| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 3046.1 | What's Different | HOCUS::JKAPLAN | | Fri Apr 29 1994 12:59 | 2 |
| It seems that no one paid attention to the results of the last survey
so whats different?
|
| 3046.2 | | TLE::FELDMAN | Software Engineering Process Group | Fri Apr 29 1994 13:03 | 9 |
| re: .1
If by "last survey" you mean the prototype for this one, I
thought it was pretty clear that the purpose of that survey
was to make sure this one works well, and that the results
would be combined. So it's premature to say that no one
paied attention.
Gary
|
| 3046.3 | If you care at all, then do the survey - be heard. | SPEZKO::FRASER | Mobius Loop; see other side | Fri Apr 29 1994 13:11 | 15 |
| Re .1
Attention was paid to the pilot survey - our CC Mgr (Dianne
Lauzon, MCS) spent a full day with the troops a few weeks ago,
going through the summarised information in full and invited
comment. She did not give a watered down version, but openly
acknowledged the expressed problems and set up discussion
groups to address and work the specific problems indicated.
I have confidence that the survey results will influence our
organisation in a positive way.
For what it's worth - your mileage may vary...
Andy (not a manager, just a line-animal.)
|
| 3046.4 | | GRANMA::MWANNEMACHER | built for comfort | Fri Apr 29 1994 13:46 | 3 |
|
What were the results?
|
| 3046.5 | wrong info in survey | TRACTR::EBERT | | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:09 | 25 |
| Although I though the survey questions were quite good I am afraid that
the information will be unusable for anythng but a light level summary.
Let me explain. Like a good employee I filled in the survey. When I got
to the end it asked me what organization I work for. I selected
Marketing. It then asked me which group. I selected Consumer
Industries. It then listed all of the sub-group and their managers and
asked me to select the sub-group/manager I worked for.
Unfortunatley, this was from an old organizational chart. The
sub-groups were right, ie. retail/wholesale, FMMG, etc. but they
had it matched with the wrong Manager. They even had managers that
are no longer with the company.
I was in a position where I had to pick either the right manager/wrong
sub-group or the wrong manager/right sub-group.
Either way the results are invalidated. I answered the questions based
on the current organization.
A little frustrating. I tried to explain this is in the comments
sections, but before I could finish kicked me out.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
|
| 3046.6 | | TOOK::DELBALSO | I (spade) my (dog face) | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:25 | 8 |
| re: .5
> A little frustrating. I tried to explain this is in the comments
> sections, but before I could finish kicked me out.
Those were not bugs. Those were features.
-Jack
|
| 3046.7 | What about the customer? | MIMS::SANDERS_J | | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:33 | 3 |
| Digital's time, money and effort would be better spent on a "CUSTOMER
SURVEY" to find out what the customer thinks and wants. You know, the
CUSTOMER.
|
| 3046.8 | | IMTDEV::BRUNO | Father Gregory | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:40 | 11 |
| RE: <<< Note 3046.7 by MIMS::SANDERS_J >>>
>> -< What about the customer? >-
>> Digital's time, money and effort would be better spent on a "CUSTOMER
>> SURVEY" to find out what the customer thinks and wants. You know, the
>> CUSTOMER.
There's no law that says BOTH types of surveys can't be done.
Greg
|
| 3046.9 | | GUCCI::RWARRENFELTZ | Follow the Money! | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:45 | 1 |
| we already do that but it hasn't helped us corporately to date.
|
| 3046.10 | Survey's Galore | MSDOA::SCRIVEN | | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:49 | 8 |
| re:.7
We currently have two customer satisfaction surveys going out to the
customer that tries to address MCS and Administrative issues. As it is
the customer's are "tired" of filling these out. Getting them to do it
is sometimes harder than pulling teeth....
Toodles.....JP
|
| 3046.11 | | ROWLET::AINSLEY | Less than 150 kts. is TOO slow! | Fri Apr 29 1994 15:55 | 6 |
| re: .5
My organization wasn't even listed. I tried looking in a few places but
couldn't find it. I finally gave up and used my previous organization.
Bob
|
| 3046.12 | Customer surveys can be cooked ... | DECWET::FARLEE | Insufficient Virtual...um...er... | Fri Apr 29 1994 16:31 | 16 |
| That's because we've spent decades "managing" those customer
surveys... In the field is has not been uncommon for personnel
to be assigned to "help" the customer fill out the survey:
"No, No, you see 8 here really is the middle of the road, so if you
think that we're slightly better than average, you just put down "9".
I've seen exactly that happen. Managers don't want to get blasted for
having bad customer sat numbers, so they don't. Of course, now the
surveys don't tell us squat about what the customers really think...
What is needed is an INDEPENDANT, objective survey. Maybe one designed AND
ADMINISTERED by somebody like Gallup. And then comes teh real challenge:
We've got to LISTEN to what it says and DO something about it. Not CYA.
