Is the HP Way still relevant today? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is the HP Way still relevant today?

#31

Post by kps » Sun, Jul 22, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

3rdAccount wrote: post #22

TimJYoung wrote: post #21

I think something else is missing here, though. HP had great products, so I don't think that you can necessarily do the "HP Way" in a company where the products that the company makes (or their services) are not seen as valuable and/or worthwhile by the employees.

The HP calculator story pops up here occasionally. They bet huge on it and it paid off hugely. Every scientist and engineer threw away their slide-rule and bought one for a large chunk of change. The design is still iconic.

Marketing had initially estimated the HP-35 would sell 10,000 units. When 25,000 had been sold, the bug was discovered: 2.02 ln eˣ returned 2.

Packard's response: “We're going to tell everyone and offer them a replacement. It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem.”

They sold 300,000 in the 3 years that model was available.

“It would be better to never make a dime of profit than to have a product out there with a problem” is the reason they made a profit.

Re: Is the HP Way still relevant today?

#32

Post by kps » Sun, Jul 22, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

3rdAccount wrote: post #23

gaius wrote: post #5

Considerably more relevant than what is left of HP-the-company. Every time I use my trusty HP-12C I feel a little sad for what was lost in the slash-and-burn era of Fiorina. Swiss Micros keeping the dream alive!

No idea how the Swiss Micro calculators don't end up getting sued.

It didn't occur to HP to copyright calculator firmware until 1984.

Re: Is the HP Way still relevant today?

#33

Post by pinewurst » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 12:47 AM UTC

gaius wrote: post #28

pinewurst wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this: Carly was a terrible leader but she, in a sense, was selected for her known personality by a system that had already gone off the cliff. A number of books came out around that time about the HP board and its internal/external conflicts. I had a job for a while watching the current HP for technological and business developments and it was like being a gawker at a side show.

Carly was a terrible leader That's putting it mildly. In terms of both jobs and shareholder value destroyed, she has a decent shot at the title of "Worst CEO Ever", of any company.

No doubts about her solipsistic incompetence. :)

Just as devil's advocate, was she that much worse than the other Dear Leaders of her corporate generation? Mark Hurd, Meg Whitman, Ginni Rometty? Heck, even the older but monstrously odious Jack Welch can fit in this cauldron.

The idea of something like the HP Way is anathema to such people.

Re: Is the HP Way still relevant today?

#34

Post by gaius » Mon, Jul 23, 2018, 7:36 AM UTC

pinewurst wrote: post #33

gaius wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carly was a terrible leader That's putting it mildly. In terms of both jobs and shareholder value destroyed, she has a decent shot at the title of "Worst CEO Ever", of any company.

No doubts about her solipsistic incompetence. :) Just as devil's advocate, was she that much worse than the other Dear Leaders of her corporate generation? Mark Hurd, Meg Whitman, Ginni Rometty? Heck, even the older but monstrously odious Jack Welch can fit in this cauldron. The idea of something like the HP Way is anathema to such people.

was she that much worse than the other Dear Leaders of her corporate generation? Mark Hurd, Meg Whitman, Ginni Rometty?

Elizabeth Holmes has set the bar to a new low, but Fiorina is right down there with Welch. So much destruction and for what? How many years have those people set the world back?