Conference 7.286::digital

Yeah,  I saw this coming over three years ago when they started makin' us 
ACT consultants (remember those!) buy our own sodas...

First, free sodas...  next the wellness center...

where will the madness stop!

    
    If you follow the thinking of Deming, you realize that cost cutting
    as a method for improvement is a false road.  It changes very little
    except for where it ultimately makes a bad situation worse.  Deming
    contends that there is data that is unknowable but which is an
    important factor in your business.  The true value of the Wellness
    Center is probably one of those unknowable bits of data.  I would
    guess that we cut 42K visible dollars and set ourselves up for much
    higher "unknowable" costs.
    
    fwiw,
    STeve
      

    
    The vast majority of Digital employees have never had the benefit 
    of the Wellness Center.  
    
    -Ed_in_the_field
    

I know a lot of people here who've never "enjoyed the benefit of the
Wellness Center."

Art_at-ZKO

    I agree with .0 and had the same reaction when I saw the wellness
    center un-funding buried in the body of a memo from our local Personnel
    Mgt. entitled "Personnel Changes"...  I am doubley (sp?) PO'd because
    it's my own function (Finance) that's spearheading these penney-ante
    cutbacks.  I call it wasting people to save money... great
    investment...  There is so much pressure in the system to reduce
    expenses that promulgates this kind of stuff.  Anything that can be
    measured (ie: shows up in a report/expense line) is subject to cuts or
    elimination, with no commensurate look at implicit costs.  What really
    burns me is that if we have a cost issue it's squarely in the category
    of excess management overhead, not paper, pencils, PC software, sticky
    pads, Wellness programs, tuition reimbursement, travel, etc...  No one
    is spearheading a "benchmarking" effort to see how cost
    competitive/effective DEC management is!  I think we're missing 2 CBUs;
    one for VP generation (our most prolific manufacturing capability) and
    another for program planning (our most prolific service offering).  I
    have still yet to see a TFSO from SR1 41 or above, only "...leaving
    digital to pursue other opportunities... we thank Charlie for his many
    years of dedicated service..."
    
    Meanwhile, my dept. of 20+ people in 1989 has been reduced to... 1.  I
    have tried to protect the orgs. I provide soup to nuts finance support
    to from these willy-nilly nickel and dime efforts (anyone recall
    Journal subscriptions and bottled water cut-offs from a now comfortably
    retired former Senior VP?).  However, it's becoming increasingly
    rigid/impossible to.  People are asking my approval for $25 office
    supply reqs. for pens and pencils!  I tell them "don't bother asking me
    if it has less than 3 zeros.  You decide, I'll approve if necessary.
    
    There is no cost-cutting to prosperity.  We've swung from one extreme
    to the other.  And I don't just mean digital, most major US companies
    have gone down this cost-cutting road.  I believe they will begin to
    feel the delayed pain shortly.  I see it here.  Good talent is simply
    walking out toward better employment opportunities (typically with
    small to medium size firms, the only ones growing, the only ones
    dynamic enough to do so...)
    
    I felt compelled a few months back to send Bob P. a lengthy memo
    describing life at the bottom of the digital food chain and my thoughts
    for improvement, no holds barred.  He responded personally within 24
    hours with his general agreement.  But, it's clear that he's getting
    very filtered info from below.  I hope he can cut through soon, because
    we have maybe a 2 qtr. window of opportunity left.  I believe he wants
    to see quantifiable results before he thins the stratospheric layers...
    
    Just my observations...

re .0

Hmm, they could have funded the Wellness Centre (silly name) 
by simply firing half a bean-counter.

    RE: .5
    
    Good observations....
    
    Marc H.

I don't know why I always feel compelled to respond in this notes file because
I know that anything negative I say can and probably will be used against me.
But, I have heard everyone say things like, "If I ran this company...", or,
"They should do this...", or, "Management stinks...".

If you ran this company, the prevailing market conditions in the computer
industry would kick your a**, too.  Just like it is kicking the a** of all of 
the computer companies(sans a lucky few).  If they did that, it still would
not make any difference.  Management has little if any control over what
happens in this company or any other computer company.  I personally have never 
been shackled by management.  In fact, I have never had a manager that even
knew what I did on a day to day basis because my groups were successful and
that was enough to keep everybody happy. So, why rock the boat and try to 
figure out if my code compiled on the first try or not.  It just was not 
important whether I was or am competent as long as the dollars were there.

The U.S. auto industry used to employ entire cities of people with jobs that
were guaranteed for life.  As soon as the Japanese figured out how much per 
hour the auto workers made and the size of the profit margins on cars, they 
jumped in and made it a race.  It got real competitive.  People lost jobs.
There was a big shakeout and the industry became more streamlined and the auto
workers blamed it on management and government because they lost their jobs.
When the real resaon was that the Japanese trimmed the profit margins to 
levels that would not support the inefficiencies that the U.S companies had
previously not even considered.

In the '60's and '70's the oil industry had the juggernaut on the entire planet
because the price of oil went to 40 dollars a barrel.  Big profit margins.  
This was the industry that would make money forever.  Everybody got into the 
game because all you had to do was find a crummy little producer in Kansas 
and retire to Aspen.  I believed.  I got an MS in Geology/Geochemistry.  And
then the Arabs said, "We are going to sell it for $18 dollars a barrel", 
because they found out that the price inelasticity that their Harvard 
educated economists preached was a crock of sh*t.  All of you genius geologists
go get a real job.  Goodbye Texas, Olkahoma, Louisiana, and Colorado oil
industry/real estate.  And the Texans that had been pounding their chests 
about how smart they were and how well managed their oil companies were had
to 'downsize' and get more efficient because their management style and ideas
had nothing to do with success.  There was a big demand for a high margin
product, period.