Change the things that need changing.
sigh...
|
| 3046.13 | Are you in the ABCXYZ or LMNOP group? | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Fri Apr 29 1994 16:34 | 9 |
| When the survey displayed the Organization screen, there were so many acronyms
that my head started to spin! I'd never heard of most of the organizations,
much less try to figure out which one I worked for. So, I made a best guess but
I'm sure I didn't get it right.
There was another place, I think it was job function, in which I made a wrong
choice but couldn't back up to change it. Oh well.
Paul
|
| 3046.14 | Who knew about this "company-wide" survey? | AMCUCS::SWIERKOWSKI | Quot homines tot sententiae | Fri Apr 29 1994 19:51 | 31 |
| Greetings!
I sent in mail re: this already, but I have to ask and this conference seemed
logical having spotted the base note...
In a nutshell, am I the only employee who didn't even know about the survey
until today? Near as I can determine, me, others in my group and friends in
other groups were *NEVER* sent anything online about this "survey". Wouldn't
it make sense to blast out a one-liner to *EVERY* employee (I assume everyone
has and uses email regularly) about this survey? If many employees do not in
fact have/use email, that (at the risk of killing trees), perhaps a real letter/
note addressed to me, sent to my house (or at least my inbox at work) might be
in order.
To be honest, I knew through totally "unofficial" mechanisms, (rumours, gossip
this notesfile, etc.) about the survey and in fact participated in the pre-trial
survey meeting(s) with a Gallup representative - no follow-up with me as pro-
mised however! My real concern is that if I could have potentially missed this
survey, how many others also missed out. Going to the trouble (and expense) of
conducting "company-wide" surveys only makes sense to me if they aren't conduct-
ed in secret and *ALL* employees participate...
Tony Swierkowski
SDCC (in Palo Alto)
(415) 617-3601
"[email protected]"
FYI: A quick "survey" of my own this afternoon says myself and one other
person out of about 30 people in 3 different groups were the only ones
who "unofficially" knew of (and thus participated) in the "company-wide"
survey, sigh...
|
| 3046.15 | Both surveys important internal/external at c | ROMEOS::VOLKEN_BR | | Fri Apr 29 1994 19:51 | 4 |
| The external customer surveys were a joke because the DEC managers
"managed" the results. Now these "internal customer surveys" are a
good idea. You have all heard of the two types of customers, right?
Internal and External, and they are equally important.
|
| 3046.16 | Ultimate Survey | MIMS::GRAFT_J | | Fri Apr 29 1994 19:58 | 4 |
| The customers have responded to the survey. The ultimate survey, the
free marketplace, they buy other venders products.
Jim G.
|
| 3046.17 | | CSOADM::ROTH | What, me worry? | Fri Apr 29 1994 20:01 | 97 |
|
.12>That's because we've spent decades "managing" those customer
.12>surveys... In the field is has not been uncommon for personnel
.12>to be assigned to "help" the customer fill out the survey:
.12>"No, No, you see 8 here really is the middle of the road, so if you
.12>think that we're slightly better than average, you just put down "9".
.12>
.12>I've seen exactly that happen. Managers don't want to get blasted for
.12>having bad customer sat numbers, so they don't. Of course, now the
.12>surveys don't tell us squat about what the customers really think...
This is exactly what has aided the decline of Digital and other companies
as well. Not specifically 'management of the survey process', but the
substitution of substance with perception instead.
Over 10 years ago, I saw Digital begin to drift in this direction. We
became enamored with numbers. The numerical outcome of customer surveys
was the focus, not the quality level of service to achieve those numbers.
Example:
We (I was a F/S tech then) were told that we needed to set customer
perception and expectations. Customers had been giving bad marks on
surveys about availability of spare parts- and the FE's were getting
dinged by management for it. One manager even had the audacity to suggest
we had failed by not explaining the following to the customer:
- During the year, we used 99 alcohol pads on your system. They
were always in stock.
- During the year, we used one CPU module on your system. It was
not in stock and it took us 24 hrs to get one and replace it.
- Conclusion: We had 99% parts availability.
With a straight face the manager told us we had *failed* by not
explaining this to the customer.
About that time 'creative reporting' on service reports came about too.
At different times the focus was put on making certain numbers look good.
Was there a focus on the root of the problem? No, the focus was on the
numbers... therefore, the 'fix' was to bend the numbers instead of
isolating/fixing the real problem.
---
This focus on 'making things look good' has brought us to the point we
are at now. Too long we have painted over the rust; too many times we
have swept the dirt under the rug. Some managers have made it clear that
they do not want to hear bad news, so underlings make sure that they did
not. We become afraid to deal with real issues, we instead sugar-coat
them to make them more palatable.
It is not just Digital, either. We see the same thing at all social and
government levels. Dishonesty and misrepresentation are tolerated and
have become acceptable. Ego wins over sound judgement. We hope that
people have a short memory and a fat wallet to cover a plethora of
our shortcomings.
We do not need another employee survey- it only gives the illusion of
progress. We keep taking the temperature of the patient rather than
selecting and implementing a healing strategy. You can only do this so
long before the patient will become terminally ill.
Now let's turn the page.
