Conference 7.286::digital

I think the COD process was a success {at least from my perspective of
the Carolinas district}.  A number of people have moved from internal
overhead positions in MA/NH to sales support and seem to be valued and
productive.   I'm in the very small minority who think we need more people
out here, doing the right thing - selling and implementing solutions.

There's a new version of VAX RALLY just shipped {V2.2} that is a fantastic
product to work with to develop small to medium-sized database applications.  
It is the best 4GL on the VAX, in my opinion.   And since this is a "good news"
topic, I won't mention how underutilized and undersold it is within Digital.
I also won't mention how our marketing people find it more enjoyable to push
third party products like COGNOS' Powerhouse and IBI Focus that pale in
comparison and do little for DEC's bottom line.   Sell RALLY!

Our whole database engineering group seems to be heading in the right 
direction... hopefully getting there quickly.   RDB has come a long way over
the years and the developers should be proud.

I like DECpresent... it's easy to use yet powerful.

I like DECdecision... especially what I've seen of the field test version.

I like the salesmen who understand that it's services and software that will
carry Digital into the next century.

-doug

    ...wunnerful, but how much money are we making on these products??
    F'rinstance we are only making about 3% margins on RDB service.
    
    We do have a tendency to get hung up on how "great" our products are,
    forgetting that we also have to make money on them.

>There's a new version of VAX RALLY just shipped {V2.2} that is a fantastic
>product to work with to develop small to medium-sized database applications.  
>It is the best 4GL on the VAX, in my opinion.   And since this is a "good news"
>topic, I won't mention how underutilized and undersold it is within Digital.
>I also won't mention how our marketing people find it more enjoyable to push
>third party products like COGNOS' Powerhouse and IBI Focus that pale in
>comparison and do little for DEC's bottom line.   Sell RALLY!
    
    I think one of the good things is the shift away from inward focus
    to a trend of giving customers what they ask for. By all means
    enlighten them to the awesome wonders of Rally but if the request
    mandates Powerhouse, do not stand in the way. If Rally is so obviously
    better, it will be also obviously better to the huge amount of 
    intelligent people who form our customer base. That said, I also like
    the fact we are starting to tell our customers about these obviously
    superior and wonderful things. That said, I like the pride being
    shown in what our engineering groups have done.
    
    I also like the fact we are trying to produce real applications tools
    targeted at the end user. I think these engineering groups should get
    closer to the customer and produce products with the aim of being told
    that they have to "get real" in the next release. I also like the fact
    people are starting to talk about budgets being set in stone when we
    have committed to do something.
    
    
    I like the efforts to produce for more popular platforms first, this
    allows for greater competition, greater feedback, and greater need to 
    produce the innovation we seem to have lost. I like the fact we are 
    starting to talk of competing. 
    I like the push for more concurrent development and the reuse of others 
    efforts.
    
    Much of it is currently talk, but real results are starting to happen.
    
    Regards,
    John
    EIC/Engineering, Sydney.

    re: .2
    
    .0 asks for positives about DEC and you can't think of one!
    
    We need positive energy if we're going to be successful. We need to
    understand that doing lots of "little" things right (like Rally, Rdb,
    new systems, etc.) eventually help to create a very powerful and
    synergistic enterprise. Sure, we need focused, effective management,
    and we need to stop doing some of the bad habits developed over the
    years, but it feels like we're trying real hard to do just that.
    
    In response to .0's request for good things, the best thing we can have
    is the best people, to identify, develop, sell and support products and
    services. Part of being one of the best is believing in yourself, those
    you work with, and the company you're a part of. Part of being one of
    the best is believing in what you're doing, and what you are capable
    of.
    
    If you can't think of one thing positive about Digital I've gotta
    wonder what kind of energy you're bringing to what we're doing.
    
    Thorgan
    

re: Note 1387.0                Anything Right at Digital?                  2 replies
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    conference.  Not that we don't have problems, as amply demonstrated by
>    the long list of "problems" topics, but are we doing anything right? 
>    Anything at all.

    Its a American Tradition, originating, i think, in Massachusetts
    or in Jamestown.
    
    Its even possible it  originated  at  the  "Official"  Beginning  of
    civilization when Zeus raped Orpheus  and then complained she wasn't
    a virgin.
    
    No matter where you go, you  will  find  complainers and whiners, no
    matter how good or how bad things may seem, someone will *know* when
    it was worse, and *some* will tell you where it is better.
    
