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Book on Hp

 

This is an excellent book on the culture of the company when Bill and Dave ran it.

Bill and Dave book.jpg

 

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Greetings,

It IS a fantastic book. ?I have read and reread it.

I have also given several copies away - not just for historical reasons but to show managers how it is possible to create a great company and great working environment.

I am saddened to say that I doubt there will ever be another company like HP was when Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard were at the helm.

Regards,

Ken


On 21Apr, 2020, at 12:28 AM, John Lyles <jtml@...> wrote:

This is an excellent book on the culture of the company when Bill and Dave ran it. <Bill and Dave book.jpg>
 

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I did love my coffee and donuts every morning at 10:00, I miss those days

?

steve

?

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of John Lyles
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2020 11:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Book on Hp

?

This is an excellent book on the culture of the company when Bill and Dave ran it.

 

I also recommend the following:

?

“The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company” by David Packard

ISBN 978-0-06-084579-7

?

“Bill & Dave’s Memos: A Collection of Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard’s Writings” edited by Albert Yuen

ISBN 978-1-4243-2781-2

?

There was also a book published years ago titled “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder back in 1981 (reprinted in 2000 under ISBN 978-0-3164-9197-6) not related to HP but is a very absorbing book about how development of an electronic product nearly became a living entity in the eyes of the designers as it went through the design process.? I highly recommend it as well.

?

Nowadays companies are in the eyes of management simply something to acquire to make their company bigger and to reap more profits.? Except for the tiny entrepreneur the average company no longer has time for management to feel like what they put into their products is part of their own being to give the best to customers.? This was borne out by the theft of the HP name to put on cheap jelly bean products of which today’s customers are clueless about the actual corporation and founders who put their entire lives into making that name so famous from the quality products that they offered.? In those days living customers were the focus, not the money that they offered.? The money was somewhat of a form of congratulation to tell Bill and Dave that they did a successful job and to promote more excellent products to be offered in the future.

?

When I talk to Agilent/Keysight/whatever sales people & engineers I still use the HP name which either draws puzzled looks or pointed comments that the company is “NOW KEYSIGHT!!” Yes, but where did this now-funny-named company originate?

?

Greg
 

I'm not an avid book reader but I have read "Soul of a New Machine" (twice as I recall) and I found that book fascinating and kept my attention throughout. Those guys worked so hard on that project. I'll bet that even though the hours were unbelievably long, there was a spirit of commitment to get that product out the door that I'd guess is missing in most workplaces nowadays.

Thanks,
Barry - N4BUQ

----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Muir via groups.io" <big_sky_explorer@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 1:01:18 PM
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Book on Hp

I also recommend the following:

“The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company” by David Packard

ISBN 978-0-06-084579-7

“Bill & Dave’s Memos: A Collection of Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard’s Writings”
edited by Albert Yuen

ISBN 978-1-4243-2781-2

There was also a book published years ago titled “The Soul of a New Machine”
by Tracy Kidder back in 1981 (reprinted in 2000 under ISBN
978-0-3164-9197-6) not related to HP but is a very absorbing book about how
development of an electronic product nearly became a living entity in the
eyes of the designers as it went through the design process. I highly
recommend it as well.

Nowadays companies are in the eyes of management simply something to acquire
to make their company bigger and to reap more profits. Except for the tiny
entrepreneur the average company no longer has time for management to feel
like what they put into their products is part of their own being to give
the best to customers. This was borne out by the theft of the HP name to put
on cheap jelly bean products of which today’s customers are clueless about
the actual corporation and founders who put their entire lives into making
that name so famous from the quality products that they offered.? In those
days living customers were the focus, not the money that they offered.? The
money was somewhat of a form of congratulation to tell Bill and Dave that
they did a successful job and to promote more excellent products to be
offered in the future.

When I talk to Agilent/Keysight/whatever sales people & engineers I still use
the HP name which either draws puzzled looks or pointed comments that the
company is “NOW KEYSIGHT!!” Yes, but where did this now-funny-named company
originate?

Greg
 

"Soul of a New Machine" was a great book.

Started reading it at lunch hour at college. I think in third year. Finished it in one sitting. Skipped?classes till I was done that day.

Changed the direction of? my career from Mechanical?( What my Graduation Paperwork says) to Electronics.
Looking back 35 years it was the best thing I ever did.

Dave
VE7HR


On Tue, Apr 21, 2020 at 11:21 AM n4buq <n4buq@...> wrote:
I'm not an avid book reader but I have read "Soul of a New Machine" (twice as I recall) and I found that book fascinating and kept my attention throughout.? Those guys worked so hard on that project.? I'll bet that even though the hours were unbelievably long, there was a spirit of commitment to get that product out the door that I'd guess is missing in most workplaces nowadays.