Real Estate in the '70's and early '80's.  I personally know certified idiots
that could not find their a** with both hands that were writing up deal afer
deal on the hood of their cars in the late '70's in Colorado because the 
market was so hot.  And they would blow smoke in my face and tell me how they
really knew HOW to sell real estate and really knew HOW to make the big bucks.
These were the same people that were selling real estate because they were
too clueless to do anything else, like read a book.  When the market went South
in the mid '80's, due to the paragraph above, these people could'nt make a
dime.  Downsizing in this industry is called personal bankruptcy.  Ever hear
of the savings and loan crisis.  Ever hear of the RTC.  Another industry that
patted itself on tha back and could do no wrong until the margins and demand 
dried up.  And then all of those brillant California realtors began making 
motivational tapes and telling us how we too could get rich buying low and
selling high.  No kidding. Too bad the prices were high and heading down.

Computer Industry.  You all know the story.  Jobs and Wosniak...Gates...Ken
Olsen...IBM.  Everything was awesome for years and years.  Digital grew.
Everyone grew.  Massvie margins.  Plenty of demand.  Touchy feely everything
because management knew that if you gave enough classes in 'Becoming an 
Everyday Genius' that everyone would become a genius. Made sense and the 
company was growing at 15% a year and that must be the reason because we are
all geniuses.  Heck, they were hiring geologists with no experience and paying
them acceptable dollars.  What a deal, where do I sign?  Unfortunately, AT&T 
was giving away UNIX and PC's were getting more powerful and selling for 
peanuts because the surge to make a buck in this industry had spread just
like it did in autos, oil, and realty.  Dell, Compaq, Gateway.  All making
hair thin margins and squeezing out the pigs like IBM and DEC(excuse me, 
Digital) that were busy becoming an everyday genius instead up paying attention.
The shakeout is here and it's not management's fault.  The industry is 
maturing and compettion has set the price for the goods after a glorious 
period of growth.  Hardware is now a commodity.  Software and TELECOM is 
where the big margins are now.

Telecom...WOW!  AT&T, US West, MCI, TCI, British Telecom...  Software. 
Microsoft, Novell, Lotus...  And I know that they will all tell you that
they are successful because they are brilliantly managed.  Just like the
Japanese were brilliant until their stock market hit the skids and now
all of the brilliant Japanese management techniques can't save them from
the inevitable.  Economics.  And economics will catch up with global telecom
and software companies, too.  The demand for these things outstrips the 
supply and therefore the margins are huge.  Which will attract plenty of 
compettion and prices will come down and margins will thin and they will have
to downsize and the telecom company employees will be in the notes files 
saying, "Get the managers, they did this to us".

Were we slow to react.  I think so.  But, so was everybody else in every 
industry that downsized.  It is really too bad about the Wellness Center and I
am sure cutting it will not bring Digital's bottom line up or down.  Long or
short term.  What will bring the bottom line up is getting on with
supplying the software needed to run the incredible hardware 
that will sell for pennies per MIP.  I'm in a PSC writing code for a major
telecom account.  Their thirst for software to run their network is
unquenchable.  Am I smart? NO.  I'm just in the right place at the right time. 
My management is probably viewed as approaching genius because they are making
big margins when the company is downsizing.  I doubt they could sell any real
estate.  

And I doubt that I will get TFSO'ed because we are kicking a** this week.  
But, so were geologists in '82.  That's when I had to get a job selling
real estate, 'cause it was hot.  And then, I went broke and I had to get a 
job writing code.  And now I'm hot and no amount of management or Wellness
Centers can change that.  But if coding for telecom goes cold and they
close the Wellness Center, you can bet I'll be looking for where it's hot
and not looking to blame management for something they have NO control over.

Bill K.
    

    Bill,
    	Excellent note.  I don't think anyone is holding the managers
    responsible for the economy.  What I see people complaining about, and
    have problems with is that management has lost control of THIS
    COMPANY...

    	I did enjoy what you said though.

    Jim Morton

re: .9

So are we all just helpless pawns of these inexorable economic forces?  Or
does someone learn the lessons of history well enough to guide their company
through these cyclic booms and busts?

I think Bob Palmer knows what he's doing pretty well (gut feel), but i'm
not so sure what his agenda is.  Still seems like we as a company are aiming
to get bought out by or merge with someone else a year or two down the road.
Maybe that's only Option B, but it feels like we're keeping that one open.

Managers only have control over the people that work for them--at the top
levels that means other managers.  This can lead to "trickle-down" changes.

Maybe one problem managers have is thinking they have more control than they
actually do--else why the perpetual reorganizations and buzzwords du jour?
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting headline article a few days ago
about how much difficulty companies have had trying to implement the hot
management fads (TQM, employee empowerment, and process re-engineering were
mentioned specifically) and reap the supposed benefits.  If someone else has
access to that and could type it in, i think it would be of interest to this
conference's readership.
								paul

    Paul,
    
    I don't think option B is an option - Think about it.
    
    If Wizbang INC. bought Digital, a couple thousand VP's would
    become jobless within 6 months.  Business would either be
    spun off, or merged.  The IC's would merge into new or existing
    units of Wizbang, and the rest of the chiefs would be canned
    since they "don't fit in".
    
    Just my .02 cents.
    
    Mike

    re: -.0 But what else did you expect, given the accelerated TSFO
    climate, why would long term health of employees have any relevence to
    running a profitable company? Your cynacism needs to ripen a bit I'd
    say!. Having been TSFO'd and "returned from the dead" finding a job 1/2
    way accross the country, I speak as an epicure of cynacism.....        

re: .12
    
>    If Wizbang INC. bought Digital, a couple thousand VP's would
>    become jobless within 6 months.  Business would either be
>    spun off, or merged.  The IC's would merge into new or existing
>    units of Wizbang, and the rest of the chiefs would be canned
>    since they "don't fit in".
    