    Immigrants to the USA com,plain we don't have  socialized  medicine;
    Students living in Paris complain the French Socialized medicine  is
    incompetant; Christian complain the Jews have too much power; 
    Massachusetts complains their politicians are a bunch of crooks,
    Vets  complain  the  VA  abuse them too much, and Teachers  complain
    their salaries are too low.
    
    Russians, Germans, Jews, Palestinians, Africans, WHites ..  they all
    complain.  Perhaps  is  is part of being human.  Its too cold in the
    North, and too hot  in the south, some womens' breast are too large,
    and some are too small, there are too many "rich" and too little
    "cheap labor" ...
    
    There is another theory I have heard, and it goes something like
    this ..  people with too  little  to  do, do Noting, and People with
    nothing to do, complain in notes ...
    
    
>    I certainly have my list of pet peeves with Digital, but for the most
>    part, I'm still proud to be selling for Digital.  How about adding
>    something to cheer us all up?

    DEC stock is up 45% from December; we are all still working; most 
    of  our  customers  love us;  Europe  is  being  united,  the  North
    American  Labor alliance will be signed this year,  and  Quebec  may
    secede next year along with Roxbury and Cape Cod ... ;^)
    
    We  are  alive,  and  from that point , all  things  imaginable  are
    possible ... just keep the imagination positive ...
    

    -Bob Early
    
    To paraphrase a former DEC manager, whe nour group was being heavily
    criticized for making mistakes ..
    
    -People who do nothing have the most time to criticize.
    
    - People who make no mistakes, do noting else either ... errors
    in process are committed by people who are working ..
    
    - No pain, no gain ...
    
    We admire the open heart specialist who is working on one patient,
    at one time, to solve a predefind problem, who has been trained for
    20 years on how to be a doctor ...
    
    Our "leaders" are working to define how many problems exist,  how to
    solve them, and while this is going on the problems keep changing,
    and  its impossible to keep 125,000 employees happy all at the  same
    time ...
    
    Get  Involved  ...   Quality Circles have arrived ...  find out what
    they are, and get involved in directing our Corporate future ...
    
    It is  possible  if  we  work  together  to find a solution, we may
    succeed ...  if we wait for the solution to come , we shall fail for
    sure ...
    
    
    

    RE: .3
    
    And concerning the statement that our customers will intelligently
    choose Rally if it is superior to Powerhouse --
    
    this sounds like -- if you build a better mousetrap, the world will
    beat a path to your door!
    
    I still think the original advice to get out and sell Rally is the best
    advice! And know your customers and know your products.  And if
    Powerhouse is superior in a given situation, you and your customer will
    jointly come to that conclusion.
    
    But START by "putting our best foot forward"!  Sales is, at least in
    part, about giving customers the tools to make intelligent choices.  We
    have to assume the "other side" does its best for competing products.
    
    Bravo to the Rally Team.
    
    J.
    
    J.

    
    	Re:  .5
    
    
     {  Its even possible it  originated  at  the  "Official"  Beginning  of
     {  civilization when Zeus raped Orpheus  and then complained she wasn't
     {  a virgin.
    
    
    	Your mythology is almost as tortured as your logic and your
    	spelling.  Before affecting the role as pedant I suggest you
    	go back to Ovid (or Bullfinch or Hamilton) and try to
    	ameliorate some of the gross lapses in your education before
    	you attempt to "enlighten" others.  Ignorance is its own
    	curse.
    
    	End of this particular rathole.   

    re .5, a rathole
    
    Orpheus was the singer who went into the world of the dead to
    recover his wife Eurydice.  No Zeus involvement that I know of.
    
    		-John Bishop

    
    .7    I Strongly concur!  

	I found something right today. Had a customer (field test site)
	call a couple days ago. A PDP-11 customer, he finally wants to
	migrate to something with more oomph. Wanted to know if he should
	go VMS or ULTRIX - he wanted to definitely stay with DEC.

	He'd been an excellent Field test site for my product, so
	I really wanted to help him out. But I'm no expert on
	VMS vs ULTRIX issues, and he also needed advice on a screen
	handling package. 

	Seems to me there ought to be a way I can get someone more 
	knowledgeable to talk to this customer - an hour or so of the
	right person's time and we can keep this customer (and this
	customer's customers's) buying DEC. I did a little checking 
	in notes conferences, and found a pointer to a phone number
	on the inside front cover of the internal phone book.