Thanks,
Barry - N4BUQ

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Greg Muir via " <big_sky_explorer=[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 1:01:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Book on Hp
>
> I also recommend the following:
>
> “The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company” by David Packard
>
> ISBN 978-0-06-084579-7
>
> “Bill & Dave’s Memos: A Collection of Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard’s Writings”
> edited by Albert Yuen
>
> ISBN 978-1-4243-2781-2
>
> There was also a book published years ago titled “The Soul of a New Machine”
> by Tracy Kidder back in 1981 (reprinted in 2000 under ISBN
> 978-0-3164-9197-6) not related to HP but is a very absorbing book about how
> development of an electronic product nearly became a living entity in the
> eyes of the designers as it went through the design process. I highly
> recommend it as well.
>
> Nowadays companies are in the eyes of management simply something to acquire
> to make their company bigger and to reap more profits. Except for the tiny
> entrepreneur the average company no longer has time for management to feel
> like what they put into their products is part of their own being to give
> the best to customers. This was borne out by the theft of the HP name to put
> on cheap jelly bean products of which today’s customers are clueless about
> the actual corporation and founders who put their entire lives into making
> that name so famous from the quality products that they offered.? In those
> days living customers were the focus, not the money that they offered.? The
> money was somewhat of a form of congratulation to tell Bill and Dave that
> they did a successful job and to promote more excellent products to be
> offered in the future.
>
> When I talk to Agilent/Keysight/whatever sales people & engineers I still use
> the HP name which either draws puzzled looks or pointed comments that the
> company is “NOW KEYSIGHT!!” Yes, but where did this now-funny-named company
> originate?
>
> Greg
>
>
>
>





--
72 de Dave
VE7HR
 

One of my favorite rants, modern engineering is all about churning out the minimum kit that a company can sell. HP lost its way long ago, friend of mine worked there on some of the fabulous stuff that HP did, got tossed aside when HP decided the future was in PCs. Curse one exec to Hell, you can guess which one. I just retired after a long telecom career, saw how dysfunctional modern telecom companies are. Don't believe any press you hear, we now protect bloated companies that forgot how to innovate years ago. It constantly amazes me how great the instruments are we can now get for a song (well, given a rational seller) are. I think my 54542A is just stunning. 2 Gs/sec simultaneous on 4 chans? Just wow. Before I quit and retired from a big telecom company, no name, but they are in Sweden :) I was stunned at how there was zero involvement with customers as to needs, all needs determined by 'architecture working groups', i.e, people that couldn't actually do anything useful, but could pontificate endlessly about 'how things should be done', with no experience to justify that. Oh well, end of rant.
 

Bill I think I know that telco supplier. Comments are accurate.
Yes HP and the others we know have gone away. Especially the research that delivered great equipment. But everything moves on.
I enjoy the HP history and the great gear I have picked up for pennies per pound. It all works with a?bit of TLC and help from folks on lists like this.
Regards
Paul.
 

On 4/21/20 2:21 PM, n4buq wrote:
I'm not an avid book reader but I have read "Soul of a New Machine" (twice as I recall) and I found that book fascinating and kept my attention throughout. Those guys worked so hard on that project. I'll bet that even though the hours were unbelievably long, there was a spirit of commitment to get that product out the door that I'd guess is missing in most workplaces nowadays.
Of course it's missing. When corporations treat their employees like
a liability, a necessary evil, or "dirty" people, who could possibly be
motivated to care about their job or the company's products? Is it five
o'clock yet?

Every now and then I run across a company that's run in a way that
Bill and Dave would approve of. I'm lucky (VERY lucky) to have such a
company as my main customer now. But these are very rare anymore,
thanks to the idiot who wrote the paper that resulted in "suits gone
wild", referencing my post the other day.

-Dave

--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
 

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+1 on "Soul of a New Machine" for which Tracy Kidder rightfully received a Pulitzer prize.? ?Brilliant description of the product development process and will sound very familiar to those of us who have worked at start-up companies.?

Keysight << Agilent <<<< HP (the original HP, of course)

Jim Ford?



Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: "Greg Muir via groups.io" <big_sky_explorer@...>
Date: 4/21/20 11:01 AM (GMT-08:00)
Subject: Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Book on Hp

I also recommend the following:

?

“The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company” by David Packard

ISBN 978-0-06-084579-7

?

“Bill & Dave’s Memos: A Collection of Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard’s Writings” edited by Albert Yuen

ISBN 978-1-4243-2781-2

?

There was also a book published years ago titled “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder back in 1981 (reprinted in 2000 under ISBN 978-0-3164-9197-6) not related to HP but is a very absorbing book about how development of an electronic product nearly became a living entity in the eyes of the designers as it went through the design process.? I highly recommend it as well.

?

Nowadays companies are in the eyes of management simply something to acquire to make their company bigger and to reap more profits.? Except for the tiny entrepreneur the average company no longer has time for management to feel like what they put into their products is part of their own being to give the best to customers.? This was borne out by the theft of the HP name to put on cheap jelly bean products of which today’s customers are clueless about the actual corporation and founders who put their entire lives into making that name so famous from the quality products that they offered.? In those days living customers were the focus, not the money that they offered.? The money was somewhat of a form of congratulation to tell Bill and Dave that they did a successful job and to promote more excellent products to be offered in the future.

?

When I talk to Agilent/Keysight/whatever sales people & engineers I still use the HP name which either draws puzzled looks or pointed comments that the company is “NOW KEYSIGHT!!” Yes, but where did this now-funny-named company originate?

?

Greg
 

Hi, I certainly agree with you Bill E. I worked for this company from 1990 till 2015 designing analog phase lock loops and digital frequency locked loops using an OCXO, among other things. A major problem was that too big steps were taken in system design without any understanding for production difficulties or for reasonable customer requirements and needs. There was never any forum for the critical discussions. Just two examples, expecting a physically very small OCXO oscillator to be spot on in five minutes is ridiculous. The customer does not need to be up and running in five minutes, instead 20 to 25 minutes is good enough and you can settle with an older well proven design. Another problem never understood by production is that a complex OCXO design does not survive automatic soldering even though you might get that impression reading the specification. And when the next project begins the newly acquired costly experience is lost and has to be reinvented.

G?ran

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