I don't think the BOD cares how many VPs (or ICs) get the axe as long as
the shareholders get a better return on their investment.  And i assume
BP is working on the BOD's agenda, since they just put him in power a
short while ago.  If merging with Intel or AT&T or Ford makes the share
price go up $20, 5000 VPs could get canned and no one (but them) would
care.  I'm not sure how obvious that is to the denizens of VP-land though.

								paul

>    Bill,
>        Excellent note.  I don't think anyone is holding the managers
>    responsible for the economy.  What I see people complaining about, and
>    have problems with is that management has lost control of THIS
>    COMPANY...

I don't think Bill's note and what you say here are mutually exclusive.
I agree with both. I tend to take the simplistic (and probably naive) view 
that over the last few years management didn't do they their job. What
really pisses me off it that they are still all here.

/Paul.

    
    
    	I too liked the short history of American economics given by
    	Bill Kemp. It was very interesting and much of what he said was
    	true.
    
    	HOWEVER....I disagree that top management can be let off the hook 
    	so easily. One of the top priorities of upper level management
    	should be to constantly analyze market conditions and trends and
    	plan accordingly. They don't have to limit their data to what is
    	happening in the computer industry either; valuable lessons can be
    	learned by studying other industries such as oil and autos. We have
    	been burned by lack of vision and foresight and not being prepared
    	in areas such as:
    
    	o PC's  (they're just toys)
    	o Open software (they'll buy VMS forever, right?)
    
    	Top management should be rated by their success in making the
    	correct decisions PROACTIVELY, not getting into the situation where
    	they need to slash costs REACTIVELY. This is why they get paid the
    	six-figure salaries along with all the perqs. This is why I feel
    	that they should be held accountable for the success or failure of
    	the company. Set us a course. Tell us where we want the company to
    	be next year, three years from now. Tell us what you need from us
    	to help us as a company to get there. Give us the tools we need to
    	do the job. Give us a method of providing timely feedback, and
    	listen to our feedback...many times we have very good ideas. And
    	finally, accept responsibility for your decisions. Nobody would
    	want to have someone fired for making one bad decision, but if you
    	blame (and TFSO) the troops for your bad decisions, then don't 
    	expect morale or the bottom line to improve significantly or 
    	permanently.
    
    	I don't intend for this to be a management-bashing reply. I just
    	disagreed with Bill's analysis that those at the helm are totally
    	at the mercy of Mother Nature. 
    	
    	John 
    	
    	            

    	I think .16 said it better than I did in .0. Plus, I thought Bill
    said his note wasn't going to be long! Phew! In fact, the wording in
    .16 is remarkably similar to some of the BP speaches I've heard. I've
    been waiting for actions which back up those statements.
    	Also, there are a *few* computer companies doing quite well. Is it
    just luck? Are we analyzing what they're doing right, where the
    profitable markets will be 3-5 years down the road, and steering the
    company in that direction? It sure doesn't look like it to me. We
    instead seem to be pursuing a risky, potentially dead market which will
    be highly-competitive and where we don't seem positioned to be
    successful.

 >   	I don't intend for this to be a management-bashing reply. I just
 >   	disagreed with Bill's analysis that those at the helm are totally
 >   	at the mercy of Mother Nature. 

	Those at the helm should have been picked according to their
	ability to sail the ship through a storm, no?
 

    
    	re .18
    
    	>Those at the helm should have been picked according to their
        >ability to sail the ship through a storm, no?
    
         Yes. And for their ability to predict an upcoming storm, moreso
    	than the ability to bail rapidly. 
    

Haven't read the whole string, but here are my reactions to the base note.

The vast majority of Digital employees, I'd guess, don't have access to a
wellness center.  I'm in MKO now, and they have one - I don't use it.  I 
do use the shower facilities elsewhere in the building.  I've done extensive
work in the field.  Never saw a wellness center - OR - a good shower facility (
one place did have ONE shower in a men's room - tiny, tiny...)

If a person is worried about their health, or to be trendy "wellness", or is
one that likes to stay fit - one can make the effort to do the exercise without
a company sponsered wellness centre.  Thousands of folks exercise on their own, or
at the YMCA or a health club, etc.

A lot of people have lost their jobs.  This company has lost millions of dollars.
Things are in disarray.  The unfunding of a wellness center in ZKO is of little
significance.  Sure, its a pain.  Are their other alternatives - or options - to
keep the center open?  Even for reduced hours?  More dues paid by persons that
want to use it on their own time?   You said there are 400 users of the center?
The cost is 42000K.  I'm not a mathematician, but what is that - 105 dollars a YEAR
to use the center.  You won't find that price at a health club, that's for sure.

Or would the numbers significantly decrease if folks had to pay more to use it?

JD

    To quote one of your native comedians:
    
    "It's a real shame that all the people who know how to run the country 
    are busy cutting hair or driving taxis"
    
    just my 2FF worth 
    
    martin

    Yes -- Tis true -- And no matter how U dress the damn thing, Tis still
    a pig!
    
    BUT, I also agree with Noter 9. Coming from the Auto City -- Chrysler is an
    excellent example of "Righ-sizing."  They have excellent products and
    an infrastructure to deliver product.  They are saddled with the
    highest retirement community in the industry and are still more
    profitable per unit than their competitor.
    
    Now, about the Pig analogy -- I am continually struck by the fact that
    the members of the DEC (Digital) Country Club still survive -- They end
    up in positions using the same decision making mentality used in
    previous positions -- The result is everythin stays the same.  Preserve
    the Country Club at all costs -- Then along came Palmer -- I firmly
    believe the man sees through all of the Kabookie Dances going on at the
    Country Club Ball -- Before the end of this year, Club memberships are
    going to be cancelled.
    