Thankfully, there are still many employees and managers that
want to work hard, that have a vision to design/build/deliver
great products and services... employees that desire deal with
our customers and fellow employees with honesty, integrity and
fairness. To these, the motto "Do The Right Thing" lives on in
spirit and in deed. They succeed in spite of the roadblocks.
Seldom do they receive the reward they deserve.
Trouble is, we have destroyed the spirit of (or have outright
removed) the kind of people described above. This has been
brought about by indiscriminate TFSOing, ego-blinded managers,
overly complex practices and procedures, and the 'good ole boy'
network. Instead of encouraging and building via leadership, we
have allowed people to be managed into mediocrity and dispair.
I believe the very essence of the success or demise of Digital is
distilled in my previous two paragraphs. They detail what has made DEC
great and what has brought Digital down as well.
If Digital is to survive, we each must foster and grow the good traits
and eradicate the bad ones. We must demand good first within, and then
from others.
It is now as it was on day one: Digital's strength (and weakness) lies
within its people.
Lee (17.5+ years at DEC)
|
| 3046.18 | Overcooked surveys are bad for you | KERNEL::WEBSTERC | | Sat Apr 30 1994 18:53 | 30 |
|
I don't have any real problem with the current VTX employee survey.
Sure, its not perfect, but at least nobody has tried to influence
my marking, and as surveys go, I'd give it a 4 (mostly agree) for
type of question. My marking, is of course, confidential :-)
re .12, -1
I remember those "customer satisfaction" surveys from my Field Service
days.
The sad part is people got rewarded on the basis of these manipulated
survey results.
The funny part is that anyone could ever take the results seriously.
Those surveys were not just cooked, I believe they did this company immense
damage. Any distortion of statistics fed back up the chain will
inevitably lead to false conclusions being made by senior management,
in turn leading to wrong decisions. As individuals, its our
responsiblity to be honest with *any* data.
Our managers, senior managers and VP's have the responsiblity of
understanding what that data *really* means. After all, if you want
to find out what its like to be a miner, you have to go to the coal face.
A survey result, a set of statistics or an anonymous pie chart
by itself is not enough, you have to look for yourself to understand
the data.
Colin
|
| 3046.19 | | WRKSYS::SEILER | Larry Seiler | Sun May 01 1994 08:58 | 1 |
| re .17: Amen!
|
| 3046.20 | Take a Deep Look Inside | GLDOA::CUTLER | Car Topin' On The Cumberland | Sun May 01 1994 09:04 | 75 |
| <<< Note 3046.17 by CSOADM::ROTH "What, me worry?" >>>
>>> This is exactly what has aided the decline of Digital and other companies
>>> as well. Not specifically 'management of the survey process', but the
>>> substitution of substance with perception instead.
>>> This focus on 'making things look good' has brought us to the point we
>>> are at now. Too long we have painted over the rust; too many times we
>>> have swept the dirt under the rug. Some managers have made it clear that
>>> they do not want to hear bad news, so underlings make sure that they did
>>> not. We become afraid to deal with real issues, we instead sugar-coat
>>> them to make them more palatable.
Lee,
I agree with everything you said, when I joined Digital 7+ years
ago, I saw the same types of things happening here. Survey's would be
sent out, we were told to focus on "those customers" and make "sure" that
the results were good. Never once, did we send the survey out, and
"in my opinion", let the truth be known. That really bothered me, there
was only "short term", "sugar coated" results returned. The people that
were in power then, only "cared" about that. These people didn't really
care about "the customers real perception" of Digital, nor did they want
to admit if there were problems and "deal with them". Some of these people
are still around, and from the sounds of it, its not limited to my area
(this abuse).
I want to add a few opinions of my own, we're seeing something else
(very similiar) going on. The "Digital Sales Force" is being blamed for
"most" of the ills of this company. Now, there are some "bad apples" in
every group, but that's true at many places. But, the majority of reps
that I work with are good, hard working people. That must use the tools,
the "mixed up messages" and live with the "Corporate image"
on a day to day basis with our customers.
The systems we have on line, complicate their jobs,
the processes we have in place for putting together proposals (Software
projects)/hinder them, want a quote Mr. Customer, sure I'll get you one,
as soon as I can figure out all the "nuts and bolts" that are required
to put this baby together. What is sad, is that we've talked (and are
still talking) about client/server and the need to improve our "business
processes", improve the time to market, improve our ability to respond
to the customer. Yet, two+ years later, we still have the same old
systems, we still do business the same way, we still are beating up the
sales reps. I say, put the systems in place and I don't think that
it should be some system, "dreamed up by someone who's had no sales
experience and hasn't had to work with our tools". Put the systems in
place, then see how we do.
I see our VMS customer satisfaction rate going down hill, very
fast. Our "traditional" VMS customers are very unhappy, we're committed
to the UNIX market, but (from what I heard internally), only 3% of our
revenue last quarter came from UNIX. I agree that we need to be a
UNIX player, but, we have done it to the "extreme" of piss#ng off
very good VMS customers. Most of the ones that I talk to, and I tell
them "that we are committed to VMS", feel that we've abandoned them.
