Conference 7.286::digital

In 16 years working at DEC, I've never seen/net KO in person.
I've only seen him in pictures and videos.

					- Bluejay Adametz

I use to work in the Security Dept at CXO (I still work at CXO but not in
Security).  I remember during that time KO came to Colorado Springs and a
certain guard was picked to be on the lobby that KO was coming into...and
she had met KO in person several times when she worked `back East'.  Why
wasn't someone who had never met him chosen?  We asked but was never given
an answer and we'll never know.  I was working another lobby at the time
and never saw him.  :-(

Judy

    In almost twelve years I have not seen Ken Olsen despite working in
    many of the larger Northeast sites such as MRO, PKO, etc.. However,
    I attribute this to coincidence and the fact that K.O. is an extremely
    busy man.
    
    I also want to stress, that when I lost a baby several years ago, I 
    received a Sympathy card from Ken Olsen. For a company as large as
    this, I believe that that is just one little step above-and-beyond and
    is symbolic of the type of people-manager Ken is. In this day-and-age
    of numbers, business politics and showmanship, Ken is one of the few
    men around that is still a human being while concurrently having showed
    great business sense. Let's face it, if it weren't for the terrible
    economy, Digital would still be booming. Yes, mistakes have been made
    but who hasn't. Look at the President of the United States! Need I say
    more? 
    
    
    -Bert-

    I saw him once here in ABO manufacturing (around 80 or 81 or so).
    
    While he was on a tour of the plant one of the machine operators
    told him to leave the machine insertion area because he didn't 
    have any safety glasses on.
    
    He hasn't been back since then.
    	/john

    	8 1/2 years without meeting (or even seeing live) Ken.  
    
    	I also have not met John Miano, or Bluejay Adametz, or Judy Kilgore
    	(eventhough we work at the same site) or Bert Heinz.  
    
    	How many people ask you "You work at DEC?  Do you know <xyz>?"
    
	So it is true that I haven't met Ken.  But so what?  Certainly it 
    	is not through any fault of his own.
    
    	Sure, I now work in Colorado, but I have also worked at PKO and
    	MLO and VRO and MRO and YWO (maybe others...)  so it is not
    	like I have had NO opportunities to meet him.
    
    	I also never met Jack Smith or Bob Palmer or even Wayne Records
    	who is only 3 levels above me, I believe...  I'm not a bigwig
    	groupie, you know.  I'm satisfied to know my manager and his/her
    	manager.  Anything more than that is so far removed from my job
    	that it's just a meeting for the sake of a meeting.
    
    	I don't see a problem with never having seen Ken Olsen in person.

     Never met Ken, but I saw him walking through the cafeteria in CXO1
     a little while back.  He was surrounded by guys who looked a bit like
     the european terrorists from "Die Hard".  I didn't think it was an
     opportune moment to step forward and shake his hand.

                                    Greg

    re: .0
    
    You should have taken your customers to DECworld, you and they would
    have seen KO there.

    
>    You should have taken your customers to DECworld, you and they would
>    have seen KO there.

Is that sort of like "Let them eat cake"?


I've been at Digital almost 9 years.  This include about a year at The Mill.

Two weeks ago I met my first VP.

However, about three years ago, when working at PK03, there was a group of my
friends that walked everyday after lunch.  One of the few times that I did
not join them they passed KO in their rounds.

I've never won a lottery either.

al

    
    I saw KO at the PKO heliport in May and he gave me a wave as our cars
    passed in the parking lot.  I thought that was cool.
    
    I've also taken many training courses at DEC and have always been impressed 
    that Ken took the time to sign each and every Certificate of Completion :-)
    
    
    Marc

    I've seen KO, but have never spoken to him.. He toured our facility
    (NQO) a few years ago. He came through the packing line. Just a quick
    in and out. He was supposed to be here a couple of years ago, but never
    got out of MKO, I believe. That time he was here, I was riding home
    with a friend. We stopped for gas and he almost backed into an old
    Pinto. I looked and said, "Hey that's KO". We just shrugged and went
    home. He was here a few weeks ago to address a marketing group that
    used our facility to hold a meeting. I saw the back of his head there.
    I was out in back at the loading dock area and was to do traffic
    control so the Helicopter could land, but Ken went to the front parking
    lot and the chopper landeed there instead. nother missed oppurtunity.
    
    On the other hand, I have met Judy Kilgore at a dinner a year or two
    ago. A delightful individual.
    
