
    	Or having such feelings, AT LEAST a man should shut up about it,
        unless he can express it in an way that demonstrates his
        DOMINANCE in crafting their words better than others can!
    
    	One should only express oneself unless one's writing ability 
        is in the top x% of the population, right?
    
    	I don't think the basenotes needs to "get a life" so much as
        the 'reply' authors need to learn to let others "have a life"!
2552.7POCUS::RICCIARDIBe a graceful Parvenu...Wed Jun 23 1993 00:587
    As harsh as Joel's words are, I must admit that they are well
    conceived, well written and true.
    
    I have a sneaking suspicion that Joel can write a damn fine poem.
    How about it Joel?  Post one on us!
2552.8An alternative viewCHEFS::OSBORNECWed Jun 23 1993 08:0821
    
    I'm no long-term Deccie, but do feel dis-orientated by the replies to
    .0. Regardless of the quality of the poem, the text seems to indicate
    someone who feels he was loyal to the company, & now feels rejected.
    
    I don't know the writer, or any subsequent contributors, but at a
    purely human level the fact that a fellow employee feels this way would
    seem to call for some of the caring we are alleged to be good at,
    rather than the reverse expressed in some replies.
    
    I understand absolutely the Wall Street Way. I do not equate rejection
    of human sympathy as a necessary part of that culture, although some
    may use it as an excuse. 
    
    In my own circle, I'll try to meet external demands whilst using internal 
    sensitivity. I may not succeed, but it seems the only honest course.
    Some decisions will always be painful, but humiliation is a sad
    travesty.
    
    
    Colin
2552.9VERGA::WELLCOMESteve Wellcome PKO3-1/D30Wed Jun 23 1993 11:235
    re: .6
    
    Others, who share .0's feelings about Digital (which I gather you
    most emphatically do not), and who have different opinions about
    what constitutes "good poetry", may disagree with your assesment.
2552.10"...and don't criticize what you can't understand..."WLDBIL::KILGOREAdiposilly challengedWed Jun 23 1993 11:523
    
    This "other" certainly does...
2552.11Rub-a-Dub, Dub -- Three folks in a TubGLDOA::DBOSAKWed Jun 23 1993 12:4116
    Hmmmm -- The message of commitment and pain in the poem were evident to
    me -- Some of the analogies were on the mark within in the context of
    how some DECies would view DEC -- The messages I walked away with were:
    
    	o The Bubble has burst 
    	o Reality has set in
    	o This person feels rejected after having done an admirable job.
    
    Joel has the right spin -- It doesn't matter.  This poem is the
    author's form of grieving -- Grieving is for a set period of time --
    Then a person gets on with life.
    
    It would have been nice for the bubble not to burst.  It happened --
    Now, let's get on with it!
    
    The Street Peddler
2552.12"Same Here"TRACTR::MOODYWed Jun 23 1993 12:494
         I second that emotion ! Live free or CRY !
    
                                                       Peace,
                                                       -RAM-
2552.13We're all different...thank goodness!CTHQ::SNOWWed Jun 23 1993 13:3512
    I worked in the guts of the Mill back in the late 60's and can relate
    to the feelings the author of the poem talks about.  I left Digital for
    about 12 years and rejoined the company in 1980.  Even in that amount
    of time away I saw a big change.  Change is constant.....it's extreme
    change that causes fear, doubt and insecurity.  Lots of us are
    experiencing the latter...whether or not we are being TFSO'd.
    
    We should feel free to express this and not be chastised for doing so. 
    It's human to feel feelings....live and let live...
    
    Lin
2552.14A poetic rendering of unpalatable truthsPASTA::SEILERLarry SeilerWed Jun 23 1993 15:1753
To those who don't like .0 or are unmoved by it... that's your right.

To those who commented that the author of .0 is grieving... of course
you are correct.  But is he grieving for himself or for Digital?  That is
the question you should consider.

To those who dismiss .0 as the author's "phase" or as silly nonsense... 
if you do not recognize Digital's very serious mistakes that the poem
references, then I think you are part of the problem at Digital, not part
of the solution.  Here are examples of issues raised in the poem:

	Abandonment of the consensus process, which (when it works,
	which is to say when people care about truth) makes sure that
	decisions are made based on real technical and customer data.