Why couldn't we "gracefully" commit ourselves to UNIX and do it keeping
our VMS customers happy at the same time. What really upsets me, is
that I heard (again through the grapevine) that Mr. Palmer was
"shocked" and "upset" that the UNIX revenue numbers were only 3%,
he shouldn't have been "shocked"/"upset", he should have had these
facts all along (if they are true). What that tells me, is that we've
been going along for 2+ years now, without really knowing the "real
picture", is this true? I hope not, that means we've been steering
this ship, without a map. Again, its an indication we don't have the
systems in place to support the business. PLGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!
My two cents worth
RC
|
| 3046.21 | | BHAJEE::JAERVINEN | Ora, the Old Rural Amateur | Mon May 02 1994 09:30 | 4 |
| Aslo, the survey does not represent all of Digital.
E.g. here in Germany, we're not allowed to answer it.
|
| 3046.22 | Finger Pointing | ODIXIE::WESTCL | Gator Golfer | Mon May 02 1994 10:07 | 15 |
| The results of the survey will show that, individually, we feel that we
are doing a great job. We are hard working, dedicated, knowledgeable,
and don't spend the company's resources unnecessarily. The survey will
show that the problem lies with somebody else, probably at least one
step above our current manager, who we will say is doing a pretty good
job.
In other words, the survey may not tell anyone anything except that we
point fingers. I found that to be the problem with the survey. The
results could have been predicted by the nature of the questions.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I hope the devel it's not a
freight train.
CW
|
| 3046.23 | Spin Control 501 (Graduate Level) | PEAKS::LILAK | Who IS John Galt ? | Mon May 02 1994 14:15 | 21 |
| This survey reminds me of one taken by subsystems about six years
ago. Morale was real poor, good people were leaving, and projects
were slipping.
When the meeting was held to discuss the survey results, the data
pointed to mismanagent and efforts by middle management to
build personal empires rather than create products.
The personel 'operative' presenting the results told us that while the
data indicated the above conclusion, we (the employees) really 'meant'
soemthing entirely different by our responses. It was Kafka-esque.
Management patted itself on the back, the personel operative was
rewarded for covering mgmt's behinds, nothing changed and the
status quo was preserved.
What's really sad is the same personel are still around and the same
'perception' vs. reality/recorded history games continue.
-Publius
|
| 3046.24 | I love surveys | AWECIM::MCMAHON | Living in the owe-zone | Mon May 02 1994 14:34 | 12 |
| Reminds me of a survey I had to take several years ago (in a different
site and group). Our manager had contracted Personnel to run a survey
of the entire group to find out 'what was wrong'. When the survey was
finished and the results were tallied, we were all called into a
meeting. There were over 100 people in our group. The personnel rep
showed several charts and graphs depicting the results. Then the
manager got up and summarized it all by saying that the survey clearly
showed that the problem was communication - that the problem was with
all of us - that we all had the problem, not him. We were then told
that every single one of us had to take a communications skills course
- but not the manager (since the problem was with us, not him). Of
course, that solved the problem!!
|
| 3046.25 | | SUBSYS::NEUMYER | Reinstate the 3Gs | Mon May 02 1994 14:40 | 8 |
|
All the surveys that I've taken showed that communication is the
problem. I think that they are designed that way. It allows for the
blame to fall on the largest number of people, that way blame can't be
assessed to anyone in particular.
ed
|
| 3046.26 | | TRURL::porter | save the ales | Mon May 02 1994 19:14 | 12 |
| Check out the "Dilbert" in yesterday's (Sunday) Boston Globe.
Dilbert's holding a day-long meeting to discover why the engineering
group isn't productive enough. Reasons are given like:
- Management keeps cutting staff and adding to the workload
- We spend our time in all-day meetings to discuss efficiency
These aren't acceptable reasons; what is wanted is reasons which
avoid blaming anyone for anything...
|
| 3046.27 | | MIMS::PARISE_M | Profitability?...fawgeddaBOW'dit! | Mon May 02 1994 21:55 | 10 |
|
In another note I opined that it was patently wasteful, particularly
in light of the financial tail-spin we're in, to spend any more money
on an outside contractor to find out something that is pathetically
obvious to anyone who cares enough to read these notesfiles.
Surely we don't need a survey to tell us we're disappointed with a
lack of leadership and demoralized by squandered resources.
Mike
|
| 3046.28 | Q34: How do you feel the closure will impact customers? | CSOADM::ROTH | What, me worry? | Tue May 03 1994 00:30 | 3 |
| Digital will probably conduct an 'exit survey' as the last ones leave.
Lee
|
| 3046.29 | Got it right the second time | CHEFS::BUXTONR | | Tue May 03 1994 08:08 | 10 |
| I too had difficulty in completing the demographic (where and who do
you work for) section of the survey. Somewhat ironic that the company
needs feedback on employee attitudes but the employees can't identify
where they fit from the myriad of options offered.
