Re: The joy of FORTRAN

On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:48:02 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:49:14 -1000, Lynn Wheeler wrote:
 

... and perhaps most damaging, the old culture under Watson Snr and Jr
of free and vigorous debate was replaced with *SYNCOPHANCY* and *MAKE
NO WAVES* under Opel and Akers.

 
That happens to every company: a small, hungry, quick-moving,
risk-taking startup grows large and successful, and becomes
conservative, slow-moving and risk-averse.
 
Microsoft is an interesting example: Bill Gates had read all the books
on the above, and during the 1990s he was able to negotiate a balance in
which Microsoft stayed hungry and kept the startup mindset even as it
became large and successful. After he stood aside, the predictable
pattern followed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Excellence

That was required reading in the '80s and the company I worked for even
had a mandatory presentation by 'experts'. The authors used exemplars of
successful businesses and their culture -- many of which were soon to
fail.

In the '70s it was 'matrix management' with DEC and TI pointed to as the
way to go. At least TI survived.