    It just takes time.
    
    Number 9 hit it on the head -- It's the Economic reality of Supply and
    Demand -- I learned about that stuff in ECON 101 -- Remember? 
    "Equilibrium" -- Remember?  
    
    The only place U can have high margins are in places where competition
    is not setting price -- Value is setting price -- In the past Computers
    were Value-Priced.  Costs had no real bearing on the price customers
    paid -- Competition drives down costs and as consumers we love that
    everytime we purchase a refrigerator, or some other item.
    
    I told a customer that other day that at times, I feel like an
    appliance store salesperson -- That's the reality of Open Systems AND a
    knowledgable customer base.
    
    Now -- Back to those Bastards we call managers -- Whew!  I have to say,
    folks, that I have not had a bad manager at Digital in the 6 years that
    I've been here.  I know of no person who gets up in the morning and
    says:  "Ahhhhh -- Great day -- I think I'll do a bad job today."   
    
    If a Manager isn't doing the right thing, it seems to me that his/her
    reports have not adequately trained the manager.  They probably aren't
    managing them properly, either.
    
    Managers at one point in their career were folks like me and thee -- I
    don't think the fact they went into a management postion turned them
    into Bastards!
    
    Now - how about those executives -- A person in Digital had a nice
    saying -- "When the ship misses the harbor, it's seldom the harbor's
    fault."
    
    Think about that within the concept of Managers running sections of the
    ship -- They all work together with the crew to get the ship going in a
    direction.  It's up to the Captain and his/her officers to ensure that
    the ship stays out of harms way and makes safe harbor.
    
    Captain Palmer is going to clean out the wardroom -- Believe it  -  We
    are going to sail in these stormy economic waters and the ship is not
    going to miss the harbor!
    
    I do agree that with Captain Ken in charge, we lost direction and
    steamed in circles -- We have a new Captain -- As an ex-Navy person, I
    can tell U that a change of command works wonders in getting things
    squared away.
    
    Now, if we can just get the Captain to start cancelling memberships to
    the country club.
    
    Dennis

    
    Re: .9
    
    > Management has little if any control over what happens in this
    > company or any other computer company.
    
    You are quite right in painting a picture of economic conditions
    that have made life difficult, but, on your point above, going back
    to Deming's principles I'd have to say that you are dead wrong.
    Deming has experience with literally hundreds of companies here
    and in Japan.  He has found time and again that management *does*
    have control overwhat happens within a company and in fact is the
    only group that does.
    
    fwiw,
    Steve
    
    

    Let me add one more point and I'll try to be quiet.  I am a huge 
    supporter of accountability.  I think management in this company
    should be held accoutable for what has happened because Digital
    engineering has produced brilliant products that flat out get the
    job done.
    
    But, we have not gotten that message across to those who are not
    our customers.  I think our customers know us and respect us but,
    we need more customers when margins decrease.
    
    I think it is possible for good management to make the right decisions
    to keep this horrible thing from happening.  I think HP did some
    of the right things early on in this cycle.  Buy Apollo, go with RISC,
    target the desktop, support open systems, and try to integrate the
    customers applications.  
    
    But, I was of the opinion early on ('88, the year VAX/VMS was the 
    greatest product in the industry) that open systems and integrating
    cheap desktop cpu's would be the wave of the future.  And all I could
    say is why don't we really get with it and try to support this because
    there will be a ton of money in that segment(I was in the support
    center for 4 years).  I did not convince management to do this and
    neither did you.
    
    Who is to blame? Management for not listening? Or you and me for not
    convincing them that the company should focus on client-server
    integration support?  Great management would have seen it.  But, how
    many great managers are there?
    
    We are all at fault and it is easy to say what should have, could have,
    etc. been done.  But it ain't easy to say, "Let's change the status 
    quo" when the live and jobs of thousands are depending on your
    decision.  What if your wrong?
    
    The water is under the bridge and the milk has been silled.  Let's
    move forward and get these Alpha chips out there and integrate the 
    applications of our customers and show the rest of the industry that
    we serious about capturing market share.  The rest will take care of
    itself.
    
    Bill K.

    re: the last few
    
    I agree with the assertions that management has control.  But, they are
    also paralyzed and not just at Digital.  The reason is that they look
    to the (in)actions of their peers (often in other companies) to measure
    and justify their own (in)actions.  This is also why so MANY companies
    suffer the same problems and why managment (as a society) tends to view
    the few successful companies during hard times as "just lucky."
    
    Steve

.22 makes some very good points.  Also, my own direct managers have been
pretty good over the yeras.  However, I disagree with some things in .22:


    Now -- Back to those Bastards we call managers -- Whew!  I have to say,
    folks, that I have not had a bad manager at Digital in the 6 years that
    I've been here.  I know of no person who gets up in the morning and
    says:  "Ahhhhh -- Great day -- I think I'll do a bad job today."   

No, but it depends whehter one defines the job as making Digital successful
or as being personally successful.  There most certainly are managers who 
get up in the morning and think, "How can I protect my turf today?",  "How
can I put the blame on someone else?, or "How can I nullify someone who is
exposing something I did?"  To me, this all translates into "How can I
aggrandize myself at the expense of Digital", and is a big part of our 
problem.

    Managers at one point in their career were folks like me and thee -- I
    don't think the fact they went into a management postion turned them
    into Bastards!
    
Well, some of them were this way when they were engineers, too!  I know of
one such case, now a VP at another company after leaving behind a big mess
here.  

    Now - how about those executives -- A person in Digital had a nice
    saying -- "When the ship misses the harbor, it's seldom the harbor's
    fault."

Love it!

    Captain Palmer is going to clean out the wardroom -- Believe it  -  We
    are going to sail in these stormy economic waters and the ship is not
    going to miss the harbor!