	Called it, and a courteous person took the information on the customer,
	and what was needed, and assured me the customer would be contacted,
	and did I want to be notified of the outcome?

	Just like I hoped it would turn out.


						Tom_K

    What's right?  Well, at ECAD we've got good management and are pushing
    the state of the art in several areas of CAD.  We are doing things that
    are establishing Digital as a leader in our field.  This includes patents, 
    publications, software tools in use in the Digital community and close, 
    mutually profitable interaction with our internal customers as measureable 
    results.
    
    One thing nice about a relatively big company like Digital is that you
    have access to massive resources for idea research and development.  If 
    you have the interest, the management support and are willing to put in 
    some extra time (typically midnight hours) then it is possible to let your 
    imagination run wild and bear pragmatic as well as elegant fruit.  
    
    We're a small group, but we are definitely having positive impact on the 
    corporation.  Work can still be fun!
    
    Steve

    Don't forget, Digital is still a 13 billions dollars company that is we
    are doing TWO HUNDRED FIFTY MILLIONS dollars business a week whether
    you are on vacation or not.
    
    GF
    

    r.e 6
    >And concerning the statement that our customers will intelligently
    >choose Rally if it is superior to Powerhouse --
    >
    >this sounds like -- if you build a better mousetrap, the world will
    >beat a path to your door!
    
    Nah, I hope I didnt say that, cos that's not what I meant. I made
    the point that sometimes its mandated that a product X be used. We
    may sell product Y. We have lost sales due to being dogmatic in 
    pushing Y over X after that decision HAS BEEN MADE ALREADY. What they
    are deciding is platform company A over platform company B. We keep
    pushing Y and lose both the application and the platform (and
    any follow on applications and service business). By all 
    means make them know why Y is a winner and make them feel comfortable
    in choosing it, but lets tailor sales situations to suit the
    circumstances so we all win.

    I think one of the best thing about Digital is its people.  I remember
    all those "little" things that people did to help me make a customer
    happy.
    
    The time that a manufacturing rep juggle the shipping schedule to ship
    my customer some of the first VAXstation 3200s coming off the line to
    meet my customer's schedule, helping me to beat Sun.......
    
    The time that a software specialist stayed till 9pm, a few nights
    running, to make sure an All-In-1 system was well tuned and humming so
    that the pilot was a success.......(I can't say enough good things
    about the outstanding software support people that we have.  They
    always seem overworked and yet willing to put in the extra effort.)
    
    The time my CAS rep agree to manually invoice one order by breaking it
    into 12 individual invoices, as per the customer's request, and keeping
    it straight.....and the time she booked an order on a Friday evening
    to make a ship slot at the end of a quarter....
    
    The time the field service rep went through extraordinary lengths to
    replace a MicroVAX board the very next morning after the customer
    reported it stolen.......
    
    The time a whole team of crossfunctional players got together and
    worked non-stop to help me get a major proposal submitted on time.....
    
    The time anybody within Digital tells me, "let me see how I can help
    you" instead of a long list of reasons why not........
    
    The time the receptionist smiled at my customers and said "Welcome to
    Digital, my name is Eileen and if there is anything you need, please
    let me know." without me telling her.........
    
    The time my secretary stayed till 10pm to help me finish some
    overheads......
    
    The times DECsale took my call and gave me an answer without me having
    to hold for eternity........
    
    These are the unsung heros of Digital, the ones who bring a "can do"
    attitude to whatever it is they do, and the ones who make us salespeople
    look good in front of customers.  I hope whatever they've got is
    contageious......
                                            

    I can call any of 100,000+ people for help. And they all have my phone
    number/mail address, too.

    I see what we get done and what we accomplish, even with all our
    faults, and the prospect of what we _could_ accomplish solving a few
    problems here and there -- it's truly frightening!

    And it's what keeps me here.

    /Petes

	.15 and .16 took the words right out of my mouth, but never
	mind - there's plenty more... 8-)

	* First of all, this may just be the best company in the
	  world to work for. That's why some of us get so racked up
	  when it goes off the rails. Digital's corporate values
	  include Honesty, Simplicity, and Quality... and these are
	  not just empty words. One day, perhaps we can get back to
	  them across the board.

