|  |     Really? 
    
    John is a kind of neat guy; I had him as a seminar instructor a few
    years ago.. but I've has no contact with him in a purely Digital(TM)
    business sense.
    
    John was brought into HPS in DEC; in a previous life he was the project
    manager for the Aegis Missle System (I'm not sure what company that was
    at, maybe Sperry or Raytheon?). I'd juse seen him in the cafeteria a
    couple weeks ago; like most of the survivors of the VAX9000, he didn't
    look as chipper as he did when things were going great guns..
    
    ...tom
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|  |     Yes, John became a personal friend of mine over the years.
    
    When he left, in my goodbye I promised to phone him at PB after he
    has a couple of weeks to settle in--I have it on my calendar for
    this Thursday morning.
    
    John knows me in part for my persistent knawing at one bone at Digital.
    Namely:  making it possible for our processes to be skillfully managed
    at last.  In particular, I ask people to listen for complexity when
    they work together--and hearing it, to turn the chairs to the wall and
    use graphical methods to cope with the complexity.  For historical
    reasons these methods have come to be labelled Total Quality Management
    or words of that kind.  One in particular that I've led groups to use
    over 50 times at Digital and with Digital's customers is called Quality
    Function Deployment.  (There's a Notes file at metoo::QFD if you're
    curious about this.)
    
    One of our sales people had me go to Pitney Bowes, perhaps even the
    location John went to, a couple of years ago and make my
    Voice-Of-The-Customer pitch.  It seemed to make a useful impression. 
    Or so I thought, at least.  I'll be asking John whether he sees any
    sign that I should make a return visit, this time not a freebie of
    course, like the last one was.
    
    (We charged a big New York bank $225 for each hour of my time week
    before last when I ran a QFD for them in New York City.)
    								Russ
 | 
|  |     George, I didn't know him well, but I did know him. If PB is your
    account, I would call his office and ask for appointment. I am sure he
    would agree and that he would be a valuable resource for you over time.
    Call me if you want to discuss further.
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