    Phil

    Re .0:
    
    This all has to do, in at least some part, with our various jobs.  My
    job happened to bring me into contact with him on a fairly regular
    basis; I doubt that someone working in, say, one of the more remote Sales
    offices, or an overseas manufacturing assembly line would be as likely
    to.  With roughly 100,000 employees worldwide, the chances of a lot
    never meetinh him is pretty high.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

        The existence of this string prompts me to write something
        I've been thinking about since KO resigned.

        Ken Olsen is the epitome of an industrial legend to many of
        us, and to at least a few of our customers (especially the
        long-time customers).

        Ken's presence with Digital is still worth something to
        Digital, perhaps a lot, both to many of us within the company
        and to at least some customers.  (When Ross Perot withdrew
        from the presidential race, I couldn't identify with the pain
        of his followers.  Later that evening I could.)

        Ken is valuable to Digital even if he isn't capable of
        personally leading the restructuring of the company.

        I do wonder why no accommodation was reached where Bob Palmer
        took over day-to-day and strategic management of the company
        while Ken remained the nominal head of the company for the
        interim.  The transition would have seemed less shocking, but
        it could have been just as effective.

        Bob

Well Miano,

	You can take comfort in knowing that you at least know someone who has
met and spoke one-on-one with both Ken Olsen and Jack Smith.   During DECworld
'90 I spotted Ken and Jack by the glass house in the back and walked up and
introduced myself.  I told Ken and Jack a story about a company I did some 
consulting for when I first started Digital.

	It turns out this company (in Stratford, CT) employed Ken's father for
a zillion years.  Ken worked there summers while he was in high school.

	One of the old timers in that company greeted me by shaking his finger
in the air and saying "Hey, you work for Kenny!"   

	They had a chuckle, shook my hand again and were on their way.

	Ran into Jack again at a network World Tour in Orlando in February.

	Some other folks in this office bumped in Ken at the Town Center Mall
in Boca Raton one saturday.

JB

    
    
    	And I've been to the Grand ole Opry! And I've seen Johnny Cash!!!
    
    
    
    	But I've never seen KO!  :*)
    
    	Heck, he's never even been to this site before!
    
    B.A.

    K.O. (and wife)'s daughter live a few miles north of Indianapolis.  So,
    we have seen him quite regularly - for several years he'd stop in just
    before Thanksgiving, although he hasn't been here for the last two as
    far as I know.
    
    He often took time to meet with us in a conference room and offer to
    talk with us about "whatever we wanted".  The session would last until
    the last question got asked (and answered).  Very informal, always. 
    Usually well over an hour.  State of the company, personal values,
    opinions on whatever came to mind, you name it - he would take on all
    questions and dodged none.
    
    I have tried to imagine a similar event with the likes of a John Akers
    or anyone else of similar position/wealth.  Highly improbable.  More
    like talking with your best friends Dad, than the president of a giant
    corporation.
    
    Don

    	I've been with DEC for 14 years and got to talk to KO for about
    	10 minutes my first week at DEC in the Bedford NH field office.
    	He had stopped by to see the sales manager who was one of DEC's 
    	first salesmen who happened to be in a meeting; Ken waited
    	patiently in the lobby while everyone else seemed to want to
    	look busy.  Since I really didn't understand what my job was yet
    	(and therefore had no clue of how to look busy) I struck up a 
    	conversation with Ken and we talked mostly about our mutual
    	enjoyment of the state of Maine.  Coincidentially, we both currently 
    	own property in Georgetown, Maine although I have not seen him there 
    	yet, (although he may have some time to do some fishing there soon and 
    	hopefully I won't).
    
    	Saw him in 1983 walking around the lab in Tewksbury talking to
    	random network engineers.  Feeling somewhat self-conscious about
    	the possibility of making an unwanted fashion statement (being in 
    	sandals and no socks that day), I just went about my business.
    
    	Saw him give a talk in Valbonne, France in 1984.  The local management
    	was so concerned about the image that the facility would project,
    	everything that looked out of place (such as any papers on any
    	engineer's desk) was discarded by the facilities people.  Among other
    	things, Europe's only VAX/VMS V4 Field Test documentation suddenly
    	disappeared.  (Sadly, Ken never had the time to walk around the
    	facility to appreciate all the engineers' perfectly clean desks).
    
    	Heard him speak at Network University in Boston in spring of 1991.
    	Hadn't thought about UARTs in a long time until that day.
    