	* The noting community, and the wider Digital community, is
	  packed with the most amazing positive, helpful, imaginative,
	  intelligent, knowledgeable people. Just the other day, at an
	  infrequent group meeting, I looked round the room and was
	  astonished at the sheer strength in depth I saw. Mature,
	  experienced, highly skilled consultants, plus a couple of
	  really exceptionally bright and energetic younger people.
	  (Then there was me) 8-)

	* Bill Demmer, Bill Strecker, David Stone, and so many of our
	  top engineers have a view of the technology that is incredibly
	  complete and detailed. Occasionally, I get a chance to listen
	  to or read one of these guys' speeches. Actually, Ken Olsen
	  himself still amazes me by his grasp of technology and its uses.
	  It's a measure of how fast things are moving and how explosive
	  the rate of change has become that even these people are in danger
	  of being left behind. So what are they doing? Moving to reduce
	  the layers of management, enhance communication, become more
	  customer-oriented, faster and more responsive.

	* Ken Olsen. A couple of years ago, Fortune magazine voted him the
	  greatest American entrepreneur ever. What an amazing accolade!

	* Customer Advisory Boards and Engineering Interface Programs -
	  opportunities for customers to get together with Digital VPs,
	  managers, marketeers, consulting engineers, architects, etc.
	  Excellent channels of direct communication.

	* The gadflies and advocates of change, ranging from the extremely
	  vocal and alarmingly excitable to the quiet, constructive
	  workers who fix problems and supply tools to help others work
	  better. People like George van Treeck, Darryl Shatz, Peters
	  Vecrumba, Dave Carnell, Pat Sweeney - as diverse a group as
	  you could find anywhere, yet united by their common traits of
	  knowledge, courage, energy, and initiative.

	* The incredible engineering talent we have. Every time I walk
	  into Spitbrook Road, I bow my head to the assembled intellect
	  in there. Joking apart, and despite all the criticism they
	  come in for, there are a few hundred people in there writing
	  and maintaining and enhancing VMS, the one product without
	  which Digital would have collapsed any time in the last 12 years.
	  VMS has a good claim to be the best operating system in the
	  world. Simply that. Digital wrote it and enhances it with about
	  one tenth of the people who wrote the software for IBM's
	  mainframes. I'd better not name any names - and besides, where
	  would I stop?

	* The drive towards improved quality in the marketing and
	  engineering process. QFD, Six-Sigma, emphasis on the
	  teachings of Deming, Crosby and others.

	* Our secretaries. How would business continue without these
	  wonderful people? Practical, thoughtful, full of initiative,
	  often nursing their bosses along, usually friendly and helpful
	  despite having nineteen things to do.

	* The Digital Technical Journal. A periodical which sells Digital's
	  quality on every page - in a quiet, unassuming way which perfectly
	  reflects the company's style.

	* The New Software Group. Now Digital for the first time has a
	  Business Unit devoted to creating and selling software, not just
	  to lever hardware.

	* NAS, COHESION, the Information Network, ATIS... all the
	  technology that Digital has contributed to OSF.

	* There is a tremendous push on UNIX in Europe, with red double
	  page advertisements all over the place shouting that "If you
	  can do it with UNIX(tm), you can do it with Digital"

	* VAX 9000 voted system of the year by Datamation, over IBM 3090,
	  Cary, Amdahl, HP and Hitachi.

	* According to CONNECT magazine, over 200 VAX 9000s have shipped
	  worldwide, 40% of those in Europe. 

	* NASA has installed two VAX 9000s at Goddard to support the
	  Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Even better news is
	  why they chose the 9000 - "The VAX 9000 system's growth
	  potential means we can meet current and projected processing
	  demands without continually adding new systems. That's one of
	  Digital's key strengths".

	* VAX 6000 topped PC Week's Poll of Corporate Satisfaction for the
	  second year running, beating the HP3000 Series 900.

	* Digital Review's readers selected the VAX 4000 as the best multiuser
	  computer system AND the best server, the DECstation 5000 Model 200
	  as the best workstation, the KDM70 as the best disk subsystem,
	  DECwindows as the best user interface, the VT420 as the best
	  terminal, the RA92 and Rdb/VMS tied as best in category, and
	  Digital was chosen as best for overall customer service.

	* SPECmark and Graphics X11 tests show the DECstation 5000 having
	  the best balanced performance of any popular desktop workstation.

	* Digital UK's Press Office was voted the best in the UK IT
	  industry, in a poll of journalists. IBM was second. Journalists
	  said "There's a lot of opportunity to meet very senior people
	  at regular press conferences. It's always very open, and they
	  put you in fron of people. For such a large company it seems
	  to be very easy to get through to the right people." "They answer
	  questions instead of being obstructive".

