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Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent"

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John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> writes:
> I get the impression that nobody here other than me has ever been to Endicott.
>
> Trust me, we're not talking big cities here. It's fairly close to
> Binghamton, population 48,000, home of a state university campus and a
> double-A minor league baseball team. There is no shortage of open
> space. What they are short of is good jobs and decent housing.

I was blamed for online computer conferencing on the internal network in
the late 70s and early 80s, It really took off after I distributed 
trip report to Jim Gray at Tandem ... only about 300 participated, but
claims upwards of 25,000 were reading. Folklore is when corporate
executive committee was told, 5of6 wanted to fire me.

There were six copies of 300 some pages printed, along with executive
summary and summary of the summary, were packaged in Tandem 3-ring
binders and set to the executive committee. From summary of summary:

* The perception of many technical people in IBM is that the company is
rapidly heading for disaster. Furthermore, people fear that this
movement will not be appreciated until it begins more directly to affect
revenue, at which point recovery may be impossible

* Many technical people are extremely frustrated with their management and
with the way things are going in IBM. To an increasing extent, people
are reacting to this by leaving IBM Most of the contributors to the
present discussion would prefer to stay with IBM and see the problems
rectified. However, there is increasing skepticism that correction is
possible or likely, given the apparent lack of commitment by management
to take action

* There is a widespread perception that IBM management has failed to
understand how to manage technical people and high-technology
development in an extremely competitive environment.

... and from IBM Jargon
https://comlay.net/ibmjarg.pdf

Tandem Memos - n. Something constructive but hard to control; a fresh of
breath air (sic). That's another Tandem Memos. A phrase to worry middle
management. It refers to the computer-based conference (widely
distributed in 1981) in which many technical personnel expressed
dissatisfaction with the tools available to them at that time, and also
constructively criticized the way products were [are] developed. The
memos are required reading for anyone with a serious interest in quality
products. If you have not seen the memos, try reading the November 1981
Datamation summary.

... but it takes another decade (1981-1992) ... IBM has one of the worst
losses in US company history and was being re-orged into the 13 "baby
blues" in preparation for breaking up the company. gone behind paywall,
but mostly lives free at wayback machine.
http://web.archive.org/web/20101120231857/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,977353,00.html
may also work
http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,977353-1,00.html

had already left IBM, but get a call from the bowels of Armonk asking if
could help with breakup of the company. Lots of business units were
using supplier contracts in other units via MOUs. After the breakup, all
of these contracts would be in different companies ... all of those MOUs
would have to be cataloged and turned into their own contracts. However,
before getting started, the board brings in a new CEO and reverses the
breakup.

Along the way, got email from former co-workers that top executives
weren't paying attention to running the business ... but concentrating
on shifting expenses to the current year. We asked our contact from
bowels of Armonk. He says that the current year is in the red and they
won't get any bonus. However, if they can shift enough expenses from the
following year to the current year, even if if only moves it a little
into the black ... the way the executive bonus plan is written, they
will get bonuses more then twice as large as any previous bonus
(effectively getting rewarded for taking the company into the red).

various recent posts about IBM downturn/downhill slide
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2018d.html#39 IBM downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2019b.html#75 IBM downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2019b.html#76 IBM downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2019b.html#77 IBM downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2019b.html#79 IBM downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#79 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#80 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#81 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#82 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#83 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#84 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#88 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#89 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021i.html#92 How IBM lost the cloud
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#31 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#32 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#45 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#49 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#50 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021j.html#113 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2021k.html#3 IBM Downturn
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022e.html#103 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022e.html#104 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022f.html#2 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022f.html#32 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022f.html#42 IBM Bureaucrats
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022f.html#60 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2022f.html#67 John Boyd and IBM Wild Ducks

-- 
virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970

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Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Iron Spring Software <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2022-08-14 03:47 -0700
  Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" KP KP <jungletrain@outlook.com> - 2022-08-14 10:06 -0700
    Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2022-08-14 16:53 -0700
      Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-15 12:03 -0700
        Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" KP KP <jungletrain@outlook.com> - 2022-08-15 12:17 -0700
        Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2022-08-16 02:23 +0000
          Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-20 18:00 +0100
            Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-20 10:39 -0700
              Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-20 20:09 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2022-08-21 01:45 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2022-08-20 16:44 -1000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 12:27 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Bob Martin <bob.martin@excite.com> - 2022-08-22 05:24 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" D.J. <chucktheouch@gmnol.com> - 2022-08-21 09:33 -0500
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2022-08-21 14:53 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 12:27 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" nemo <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2022-08-22 10:56 -0400
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2022-08-22 18:18 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2022-08-22 22:01 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-08-22 17:43 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2022-08-22 16:04 -0400
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-23 10:27 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2022-08-21 11:22 -0400
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2022-08-21 16:32 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 12:27 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2022-08-21 20:17 -0400
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Mike <mlevinespmfltr@redshift.com> - 2022-08-21 11:18 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-21 19:49 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" D.J. <chucktheouch@gmnol.com> - 2022-08-22 09:21 -0500
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 12:27 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 12:27 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2022-08-21 20:21 -0400
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2022-08-21 17:28 -0700
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-22 08:12 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" D.J. <chucktheouch@gmnol.com> - 2022-08-22 09:23 -0500
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2022-08-22 16:53 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2022-08-22 18:17 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2022-08-23 10:45 +0100
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com> - 2022-10-13 19:55 +0000
                Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2022-10-13 21:51 +0000
            Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2022-08-20 20:56 +0000
  Re: Demolition of Iconic IBM Country Club Complex "Imminent" nemo <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2022-08-23 10:44 -0400

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