With the recent flood of promotions, I suspect that we have more VP's now
than we did before 6 of them left last summer.  Some are new faces, but
don't necessarily have different attitudes about what their job is than
the prior set.  To continue the nautical analogy, it doesn't do any good
to steer toward the harbor if no one's worrying about the water pouring
into the hold.

    Now, if we can just get the Captain to start cancelling memberships to
    the country club.
    
I'd love to know if and when this will start happening.

	Enjoy,
	Larry

    I am in a facility that does not have a wellness center- TWO.
    
    I did come from MKO which does have a good program.  I believe that it
    is short sighted to reduce/eliminate these programs.  I wouold have
    hoped that these programs be expanded to all facilities.  They save
    money.  Some of this money is measurable/ some is intangible but real.
    While I was in the center, I was able to get off the medicine I was
    takeing:: savings to DEC opss digital, was $80/mo.  sick time
    eliminated.  future major problems delayed/eliminated.  these things
    are measurable.  High moral, increased productivity, intangible.
    
    why don't I participate now?  2hrs/day commute time added after we were
    moved out of MKO.  add to that no convienent facilities for hours I
    have available.  Add again personal attention/care that the health
    center provides.  we tried to make our own aerobics class in TWO,
    but only succeeded briefly, while being fought by facilities.
    
    I'd like to work where we had a health center, nurses, cafeteria,
    DCU branch, circle of excellence, canobie lake, trips to Haweii,
    etc.  TWO has nothing.  But for those working at real dec facilities,
    enjoy, I wish you well.
    
    Lets look at a creative way that could have been used.  sit down and
    talk with the users, talk to the insurance companies.  HMOs like
    Healthsource offer $200 rebates for members who attend a health center.
    [that alone should prove the importance].  Why can't these fees be
    used to fuel the center?  It would only take 210 users to get $42K.
    
    ed
    

    Hooooray for Noter 24 -- Accountability -- That's where it's at!!
    
    Who is DIGITAL -- We are!  When folks shoot at Digital, they shoot at
    us  -- We can change the course of this company based on how we pursue our
    individual responsbilities.  
    
    In reading Notes files, I have been struck by the fact that folks
    working at Digital seem to see it as a Parent figure of sorts - U Know
    -- The parent takes care of the kids.
    
    Well, things change.  I have been in sales since three days after the
    crust of the earth solidified and have learned one thing thoroughly  --
    You are the one who makes job security.  No one else. What seems to be
    happening is that the volitility of sales positions is pushing further
    back into the organization.
    
    Regarding the Noter 26 position that there are folks in organizations
    who cover the sphincter muscles -- You know, forever and ever there has
    been office politics and folks with personal agendas.  We tend to
    figure these folks out and provide work arounds -- No matter what logo
    is on the water tower, there's gonna be politics.
    
    Office politics can be fun -- There is a base rule, however:  "Never,
    never get into a urination match with someone unless U R sure U have a
    bigger bladder."  If U run into a Corporate Politician and U want to
    play the game be prepared to play the end game -- Trust me -- Good guys
    can win at this game.
    
    As for the V/P that bit the dust -- Even though U may want to do a good
    job, maybe you are at the level where you can't -- Yup -- a mess is
    left and hopefully a change of command brings in a new day and a new
    way.  I look upon the "mess" as opportunity to make a difference.
    
    Lastly, about the ship flooding:  Yeah, we're taking on water, but it
    ain't to the level where I have to put on a life jacket -- The baseline
    is that we as members of the crew own the problem -- In the analogy
    where we B flooding,  it's the crew that saves the ship -- not the
    captain -- He/She just gets the medal for it -- And I don't care about
    medals.
    
    It's our ship, folks.  We can:
    
    	o Abandon ship
    	o Sit on the poop deck and -- well, think about it
    	o Get with the damage control party and get the ship under control
    	  so the bridge can get the damn thing back on course.
    
    Ahhh, love talking Navy talk -- As the Cap'n of the USS Scurvy Queen,
    water in the bilge doesn't make me nervous -- The pumps can handle it
    -- It's when the water comes up over the decks is when I start to get a
    little tense.
    
    Avast and Ahoy!
    
    Dennis

	Since we seem to be stuck on the ship metaphor, I had a manager 
that I liked for a while that posed the following question:

	"You are serving aboard a military vessel in the midst of a
battle when you notice that the vessel is on fire.  You also notice that
no one else appears to be aware of the fire.  What do you do?  Fight
the enemy?  Fight the fire?  Report the problem to superiors?
Go for help?  Abandon ship?"

	If everyone fights the enemy, the fire will sink the ship.
If everyone fights the fire, the enemy will sink the ship.  

    .29 That easy..
    
    Put the fire out while fighting the enemy!  (don't be a binary brain) 
    
    .0
    
    I disagree with your observations and am sick and tired of seeing big 
    corporations spending wads of money and becoming to big for their
    britches.  This is a symptom of cost control which is good and is what we
    need right now.  We need to compete with smaller companies who realize
    this and keep overhead low.  
    
    Do you still have a job?
    Health benefits?   
    Can you still pay bills and put food on the table?
    Do you like your job and feel that the corporation needs you?   
    
    If you answered yes to the questions above consider yourself fortunate
    and keep up the good work.   Don't take your paycheck for granted.  Get
    behind Digital with a constructive attitude.
    
    If you cannot work for a company that doesn't have a Wellness Center -
    maybe you need to find a company that has a Wellness Center.  I 
    myself can live without a Wellness Center and believe the savings are
    for the good.  
    