    	Saw him giving a talk here in Littleton (LKG) 12 days ago, but only
    	briefly since the cafeteria was already filled over capacity.  This
    	was probably his last large audience before *the* announcment.
    
    	I don't expect that I'll be adding much to this list within Digital's
    	hallowed halls, but within my realm of experience Ken is not only
    	real but accessible.  During all of the above, I either talked to
    	him, had a chance to do so or had workmates who did so.  He is
    	real and seemed to take the time to listen to people whenever
    	possible.  While on this name-dropping theme, I should mention
    	that I have seen the pope twice in Rome and have photos to prove
    	it.  When I was about 5 feet from him, I tried to get a close-up;
    	the camera jammed and I inadvertantly yelled an expletive which
    	seemed to go unnoticed.  (I don't have any photos of Ken Olsen
    	and have never yelled any expletives in his presence.)  To
    	complete the list of dignitaries with whom I have had contact,
    	I also met Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger) who picked me up
    	and said, "Hello, little boy".  (I weighed less in 1954 than
    	I do now.)  And then there was Arnold Stang (the voice of
    	"Top Cat") in the early sixties, whose autograph I still cherish.
    
    	I often wonder if all these fabulous experiences qualify me for Oprah
    	or Geraldo...
    
    Ken Roberts

    Been here eight years, 5 on the inside, and have never even seen
    a VP.  When a company has as many layers of management as we do
    and generally you never see the bigshots, well, we have a problem.
    In the field, I have met, Presidents, Veeps, General managers
    for -other- companies, people that if I bumped into them on the
    street they would recognize me!  Our management structure is out
    of touch with their own company, think about it, people who are
    making decisions have no idea what is going on below them.  Want
    to read a good book?  Try "Further Up the Organization" by
    Robert Townsend, see how much of his points apply to us.
    
    Brad.

    The point is being missed.
    
    It's not as if Ken Olsen was sighted as often as Elvis.
    
    The question is the leadership and the mark that Ken Olsen was
    imprinting on the company since 1985 or 1987 or whenever you think he
    stopped being either inspirational or effective or both.
    
    The hunger for real leadership has existed as long as this conference
    has.  Note after note demonstrates envy of the authors for Bill Gates,
    Steve Jobs, John Akers, and even Scott McNealy, not so much for their
    personal style or the content of their strategy but for the clarity of
    the vision and the energy applied to implementing it in their
    respective companies.
    
    Digital has had years of clouded vision and too much energy applied to
    implementing the internal agendas and we're paying for it now.

> It's not as if Ken Olsen was sighted as often as Elvis.

I once dreamt about seeing Elvis.  A programmer/Analyst said it
meant I had an underlying need to perform in front of audiences.

I told him it was the cheese melt ...

       Not being critical of KO, but I have a hard time understanding why
    he hasn't even visited GSO.  We've been here for 10+ years and have
    always built some incredibly tough technology, yet Ken has never even 
    been here.   Oh well, I just don't get it....
    
    Scott

    
    re: Bluejay,Brian,Scott
    
    Whoa, whoa, whoa...  KO was at the plant just a year ago!  
    I saw him, and he actually _ate lunch_ in the cafe - talk
    about guts!  
    

    Maybe there should be a KO Employee Appreciation Tour to hit all those
    places he's missed....;-)
    
    Lynn
    

>    re: Bluejay,Brian,Scott
>    
>    Whoa, whoa, whoa...  KO was at the plant just a year ago!  
>    I saw him, and he actually _ate lunch_ in the cafe - talk
>    about guts!  

Must have been a well kept secret. Still, this doesn't alter
the fact that I've never seen or met him.

					- Bluejay Adametz

re .22:

Are you sure it was Ken?  It may have been Elvis.

    Does Ken normally wear a white jumpsuit ?  If not, then that explains
    why Ken said, "thnakyuh, thankyuh very much" when the cashier gave him
    his change ...
    
    8^)

    I saw KO several times getting off the helopad in MKO, and met him 
    once while I was part of a crew setting up some demos in the Mill.  My 
    system was showing network management, and I had a monitor up for about 
    30 minutes sampling the traffic.  As he came over, he tripped over the 
    power plug and down went the machine.  I got to explain the demo over a 
    blank terminal.  We moved into a discussion about using microvax 2 async 
    ports as router ports for connecting PC's into a network.  He thought it 
    would work fine - I thought the character interrupts would bog down the 
    vax.  He had his opinions and could hold a technical discussion.  Every
    time I saw him, he seemed like a happy man. 
    
    bill
    

>Are you sure it was Ken?  It may have been Elvis.
    