	Not basing decisions on customer input.

	Dividing the VMS and UNIX worlds into separte product lines
	and separate CPUs -- fortunately we're past that, but the
	battle cost us a lot of revenue and lost us lots of loyal
	customers.

	Institutionalized refusal to learn from failed products or
	strategies and punshishment of those who pointed out problems 
	in advance (they were troublemakers, not team players).

	Cutting projects and people in a fashion that seems to be 
	incredibly wasteful and poorly planned.  

	Expectations that employees should do as they are told and not
	raise concerns, rather than trying to expose and solve problems.

I'm not sure I agree 100% with the abvove.  I would have said that the 
problem was not that we weren't listening to our customers, but that
people were choosing which customers to listen to based on the short
term advantage to their own group or career, rather than trying to see
the whole picture and trying to seek what was good for Digital as a whole.
However, that was my experience and observation, your milage may vary.

As for the rest, the author is comparing Digital to a dysfunctional
family, where no one is allowed to tell "the secret" and those who
actually do tell the truth are punished.  Personally, I felt that by
the end Ken was himself part of the problem, but he certainly had a
reputation (well deserved at least earlier on) of caring about what
is right instead of just what makes a short term profit.

Finally, for those of you who have no experience with a dysfunctional
family and who have never been punished for trying to expose an
important truth so that a problem can be fixed... all I can say is that
either you are very lucky or your eyes are firmly closed.


	Larry Seiler
2552.16If you performed well here you'll perform well eslewhereAPACHE::CLARKJohn Galt for PresidentWed Jun 23 1993 15:445
    
    Uncle Ken is gone.  
    Digital is no longer a security blankey.
    
    cbc
2552.17Real Upset Tummy!WMOIS::STYVES_AWed Jun 23 1993 16:0815
    
    	Hey Joel, want to know what makes me puke? No, well I'm going
    	to tell you anyway.  It's hearing people being congratulated
    	instead of receiving sympathy when being told they are TFSO'd.
    	People with 20-30 years at DIGITAL are finding themselves in
    	the 20-40-60 club.  You know what that is don't you?  No, well
    	I'll tell you.  More than 20 years at DEC (To some of us it's
    	still DEC) more than 40 years old and earning more than 60k 
    	per year. Imagine people being told how lucky they are to be
    	getting what is apparently the last "package" and then escaping
    	from what used to be the DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP.  Yup, that gives
    	me an upset tummy everytime.  As for Ken Olsen ..............
    	well maybe I had better not.  Have a good day!!
    
                                     Arty
2552.19ELWOOD::LANEGood:Fast:Cheap: pick twoWed Jun 23 1993 16:208
re. this whole string

My problem is, and suspect others might feel the same, is I wouldn't know
good poetry if it hit me upside the head with a two-by-four to get things
started, so to speak.

What we need here is someone to translate all this into a County Western
type song. Then we can all judge using a more familiar yardstick.
2552.20Uh-Huh!GLDOA::DBOSAKWed Jun 23 1993 16:243
    Arrrggggghhhh!  --- Joel -- Nice touch -- Good luck!  U got me!
    
    The Street Peddler
2552.21Twang twang twang...WMOIS::HOLEWAAnd then, the cook was goosed.Wed Jun 23 1993 16:284
    RE: -1
    
    And the title of that song could be "Open up the woodshed I'm bringin'
    home a load..."    8^)
2552.22MBALDY::LANGSTONThe secret is strong ears.Wed Jun 23 1993 18:037
I'd like to see what Bob Fleischer's intelligent text analyzer comes up with
for the "poem."

I couldn't get through all the way through .0, but I'm sorry that Mr. Grant 
won't be writing any more here.

Bruce
2552.231-800-????BOOKS::HAMILTONAll models are false; some are useful - Dr. G. BoxWed Jun 23 1993 18:368
    
    If, in some peoples' eyes, Digital is parent, then I suspect quite
    a few employees would like to call the corporate equivalent of
    the Department of Youth services and report the abuse.
    
    Dysfunctional, indeed.
    