No matter - I did the survey twice (was there a control on this) and
informed them that I had done so and that I'm only a mere temp.
Bucko...
|
| 3046.30 | BTW, they blamed it on the computer. | AIMHI::KERR | Caught In The Crossfire | Tue May 03 1994 09:47 | 10 |
| Re: .26
I love Dilbert. That strip almost always sums up my week here at Digital.
I especially like the ones that deal with performance reviews, right on
the mark. Does anyone know what the artist/writer's background is?
Did he ever, by chance, work for Digital (or some other major computer
maker)?
|
| 3046.31 | No Engineer | ANARKY::BREWER | nevermind.... | Tue May 03 1994 11:08 | 6 |
| If you read the fine print between the frames of the strip, there
is a Internet address there. He does answer, as I've written him
(Scott Adams) before. He works at AT&T I believe, and in his words
"is surrounded by Dilberts" although he is NOT an engineer.....
/john
|
| 3046.32 | | ARCANA::CONNELLY | Aack!! Thppft! | Tue May 03 1994 11:28 | 5 |
| re: .30,.31
Doesn't he work at some utility (Pacific Gas & Electric or something like that)?
- paul
|
| 3046.33 | Article (and ad) in ComputerWorld | TLE::FELDMAN | Software Engineering Process Group | Tue May 03 1994 11:54 | 11 |
| According to an article in this week's (May 2) Computerworld,
Scott Adams is an applications engineer at Pacific Bell,
though his college major was economics and he has an MBA
from Berkeley.
As luck would have it, we have a full page ad for our
DECpc XL Servers on the page opposite the article.
The headline text is "In six months, they'll call you a
genius. Next year, a god."
Gary
|
| 3046.34 | | DEC:.SEILER | Larry Seiler | Wed May 04 1994 17:21 | 9 |
| Scott Adams was quoted as saying "Dilbert is the perfect company man
and I'm the perfect employee". A modest man, not. He justifies this
self-appelation by explaining that since he doesn't need really need
his job, he refuses to put up with red tape and other nonsence that
would keep him from doing his job. I think that's a pretty good
justification! We need some more perfect employees around here...
Enjoy,
Larry
|
| 3046.35 | | DEC:.SEILER | Larry Seiler | Wed May 04 1994 17:22 | 9 |
| Scott Adams was quoted as saying "Dilbert is the perfect company man
and I'm the perfect employee". A modest man, not. He justifies this
self-appelation by explaining that since he doesn't really need his
job, he refuses to put up with red tape and other nonsense that
would keep him from doing his job. I think that's a pretty good
justification! We need some more perfect employees around here...
Enjoy,
Larry
|
| 3046.36 | the scott adams biography | REGENT::POWERS | | Thu May 05 1994 09:54 | 135 |
| From: COVERT::daemon "John R. Covert 03-Aug-1993 0934" 3-AUG-1993 21:51:56.62
To: @DESPERADO
CC:
Subj: Desperado #3080: And what rough beast, its hour come round at last
@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$
DESPERADO, Slouches Toward Bethlehem to be Born?
@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$@.>$
CONTRIBUTIONS TO RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER
[[email protected]]
SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS TO COVERT::DESPERADO-REQUEST
[[email protected]]
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Powerful enough to suck prairie dogs from their holes, but gentle all the same.
Not an official publication. Forward with daring and whimsy. Circle the earth.
Should you rip something off from here, be a sport and rip this header off too.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.....
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NO, IT'S NOT THE ZORK SCOTT ADAMS
AND NO HE DOESN'T WORK FOR DEC
BUT YES WE SEND HIM DESPERADO
AND NO HE HAS SHOWN NO GRASP OF THIS HONOR
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From: US2RMC::"[email protected]"
To: [email protected], t_parmenter%[email protected]
Subj: [[email protected]: [mjr@lhasa: Dilbert]]
From: mjr@lhasa (Margaret Randazza)
This has been bouncing around Lotus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOGRAPHY OF "DILBERT" ARTIST SCOTT ADAMS
I'm often asked what horrible events in my past caused me to be the
cartoonist I am today. Here is my abbreviated biography and some
answers to the most frequently asked questions.
The Early Years
Born 6/8/57. Raised in upstate New York. Graduated valedictorian
because I was the only person who could spell "valedictorian." Began
actively doodling. Became addicted to Peanuts books and Mad
magazines. Decided to become a professional cartoonist at about age
six, but gave the notion up at age twelve when I found out it was
impossible.
Education
- Hartwick College, Oneonta New York, BA in economics, 1979.
- University of California at Berkeley, MBA, 1986.
- Certified Hypnotist, Clement School of Hypnosis, San Francisco,
1981.
Where I Live
In my senior year of college my car broke down on a desolate road in
upstate New York. It was the middle of night and the middle of
winter. I had arrogantly neglected to bring a coat. I was miles
from civilization. As I jogged along the road that night, wondering
if I would die, I promised myself that if I survived I would sell my
car for a one-way ticket to California and never see snow again.