    Don't you realize what is happening at Digital - we are trying to turn
    the corporation around into a profitable venture.    If you feel that 
    a Wellness Center is more important than Digital's overall
    profitability something is wrong with how you view priorities.
    Don't misunderstand me - a Wellness program has its merits - but 
    there is a time and a place for everything.   Maybe someday in the future 
    times will be better...

    The latest _Fortune_ title article is about jobs.  It predicts
    that American workers won't see real raises (greater than inflation)
    for some time, though we may see some slight improvement in the
    relative prices of goods and labor, making our paychecks go a little
    further.  It's interesting but depressing.
    
    They also predict that computer programmers and analysts will be
    in great demand, for what it's worth.  There's no discussion of
    relative wage changes (e.g. programmers up and lawyers down, average
    stable).
    
    		-John Bishop

re .28:  Ahoy, there matey!  Thanks for your reply.  I have a couple of
questions and corrections.

    In reading Notes files, I have been struck by the fact that folks
    working at Digital seem to see it as a Parent figure of sorts - U Know
    -- The parent takes care of the kids.
    
Some truth here.  However, I think it's more like "I do my low level job
and I expect the managers to do their high level jobs".  People used to
trust that they were doing their job.  Much of that trust has been lost.

    You are the one who makes job security.  No one else. 

Lots of people doing high quality jobs have been shown the door.  Lots of
people doing mediocre jobs (or actively harming the company) have not.
It's not as simple as "do a good job and you'll be ok".  

    Regarding the Noter 26 position that there are folks in organizations
    who cover the sphincter muscles -- You know, forever and ever there has
    been office politics and folks with personal agendas.  We tend to
    figure these folks out and provide work arounds -- No matter what logo
    is on the water tower, there's gonna be politics.

    Office politics can be fun -- There is a base rule, however:  "Never,
    never get into a urination match with someone unless U R sure U have a
    bigger bladder."  If U run into a Corporate Politician and U want to
    play the game be prepared to play the end game -- Trust me -- Good guys
    can win at this game.
    
Well, if you can help me and all of us find workarounds, or the sort of
leverage that will let the good guys win every now and then, that would be
great!  I agree wholeheardely that one should not challenge a politician
unless one is willing to carry it through.

    As for the V/P that bit the dust -- Even though U may want to do a good
    job, maybe you are at the level where you can't -- Yup -- a mess is
    left and hopefully a change of command brings in a new day and a new
    way.  I look upon the "mess" as opportunity to make a difference.

No, this guy wasn't *unable* to do a good job, and he wasn't fired.  He
created a mess at Digital in pursuit of his own interests, and then 
parlayed it into a better job at another company.  He was never a VP here.  
Sorry that I can't provide details in public.

    Lastly, about the ship flooding:  Yeah, we're taking on water, but it
    ain't to the level where I have to put on a life jacket -- The baseline
    is that we as members of the crew own the problem -- In the analogy
    where we B flooding,  it's the crew that saves the ship -- not the
    captain -- He/She just gets the medal for it -- And I don't care about
    medals.
    
Well, if the crew members are ordered by the captain not to fix the leak,
it's an ackward situation.  Personally, I don't care about medals, I just
want the ship to stay afloat without drowning everyone in the holds first.
And... there's been more than one corporate ship lately where the officers
took the lifeboats and the cargo and left the crew to go down with the ship.
Just something to keep in mind when you work below decks.  
    
    Ahhh, love talking Navy talk -- As the Cap'n of the USS Scurvy Queen,
    water in the bilge doesn't make me nervous -- The pumps can handle it
    -- It's when the water comes up over the decks is when I start to get a
    little tense.
    
I don't know about your deck, but mine is already ankle deep in something!
And while I know that we have to toss stuff overboard to keep afloat, I
have to wonder whether the officers are tossing over the right stuff.

	Enjoy,
	Larry

>    Do you still have a job?

Yes.

>    Health benefits?   

Yes which I pay for out of my pocket more and more all the time.

>    Can you still pay bills and put food on the table?

Barely, but yes. Have started thinking about a second job to replentish
the savings that are all but depleted.

>    Do you like your job and feel that the corporation needs you?   

No.
    
>    If you answered yes to the questions above consider yourself fortunate
>    and keep up the good work.   Don't take your paycheck for granted.  Get
>    behind Digital with a constructive attitude.

I don't consider myself fortunate. As others have pointed out, Digital isn't
a charity. They pay me to do a job and hopefully they get their money's worth.
Salary+benefits=compensation for the work I do. Salary remains unchanged and
benefits decrease while I'm expected to work harder. I see waste and neglect
at upper levels. They're flying to Hawaii while I can't get notepads. Am I
motivated to work harder for this company? Guess for yourself. Am I alone?
Hardly. Is this bad for the company? Absolutely. Will your attitude of
continuing the floggings until morale improves work? No.

Instead of just abandoning ship like a lot of people, I'd like to point out
stupidity when I see it and try to help turn the company around so it's a
decent place to work again. My patience is running out though, and there are
a lot of jobs out there which look more and more inviting. We're not trapped
here doing charity work for Digital. Company loyalty has been shot to hell.
Competitive compensation is now required, or see you later.
    
>    If you cannot work for a company that doesn't have a Wellness Center -
>    maybe you need to find a company that has a Wellness Center.  I 
>    myself can live without a Wellness Center and believe the savings are
>    for the good.  

The Wellness Center was merely an example of the declining benefits and one
that hit close to home in my case.
    
>    Don't you realize what is happening at Digital - we are trying to turn
>    the corporation around into a profitable venture.    If you feel that 
>    a Wellness Center is more important than Digital's overall
>    profitability something is wrong with how you view priorities.

That's a lot of bull. The nickel and dime crap is doing nothing for the
bottom line...directly. Indirectly, lots of good people are leaving the
company in droves. That helps the bottom line. It also demoralizes the majority
of those left, and that hurts or will hurt the bottom line. Mark my words, if
the current trend continues, you may see one or two profitable quarters, but
we'll be quickly back in the red and struggling. Why? It's obvious to me.