    Glenn
2552.26HIBOB::KRANTZNext window please.Wed Jun 23 1993 19:597
re: .22 "Bob Fleischer's intelligent text analyzer"

got any pointers to this software on the net?  what does it do, etc. etc. etc.
(trying to steer this conversation back to something other than whining,
berating, venting, and grieving...

	Joe
2552.27TLE::TOKLAS::FELDMANOpportunities are our FutureWed Jun 23 1993 20:0014
This conference is for discussions about working at Digital.  I'm
not sure which conference is appropriate for literary critiques, but
they don't belong here.

Personally, I don't believe that rudeness has any place in a notes file,
but I understand that Soapbox allows it, so perhaps some of the comments 
here would be better placed there.  Alternatively, they could be 
rephrased.

I'm willing to make some allowances for people who are personally
dealing with the emotions around TFSO, but .6 and .15 go a little too far.
The notes are guilty of many of the things they complain about.

   Gary
2552.29Poetry is NOT the issue herePOWDML::RABOINWed Jun 23 1993 20:445
    RE: 2552.27 (Gary)
    
    Totally agree with your comments.
    
    Betty
2552.31it's that simpleLGP30::FLEISCHERwithout vision the people perish (381-0899 ZKO2-2/T63)Wed Jun 23 1993 20:5619
> re: .22 "Bob Fleischer's intelligent text analyzer"
> 
> got any pointers to this software on the net?  

        See conference ABBOTT::CONTENT-RETRIEVAL note 55.13.

        (You just send text as mail to LGP30::EXTRACTOR -- it's that
        simple.)

        I feel I must warn people that this is a quick-and-dirty
        prototype that does better with certain forms of text than
        others.  The quickest and dirtiest part is the part that
        breaks a document into paragraphs prior to the natural
        language processing.  It works well for plain text with
        reasonably-sized paragraphs.  It doesn't work well for
        outlines, tables, long lists of names (as in mail
        distribution lists), etc.  It really isn't tuned for poetry.

        Bob
2552.32NextICS::CROUCHSubterranean Dharma BumThu Jun 24 1993 11:217
    Next unseen time for a certain gentleman. Glad I don't have to work
    with or know this person.
    
    And whoever brought up soapbox, good idea, take your vitriol there.
    
    Jim C.
2552.34GRANMA::MWANNEMACHERBeing a Daddy=The best jobThu Jun 24 1993 17:378
    
    
    Well I wa going to say that it had a catchy beat and was easy to dance
    to........probably some of my Soapbox mentality coming out. ;')
    
    
    
    Mike
2552.36On Bandstand, Bandstand!AIMHI::KERRMy Other Car Is A ZamboniThu Jun 24 1993 18:295
    
    Well Dick, I thought it had a good beat and the lyrics were okay.
    Overall, I'd give it a 7, but I don't think it will be a big hit.
                  
    Chubby Checker
2552.37good or bad poetry? who cares!PASTA::SEILERLarry SeilerThu Jun 24 1993 18:3414
According to note .25, "dysfunctional" means "a mentality
which enjoys the physical slaughter of human beings."

In other words, the author of .25 hasn't got a clue what 
a dysfunctional family is.  

	Larry

PS:  I read this file for comments about Digital, not for
literature or literary criticism.  I don't care whether .0
is good poetry or lousy poety -- it says some things about
Digital, and that's more interesting and useful than notes 
like .25 or its ilk.
2552.40AXEL::FOLEYRebel without a ClueThu Jun 24 1993 20:257

	What the hell does this have to do with working at Digital?
	Moderators, can someone tell someone to take this drivel to
	Soapbox?

						mike
2552.42CSC32::MORTONAliens, the snack food of CHAMPIONS!Thu Jun 24 1993 23:496
    Joel,
    	You appear to be more than just negative.  It appears you are out
    to get people mad.  Am I reading you wrong?

    Jim Morton
2552.43POCUS::RICCIARDIBe a graceful Parvenu...Fri Jun 25 1993 01:078
    -1.
    
    Frankly, I find it very refreshing to read Joel's comments.  So much
    tenderfootedness in here....so much correctness... 
    
    And, I agree...
2552.44Write-lockedQUARK::LIONELFree advice is worth every centFri Jun 25 1993 01:204
    I have removed a number of offensive replies from this note string
    and have writelocked the base note.
    
    					Steve - co-moderator