Eventually a car came along and saved me. That spring I sold my car
for a one-way ticket to California. I've never been back to upstate
New York and I've never been in snow since.
Now I live in Dublin, California, about 35 miles east of San
Francisco.
Day Jobs
Crocker National Bank, San Francisco, 1979 to 1986, working in a
number of humiliating and low paying jobs including: teller (robbed
twice at gunpoint), computer programmer, financial analyst, product
manager, and commercial lender.
Pacific Bell, San Ramon, California, 1986 to present (yeah, still
there). Worked in a number of jobs that defy description but all
involve technology and finances. Currently working in a laboratory
environment.
Why Do I Still Have My Day Job?
You never really have enough money. Also, it's where I get my
material for the strip. And I like playing with the technology.
Art Training
I took one drawing class in college and got the lowest grade in the
class. Everything I know is just trial and error and lots of
doodling. This probably comes as no big surprise to anybody.
How I Became a Syndicated Cartoonist
On the advice of a kind cartoonist I bought a book called "1988
Artist Markets" and followed the instructions on how to get
syndicated. I drew fifty sample strips and mailed copies to the
major cartoon syndicates. United Media called a few weeks later and
offered a contract. I accepted.
Dilbert was launched in 1989 after several months of further
developing the strip. This was my first cartooning for profit.
Where Did Dilbert and Dogbert Come From?
Dilbert is a composite of my co-workers over the years. He emerged
over time as the main character of my doodles. I started using him
in business presentations and got great responses. A co-worker
suggested the name. Dogbert was created later just so Dilbert would
have somebody to talk to.
Are You Like Dilbert?
It depends who you ask. We share a love of technology and have a
similar dating history. But I spend more time in the gym.
Dogbert's personality is an exaggerated version of my own. He says
the things I would say if I didn't fear retribution and had lots of
time to think up clever responses.
What's the Story With Dilbert's Necktie?
It looks normal to me. I don't know what you're talking about.
=*=
|
| 3046.37 | ! | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Nip the ClipperChip in the bud | Thu May 05 1994 10:38 | 2 |
| Nice to see even *part* of a Desperado.
|
| 3046.38 | | DRDAN::KALIKOW | World-Wide Web: Postmodem Culture | Thu May 05 1994 21:48 | 2 |
| What a great rag that was... Retrospective Kudos Tom!
|
| 3046.39 | | TRURL::porter | save the ales | Fri May 06 1994 10:35 | 3 |
| Why "was"? Whatever happened to Desperado?
Did I miss some important event?
|
| 3046.40 | Musta notta gotta lotta | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Nip the ClipperChip in the bud | Fri May 06 1994 13:56 | 7 |
| All you've missed is about ten issues of Desperado that I haven't had
time to do in my old job. I have a new job and I may be able to
revive it. It just didn't work in my old job.
Still full of fun,
Yr bdy,
Tom Parmenter
|
| 3046.41 | (-: (-: "...may be able to revive it" :-) :-) | DRDAN::KALIKOW | World-Wide Web: Postmodem Culture | Fri May 06 1994 22:31 | 2 |
| Best news I've had all day!!
|
| 3046.42 | Minutes, RENEW Technology Review | CTHQ::DELUCO | Premature Grandparent | Fri May 27 1994 15:39 | 280 |
|
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 27-May-1994 08:55am EST
From: Jim Deluco @TAY
DELUCO.JAMES
Dept: Network Applications
Tel No: 227-3959
TO: See Below
Subject: Minutes, RENEW Technology Review
Feel free to circulate these minutes as you see fit....
On 25 May a meeting was held to review the technology learnings from
the implementation of the RENEW survey. Attendees included the
following people:
Maxine Crowther - Worldwide Human Resources and Co-Project
Leader for the RENEW survey
Zuzana Smith - Technical Leader for the survey
Bill Allendoerfer - Technical Consultant for the survey
Joyce Antle - VTX Services Group (SHR)
Tom Esposito - VTX Services Group (SHR)
Jim DeLuco - VTX Utility Service Manager
Maxine did a great job of organizing the discussion, providing an
outline of agenda topics. In the interest of brevity, I will not
repeat the entire outline in the minutes, however.
Management Summary:
The recently completed RENEW survey was a unique activity for a
company our size and offered the people involved in delivering the
service an opportunity understand and report on our capability to
rapidly gather and analyze input across our entire population of
employees. As reported elsewhere response was quite high and the
results are being assembled. This document summarizes some of the
key learnings about the technology (VTX) which was used to support
the survey. The key messages from those responsible for designing
and administering the survey are as follows:
1. Gallup Inc. (the external organization responsible for
performing the aggregation and analysis of the survey
results), observed that for most of their other large
clients the only option for a project of this magnitude
would have been collection via hard copy forms. Digital's
capability to reach 80-90% of its workforce electronically
for data collection was unique and powerful. Digital was
able to very rapidly develop and implement an application
of this nature because of the enterprise-wide utility
nature of VTX. Gallup predicted a 20% response rate even
knowing the subject, interest level and company condition.
The ease of access through VTX was in some measure
responsible for enabling the high response rate.