>    Don't misunderstand me - a Wellness program has its merits - but 
>    there is a time and a place for everything.   Maybe someday in the future 
>    times will be better...

I'm still here because I still have hope, but it gets harder all the time.

Re: .9  Nice note Bill.  Well put.  

Re: the title.

The financial managers always end up running things.  They always have
(at least since the term management science was invented) and they
always will.

It is a curious thing about human kind that we continually repeat the
same mistakes.  We apparently believe, as did Henry Ford, that "History is
bunk."  Do you think, rapidity of change notwithstanding, that the 
competitive pressures on the auto industry in the 1970s (that had 
their roots, by the way, as early as the mid-1950s) are all that 
different from those in the computer industry?  Weren't there people, 
even here at Digital, who warned of the sea change as early as the 
late 1970s?  Jobs and Wozniak turned out the first Apple computer
around, what, '74 or '75?  Can't that be seen, at least in broad brush, 
as analogous to the initial popularity of the VW Beetle?

Go back and look at the auto industry.  Out of a period of chaos and
tumult (as many as a hundred companies at the time of the depression),
amid the feverish pace of engineering innovation and the building of little
fiefdoms within the bigger companies, came the most powerful industry
ever created.  It was within the auto industry that new management 
accounting systems were born (or, more accurately, tempered in the heat
of the real world). The new systems spawned the financial managers; 
the financial managers have held sway in that industry for forty years.  It's
a matter of debate whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.  On the
one hand, they must take responsibility for turning out staggeringly
bad products throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s.  On the
other hand, it's not at all clear that Ford and GM would have
survived the 1940s and 1950s without those management controls. Sound 
familiar?  

Are we listening to our current visionaries?  Are those putting forth 
plans to take advantage of PDAs and the confluence of computers, 
communications, and entertainment being given an audience?  Can those
visionaries answer the intimidating questions about ROI for as-yet-
unproven devices?  I fervently hope it is thus.

I used to be addicted to books on management and economics.  I read 
Tom Peters.  I read Harvey McKay.  I read Peter Drucker.  I read Lester 
Thurow.  I read HBR.  I read the fluff books, I read the serious books, 
I read about self-managed teams, re-engineering, service excellence, 
marketing, global economies, zero sum games, and on and on.  What I 
found was that most of the management and economic gurus who write 
these books are in the business of analyzing the future (as if that's 
possible). Fine. But instead of making millionaires out of the futurists, 
we should be lionizing those few who cogently analyze the past, and 
help us draw valid parallels with the present so we can intelligently 
manage the future.

I have recently changed my reading choices to biography and history.
Last summer I read a biography of Churchill.  You want to learn
how to manage in a crisis?  Read about Churchill.  Currently, I am
reading an excellent biography of Robert McNamara (Shapley).  
You want to know about the ultimate in rational, quantitative, "data 
driven" declination into disaster?  About the misinterpretation and 
abuse of information?  About how a top manager encourages everyone 
to concentrate on the wrong numbers and lie to everyone up the chain?  
About how a strong personality and a seemingly unassailable command 
of figures eventually brings down a government (and damn near a 
society)?  Read Deborah Shapley's book _Power_and_Promise_.  For a 
further study of the dangers of cooking the books, read 
Sheehan's _A Bright_and_Shining Lie_.

MacCulloch's biography of Truman is another book from which managers
can learn.  How did this "little haberdasher" from Missouri summon
the vision and energy to sell the interstate highway system and the GI
bill?  How did he conjure ideas of such majestic sweep?  Why did he
so badly stumble in Korea?  These are the questions from which we
can learn.  Really learn.

Glenn



   

re: .34

>                     ...  Read about Churchill. ...

>       ... Read Deborah Shapley's book _Power_and_Promise_.  ...

>                                                ... read 
>Sheehan's _A Bright_and_Shining Lie_.   ...

>MacCulloch's biography of Truman ...

    For those of us without the free time to read these substantial
    and substantive tomes, could you share a bit more of the wisdom you
    feel is to be acquired therein?

    
    re: .35
    
    Sure.  I'll compose some bulleted lists when I have time.
    I'll post them here periodically if people are interested.
    
    Glenn

    Well I just wanted to let everyone know, I just spent 10 minutes
    looking for a damn pen to write with.  Someone stoll that last two I
    had, and there are'nt any new ones to be found.  Where is the cost
    savings on this bright idea?  I'd like someones opinion, should I just
    go out and buy a box of pens and expense it, or is there a place that I
    can actually order these things.  
    

    .-1

    > Well I just wanted to let everyone know, I just spent 10 minutes
    >    looking for a damn pen to write with.

    > I'd like someones opinion, should I just    go out and buy a box of pens 
    >and expense it 

    hi SUBWAY::CATANIA, you seem to suffer from the old syndrome of
    doing things, we should try to become a paperless, pen'le'less company, 
    ie. we should cut down on using paper and pens, we should use the 
    electronics media as much as we can, pens and papers are being replaced 
    by the key boards and the electronics files. most fortune 500 companies 
    i hear are going that way too, and we ought to too.

    hope this helps.

    \bye
    \nasser

    ... but the good news is, 
    		we are finally realizing the vision of a paperless office!  ;^)
    
    Steve

re .38

He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacckkkkkkkkk !!

Look out...

    you all put to much emphasis on nasser. he's really a pussycat. not
    much at bowling. but an all round good guy.

    Well in my office, were working towards an Officeless office! :-)
    Nasser, seriously, when I got a Customer giving me directions to their
    office, I don't have time to log in, and edit a file.  Also if you
    running a program on a lowlife VT220, and the stupid terminal server
    does not allow you to have more than one session, this makes it pretty
    hard to do things without a pen.    Anyway, the day I see a paperless
    office, will be the day we see a people-less office too.  Now theres
    progress for ya.
    