    	Or maybe King Kong Bundy -- anyone ever notice the close
    	likenesses?

    Pat,
    
        I remember that he was supposed to drop in, but I thought it got
    cancelled.  Oh well, missed my chance to meet a legend....
    
    Scott

    Hey, you can shake my hand in the morning ... I'm sure I'll be a legend
    someday ... 8^)
    
    Jerry

    
    	can't say i've ever met him, but have seen him many times over
    the last 17 years including one time when i nearly walked in to him
    while i was reading a listing - big deal. 
    
    	I was told when i joined that if i did meet him, to be sure and
    call him Ken and not Mr. Olsen. I remember very clearly how some
    middle and senior managers hated for him to meddle in their projects
    because he had a tendency to empower troops to go ahead and do things,
    bosses be damned.  So, he was reigned in as we became such a well
    managed company that we lost 2.8 billion in one-year.
    
    	We are in this loss position today due to arrogance, pure and
    simple. Arrogance towards our customers and towards each other. We
    have had people in charge who can't differentiate between contempt and 
    respect and what behaviors bestow these labels appropriately.
    
    	I remember a company where a risk payed off if it turned out to
    be the "right thing" for the corporation. We have become a company
    where management and personel will kick your head-in if you step merely
    raise your hand or otherwise be out of line.  If we want to be profitable 
    again, we need to seek out those responsible for the ODP horror story that 
    was somewhere in here the last few days and put a bullet into the careers 
    of those who carried out this outrage. 
    
    	The company that Ken created and it's associated culture died
    by 1986.  It's clear he realized this and tried unsuccessully to
    resucitate it.  The fact that he is still here, speaking his mind and
    choosing and assisting Bob Palmer is testimony to the leadership and
    sense of values he espouses and which we would do well to relearn
    and live by.  I'm sorry for those of you who have never known the
    "old" Digital - your frustration and bitterness is sadly well earned.
    I'm angered that his messages have been sanitized by the thought police
    who've run this place into the ground.  
    
    bob

    I believe you have to be in the man's "backyard" to really have an
    occassion to "see".   I literally ran into him in the stairwell at the
    mill many moons ago.  Since then I have been careful about running down
    the stairs in these facilities!  I also remember seeing his brother
    Stan (his office was down the hall a bit from mine at PKO3-1) when he
    was around.  I wouldn't know any of the VPs today - especially since I
    am out of their stomping grounds here in ZKO.
    
    -sandy
    

    I've seen KO walking around the Mill many times.  I've talked to him on
    a few problems I escalated to him.  I talked to him on a
    project-related issue once.
    
    But the most famous time was when I asked him a question in one of
    Digital's annual meetings.  That is covered elsewhere in this
    conference in all its gory detail.

       A legend in your own mind, eh Jerry? :-)!!!
    
    re: 1- Eggers,
    
          Where would these gory details be?  Curiosity and all that...
    
    Scott

    
    I've met both John Miano and KO........
    
    John's the one that scared me..........

	I worked at the Westminster plant back in 1973 during summer vacation
on the assembly line for PDP 11/70's. My job was to tie wrap the wiring 
harness. We all used to work Saturday's and Ken and his son used to show up
all the time wearing tea shirts and jeans. He made it a point to stop in each
area and check things out. He once stopped at my station and tie wrapped 
11/70 harnesses for about an hour. He wanted to know exactly how to do it and
why things were that way. Every Saturday after that I saw him doing someone 
elses job.

	Jack Smith was my manager at the time also. Someone in my group picked
a fight with me one day. He ended up getting fired. Jack told me to walk 
around the building 50 times ! It was the winter, he told me to knock on his
window each time I passed by.

	"There Mr. Booth...Maybe that will cool you off ! " That summer I got
a $.05 cent per hour raise.....

	-Steve-

    FYI,
    KO will be in ZKO for a talk, I think the sign said that he will on the 
    17th of august, but Iam not quite sure about the date right now. 
    /Nasser
    I spell checked

    This morning the placards said he will be in the ZKO cafeteria from 3
    to 5 on this Thurs, Aug 13.
    
    	
               Steve

    Well be in SHR on Aug.12 3-5 in Caf.
    
    Marc H.

		Planning to visit engineering 
		in Europe too, Ken?  

		[I know you read this].

		We'd love to see you.

		Regards  Jim

    Eur-where?
    