	* Pier Carlo Falloti is handing over the European sales operation
	  to a number of empowered account managers known informally as
	  "entrepreneurs". Goodbye red tape and bureacracy! With profit
	  and loss responsibility where the rubber meets the road, we'll
	  soon see some results

	* In Glasgow, Scotland, a law firm threw out an IBM RS6000 and
	  25 terminals. Pilgrim Systems, in cooperation with DECdirect,
	  had a Digital system of 2 MicroVAX 3100s, 25 terminals and
	  4 printers up and running by the next day.

	* The last six facts came from stories in CONNECT, UK Digital's
	  employee newspaper. This is about the tenth house rag I have
	  seen come and go, and this is the only one I have ever sat
	  down at home and read cover to cover. It's balanced, positive,
	  serious, and interesting. (Also, it publishes my articles
	  occasionally) 8-) ... this is one of many signs that management
	  is at last taking the workforce seriously. 

	* DECdirect is doing a tremendous job of work. The hardware and
	  software catalogues are all anyone needs to sell Digital
	  hardware (in the workstations and small systems category)
	  and software for any system. Glossy, attractive, illustrated,
	  these catalogues contain the interesting bits of the SPDs and
	  brochures (plus pictures), complete price information, indexes
	  of various kinds, information on CONDIST, etc etc. And they
	  go out quarterly to tens of thousands of customers. The hotline
	  is always ready with technical help.

	* Ken Olsen has gone on record as saying that Marketing is a
	  valuable activity and we should integrate it into our business
	  more than we have done.

	* Jack Smith is "working the issues" and responding to some of
	  the thousands of employees enthusiastically clamouring for his
	  attention.

	* The DELTA program processed over 300 ideas in September 1990,
	  and over 1,000 in October. Heaven knows how many since then!
	  Jack Smith has given this process his explicit support and
	  approval. Suggestions have been implemented that saved the
	  company money and improved our operations. This process works.

	* As of one year ago, there were over half a million DECnet
	  licences, 3/4 million Digital Ethernet nodes, and over 3
	  million Digital Ethernet ports out there.

	* Starting a year ago, Mark Manasse of Digital, working with
	  Arjen Lenstra of Bellcore, factored the 9th Fermat Number
	  (155 digits long) using a network of Digital computers -
	  in their spare time. This task was too hard for mainframes,
	  but the EasyNet cracked it.

	* We have shipped over 3100 DECtp Monitor licences, also
	  40,000 CDD/Plus licences.

	* In a friendly challenge thrown down by Gartner Group MIS
	  staff at DECworld 1990, a VAX 4000-300 was pitted against
	  Gartner's IBM 4381 Model 13. 
	  "The benchmark: report query against Information Builders'- FOCUS
	  "database, search criteria = find one company within an 11,000
	  "record corporate database, match type of services/skills requested
	  "with personnel, sorted against an 80,000 record personnel database."
	  The 4381 ran the benchmark in 1 minute 9 seconds.
	  The VAX 4000 took 10 seconds.
	  (Source: NODEMO::MARKETING 1319.0)

	* North Carolina State University and Iowa State University signed
	  contracts totalling $7 million with Digital to install the Athena
	  systems software from MIT, linking together hundreds of Digital
	  workstations. (VNS #2146)

	* A VAX 9000-210 ran an in-house benchmark in which 1070 DSM (MUMPS)
	  processes ran a database application with sub-2 second response
	  time. Now that is a mainframe! Now that is a database system!

	* Soon after, the VAX 9000 Model 210 returned 143.4 transactions
	  per second on the TPC-A benchmark. The VAX 4000 Model
	  300 returned 41.4 tps. These are industry-leading figures.
	  (VNS #2187)

	I guess that will have to do for now. Just off the top of my
	head, mind you. There's plenty more where that came from.

	/Tom

    How could I have forgotten.....the time when a software guru from the
    Ultrix Resource Center stayed up through the night to get a couple of
    DECstation 3100s up and running for a workstation roadshow the next
    day........went to shower......and came back to demo the same
    systems......I fed him soda and chips all night to keep him going :^)

    re: .15 

    >>Rdb/VMS whipping everything in sight on performance benchmarks...
    
    Scuse me?  Doesn't VAX DSM had the highest TPC-A benchmark numbers, or
    did I miss something?