    - Mike
    

    
    There is a place to get a few office supplies free!  A note conference
    DELTA_SWAPSHOP exists for just this purpose and earlier today there was
    a good list of supplies available.  
    
    Ken
    

    
    re: -1 
    
    That's  ADD ENTRY WKOL10::DELTA_SWAPSHOP in your notebook.
    
    I agree, a good source to get and distribute supplies.
    
    J.B.

    	Today they had a poster prominently displayed in the ZKO3 lobby
    when I arrived at work, displaying the monthly electric bill for the
    Spitbrook sight. It's amazingly high, and I bet it's all those damn
    computers sucking up all the electricity too. I'm going to recommend
    they shut them all off, including office machines. We should be able to
    save a couple of hundred thousand dollars a month at ZKO that way. I
    guess I should suggest this in DELTA...Oops, can't do that - no DELTA.
    	Here's an idea. We put a toll booth on the smoking room at ZKO to
    pay for the Wellness Center (this wasn't my idea, by the way). Then we
    connect the treadmills, bikes, and rowing machines in the Wellness
    Center to the power grid and generate our own electricity. Heck, if we
    could harnass all the hot air around this place, we might even make a
    profit!

    
    A while back, a bean counter at my office decided that if we turned off
    all the kit every night in the machine room we could save a fortune in
    electricity, and also shut down the air-conditioning. We argued, but
    were overruled.
    
    Within a week we were outnumbered by service engineers trying to fix
    gear that refused to boot up again.....
    
    If you leave kit running, it'll go for ever. The time that most
    breakdowns occur is when powering off or on.
    
    I'm not saying that shutting down unnecessary kit is a bad idea by any
    means, but you should be aware of possible "hidden" costs. Remember the
    time involved in starting kit up as well!
    
    Cheers
    
    Nigel
    

After reading a convincing memo from an engineer, I started turning off my
monitor at night.  I've had no problems with it.  There are older monitors
that it's best to leave on.

    I was turning off the monitor during weekends.  The result is that it
    temporarily messes up on Mondays.  Suspecting a bad driver board, we 
    called in Field Service.  The recommendation is to leave it on or 
    ignore the messing up and wait for it to go away.  I think what's 
    happening is that I stress the driver by turning it off over weekends.  
    But, I turn off the monitor anyway now to save electricity.
    
    Steve

    I've been turning off equipment at night for years, with no problems
    at all.

    if we did not live in closed modern facilities with no chance of
    fresh air breeze during the day from an open windows then no wonder we 
    pay so much for heating and cooling purposes.

    in the good old days where buildings were not so tight closed like they
    are today i bet their electric bells did not come so high as our
    is here in ZKO.

    plus , DEC, aka, digital, should put green plants in our cubes!! they 
    make fresh air at night naturally , this will reduce ventilation costs 
    as well, if i have a penny for every time i asked for green plants to
    be put in our cubes i'll a rich man by now but no one listens to me any 
    more.

    \nasser

    Green plants only produce oxygen in the presense of light.
    At night they use aerobic respiration and consume oxygen.
    
    		-John Bishop

I've seen that memo on turning off monitors.  The basic point is that we
turn TV sets on and off many times a day with no ill effects, and tests
show that the same applies to all computer CRTs except some *very* old
ones.  I once had one that took a minute or two to come into focus after
it was turned on, but I didn't see that as a problem.  So I turn off
my monitor every night.

Turning off the monitor saves electricity twice: it saves the electricity
used by the monitor, and it saves the much larger amount needed to cool
the building -- all the electricity used by our equipment is turned into
heat.  It's probably a bad idea to turn off the HVAC at night, but the
more equipment gets shut down, the less advantage there is to shutting
off the HVAC.

	Enjoy,
	Larry

    ever hear of start up serges?? The cost to leave something running
    may be cheaper than shuting it down because of the large amount of
    amps drawn on powering up....!!

    
    
      I'd venture to guess that the inrush current to a monitor
    for 5 seconds is substantially less than the current to leave
    it running for the night.  
    
      How big a fuse do they have, anyway?
    
    
    						-al

    
    It's about 1/8th inch round, and 1" long....
    

    Some monitors, especially VR290s, are prone to death from turning on
    and off.  They die anyway, but stress doesn't help.
    
    Hard disks get "sticktion" from being turned on and off.
    
    There are some things that should go off nightly and some that
    shouldn't... bean counters don't know which.

    >ever hear of start up serges?? 
    
    Some sort of cheap trousering?
    
    

    
    Re: .57-
    
    >There are some things that should go off nightly and some that
    >shouldn't... bean counters don't know which.
    
    	So let's educate them, and make informed decisions of our own. 
    I'd bet few readers aren't cognicant of their home's electrical power 
    hogs!
    
    Phil

    Phil,
    	What makes you think they want to know or even care?

    Jim Morton

    re  ZKO's power requirements. 
    
    Some say ZKO's computer rooms are the sole reason for the existence of
    the Seabrook Nuclear Power station.
    
    Coincidence?
    
    q:-)
    

    Re: .60-
    
    >	    	What makes you think they want to know or even care?
    
    	Expecting responsible, informed decisions, I guess...
    
    	I suppose it's my "I you can't stand the heat get out of the
    kitchen" mentality, or "the tail wagging the dog" approach which is a 
    popular practice in many allegedly authoritative mandates where the 
    supposed authority hasn't a clue. It's not whether they want or care to
    know, it's that they are misinformed and their empowered mission justifies 
    their ignorance, IMHO.
    
    Phil

    "I think not"
    
    }8-)}