2. That VTX offers an important capability for the enterprise
and that it was in fact the only viable option for
capturing this information electronically, in the time
frame required and in the manner required by the business.
More importantly, if the latest version of this technology
were resident everywhere on the network that its
capabilities would be even more valuable to the company.
3. That there are certain improvements in the product itself
which would improve ease-of-use in future surveys. These
are explained below. There were some (mostly minor)
performance problems which can be addressed through the
infrastructure services group as described below.
4. The design of the RENEW Survey is such that doing a
similar excercise in the future will be very
straight-forward and in fact that any of Digital's large
VTX customers could easily adapt this application to
capture information from their employees.
5. Some organizations were better able to encourage
participation based on system feedback on general usage
levels.
Background:
RENEW is a world wide employee relations survey conducted in two
phases: A US Territory pilot of 14,500 people was completed
January, 1994; the rest of the US, Americas, Asia/Pacific and
Europe was completed in April. In all, 49.9% of eligible
employees responded to the survey.
The technology used consisted of a combination of VTX (@77,000
employees) and paper forms (@8,000 employees). The VTX system of
two US and one UK server handled a one-day high of about 2500
responses, at one point in time handling between 300 and 400
simultaneous sessions.
The application had a total of approximately 800 multiple-language
screens. A side benefit of using VTX was that the
application-created output files could be captured on a daily
basis by user software and data could be monitored for response
rates by function or geography and those reports enabled an
improved level of response.
Overall, the feeling was that this sort of survey, going to this
wide an audience could not have been done in the time frame (8
weeks from design to implementation) required with any other
technology in Digital because of the wide availability of access
to VTX. In addition, this design allowed the ability to create
automated feeds.
Direct project resources consisted on the following:
Maxine Crowther - Co-Project Leader
Peter Rojcewicz - Co-Project Leader
Zuzana Smith - Technical Leader
Karen Agule - Technical Support
Bill Allendoerfer - Technical Consultant
Barbara Harpin - Design and Development Consultant
Requirements/Technology Selection:
The selection process began in November and the requirements
included the following:
Surveys must be completed by the end of April, pilot must be
done by January.
Everyone in Digital must be able to access the survey.
Support for 23 languages.
Anonymity of respondent must be maintained.
Must have support in the field for the technology used.
VTX was selected as the electronic technology because it met most
of the business requirements, was felt to be available to nearly
all of Digital's employees without the requirement to develop a
new client....which meant that the time window could be met. While
VTX provides support for only nine of the 23 required languages,
paper forms would be used for the remaining languages.
Development Issues:
During the development phase the following were considered:
The system must be easy to use. There was a high emphasis
placed on human factors. The placement of questions and the
use of menu pages, versus continuation pages, versus form
pages was critical. Closely related to this was the
requirement to service users on multiple platforms...from
VT52's and VT100's to PC's and Workstations and the associated
keyboard/window instruction considerations.
The survey was guaranteed to protect anonymity, however many
users were concerned that this commitmnent might not be met.
While VTX can offer this anonymity, because of its known
accounting and logging capabilities some fearerd that employee
anonymity would be breached. Some groups set up group
accounts to insure this protection. The implementation team
felt that no amount of reassurance would allay all fears and
that VTX was at least superior to mail or other alternatives
with regard to anonymity.
The data needed to be easily merged into a single database.
Three servers were installed, linked with failover. The data
was then merged into one database.
Implementation:
During implementation it became clear that there was a lack
of local expertise, not only in debugging VTX problems, but in
helping the end user identify resources that could help solve
keypad problems. This resulted in many unplanned hours spent
hand-holding end users through the process of isolating
problems.
VTX system-level priority (system parameters) was some times
set too low to provide adequate response to end users. Some
users spent literally hours filling out the survey on line.
The number of unique platforms and configurations was a
problem. Many people were using PC's as terminals and their
keyboard did not map to the instructions on the screen (ie,
<Form Enter>). Many users did not have the latest version of
the VTX client and therefore didn't get the correct key
translations on their screen. Some were using the correct
version via ALL-IN-1, but running it in "Classic" mode, with
the old display...and some of those were in captive accounts
and could not get to DCL.
The survey's FORM screens provided particular problems,
because of the <FORM ENTER> problem and because by then (near
the end) people were accustomed to using RETURN or <ENTER>.
The comment page was very troublesome. This amounts to a
multiple field screen but it is made to look like four lines
of free text. The VTX "editor" on a form screen is not
intuitive and now wraps around continuously from the end of
the page, back to the beginning. Many comments had the first
line overwritten.
There are still some pockets of users who do not have direct
access to the Corporate VTX Library service. For example,
they could not type "VTX RENEW" from DCL, nor "<FIND> RENEW"
from within VTX. Those users had to be instructed to look for
something like "Corporate Library" on their VTX menu and in
some cases, had to be set up for this access.
There were location pockets that had substantial network
delay. Holland, Austria, Spain, France were four in Europe.
Several AP sites also experienced significant delays. The
cause appeared to be the network routing design.