    Could you run that by me again? Do you mean that place in the eastern
    hemisphere run by that place called Geneva?
    
    JK (Cynical of REO)

Re: .42

Nah, I think he's only referring to that mob who are funded by Corporate...

you know, the lot who call themselves "engineers" whilst the rest of us are 
called "developers" and are run by that place called Geneva...

:-)

    I have never seen Ken Olsen - now it's time for elementary "Problems in
    Philosophy".
    
    I have met Tom Watson Jr.
    
    Therefore it must be Tuesday!
    

    Mr KO will be in ZKO in 30 minutes!, I just passed through the cafeteria
    I saw all the TV people there sitting things up, the light all up,
    cafe was all rearranged , and seats every where, people started to come 
    down to take the front seats, this is so exciting, I never heared KO talk 
    live, Iam going down now to sit close to him befor all the good seats are 
    taken.
    
    /Nasser
    sorry no time to spell check now

    	Well I never thought I will put a reply here :-). Today just before
    the talk in ZK0, Ken was sitting on a round table, few tables across our
    table. Never saw Ken in my 8 years with Digital before this.
    
    	He was giving out autographs, so my friend got his signature
    on my specification documentation (He wrote O.K and his signature).
    Actually front cover of the document lists Author, approvals etc. so
    my friend told KO that we need his approval to show to our manager :-)
    Both KO and Sims had chuckle and he signed. I also shook hand with him.

    His speech was also fun, he seemed in good mood jumping from one topic
    to another.
                                                     
    Robert
    

    
    
      KO was in SHR Wednesday, and he was great! He'll be missed.
     
    
     BAL

    I saw Ken in SHR on Wed. Great speech.
    
    Shook his hand and talked some afterword. With him leaving, the Old
    DEC will go too....both good and bad parts.
    
    Marc H.

    	It was definitely one of his better speeches (in ZKO). He was
    tanned and relaxed. He now admits to seeing all that went wrong and all
    that is still wrong with the company..and some of the people who made
    it that way, and he can joke and laugh about it while still trying to
    provide a message, what he thinks is important and where he thinks we
    can be successful. It was a fun speech. At the end, someone asked,
    
    Person: "Ken, just who, exactly, at Digital *IS* responsible for making
            decisions?"
    Ken (pausing): "Well, it's not me!....Next question..And an easier one
                    this time."

Re the Talk at SHR:  He  appeared  very  at  ease  with  the  topic  and  the
surroundings.  I  had seen him in person once before in MRO1 some years back,
real stiff, being very careful not to step on anyones toes or to offend. Last
week  he  appeared  more  real,  caring,  more  of  a person than an Icon. It
appeared to me at least that the great burden of  leading  this  company  was
lifted, and he once again could have fun. 

Lots of good points made,  some  concessions  that  his  managers  didn't  or
wouldn't  listen.  Some  talk  of  POWER  being more important than products.
Relayed his thoughts why he  would  be  deemed  a  dictator,  every  time  he
re-orged   to   diffuse  the  power,  thus  loss  of  power  by  some,  meant
dictatorship. 

All in all a very lively discussion, filled with stories and humor (the  over
head  stopped working, which in the true sense of a HW engineer, he banged it
on the side, no luck!)

Ken was quick to point out that his comments were his, not the company's nor
to take anything political from his comments.


mike buckley

    re: .49
    
    That question was asked by Dan Murphy, who has been at Digital almost
    as long as Ken!
        John Sauter

    Re: .-1
    
    DM came to Digital about 1970 or so.  KO has been around a bit
    longer than that.

    Actually, it was only 1972.

    T. Eggers, on the other hand, has been here since 1964 if memory
    serves.


    dlm

    Re: .-1
    
    Right.  How do you think I knew the author of TECO and TENEX was a
    johnny-come-lately?		:-)

    Did you know Thomas Jefferson? :-)

    re .55 - was he hardware or software? %^}
    
    	Dick
    

    Tom's been here since '64.  Hey I was born in '61.   Thanks for making
    me feel young again :-)
    
    							-Sal

           I heard he & Bob (Palmer) were here in NIO (Salem, NH) last
           week (forgot which day).  Are he & Bob making a tour of DEC
           sites?
           
           Steve

Ken Olsen was indeed in Salem NIO last week. We had Ford Corp. here on a 
corporate visit to certify Salem as a Ford Corporate Vendor. Mr. Olsen is on 
the Ford Corp. B.o.D. I did have the chance to see him.

JMP