Recommendations:
Product
Improvements in the editor would greatly improve the useability of
VTX.
VTX forms should not wrap around.
When using multiple languages it would be nice to have the same
"command lines" with multiple, equivalent text pages. This would
eliminate having 9 versions of the application.
Servers should guarantee an efficient outbound connect.
Infrastructure
Upgrade all end user environments to the latest native client. An
effort should be undertaken to develop tools and procedures to
support an overall program to enable the upgrade of all PC's with
the latest PC client. This will insure that an instruction in the
infobase to, for example, "Use <FORM ENTER>" will translate
correctly to the user's device.
Identify the pockets of facilities that do not have direct access
to the Library and correct that.
Prepare geographic or function support to offload some of the
centralized support required during implementation of this sort of
application...especially one that requires a short time window to
complete.
Discuss with network representatives the potential network
constraints or problem areas during planning stages in order to
prepare, potentially, to handle these areas differently.
Application
As long as forms are a problem, try to design applications with
either NO form pages, minimal form pages, one-field form pages, or
to verify the contents with "are you sure?" verifications.
Distribution:
TO: David Cedrone ( CEDRONE.DAVID )
TO: Gerry Coady @TAY ( COADY.GERRY )
TO: Remote Addressee ( Mike bowman at geo )
TO: Remote Addressee ( alan lund at ako )
TO: Remote Addressee ( bob yost at mso )
TO: Remote Addressee ( chuck stradford at mso )
TO: Remote Addressee ( emanuele rodigari at geo )
TO: Remote Addressee ( george faucher at ako )
TO: Remote Addressee ( paul doucette at das )
TO: Remote Addressee ( BERTRAND BUCLIN AT GEO )
TO: Remote Addressee ( linda braun at zko )
TO: Remote Addressee ( hamnqvist at via at vaxmail )
CC: Remote Addressee ( maxine crowther at mso )
CC: Remote Addressee ( zsmith at stowoa at vaxmail )
CC: Remote Addressee ( barbara harpin at shr )
CC: Remote Addressee ( cathy robinson at shr )
CC: Remote Addressee ( joyce at kitykt at vaxmail )
CC: Remote Addressee ( tom esposito at shr )
CC: Remote Addressee ( adoerfer at lndrfr at vaxmail )
|
| 3046.43 | | DRDAN::KALIKOW | World-Wide Web: Postmodem Culture | Fri May 27 1994 23:56 | 15 |
| While I greatly respect the motivation and technical ability of those
who brought this work to a successful conclusion, and while I have no
problem whatsoever with the design decision to use VTX for the RENEW
survey -- VTX is, after all, the only technology which is both
currently widely deployed across the Corporation and capable of
addressing the stated business and coverage needs -- I must reluctantly
disagree with the notion that either the choice of VTX for this survey,
or the comments received on VTX during that process, justifies further
improvements to that system, such as the editor, forms package,
keybindings, infrastructure to support it, and so on...
I often say:
"Show me someone who loves VTX and I'll show you a VTX developer."
|
| 3046.44 | VTX Sux | USHS01::HARDMAN | Massive Action = Massive Results | Sat May 28 1994 00:38 | 6 |
| Re .43 I couldn't agree more! I was one of the MANY people that cried
out in disgust when ELF was converted to VTX. It's not a user friendly
interface at all. I could go on and on, but who listens? :-(
Harry
|
| 3046.45 | | NOVA::DICKSON | | Sun May 29 1994 21:28 | 5 |
| The library catalog (VTX DLNCATALOG) on the other hand is a very
well done VTX application interface. ELF is an example of a
particularly poor one.
- P. Dickson (ex VTX developer)
|
| 3046.46 | Too modest (or embarassed)? | GSWARD::WARD | | Mon Jun 06 1994 14:43 | 5 |
| Paul,
You're too modest. You were the creator remember?
Geoff
|
| 3046.47 | Gallup is impressed. | BONNET::WLODEK | Network pathologist. | Tue Jun 07 1994 14:10 | 17 |
|
So it was VTX test ? Technology success ?
It's really pathetic. What has actually being achieved with the survey
itself ?
I'm working with a very profitable customer that has an ancient e-mail
system. Came lately in a contact with an even more successful global
customer without any e-mail system. If I told you their name you would
know that .
All these VTX, mail and networks are really not a condition for running
profitable, integrated worldwide operation.
Sorry for this comment, lets send round congrats to each other again,
with a speed of light.
|
| 3046.48 | What did people say? | NUBOAT::HEBERT | Captain Bligh | Tue Jun 07 1994 16:33 | 4 |
| So, with all that process talk out of the way, now can we learn the
results of the survey?
Art
|
| 3046.49 | these results - just in | HIBOB::KRANTZ | Next window please. | Tue Jun 07 1994 17:24 | 1 |
| We (CXO Storage) got our survey results yesterday.
|
| 3046.50 | Stop the spin already ! | PEAKS::LILAK | Who IS John Galt ? | Tue Jun 07 1994 18:23 | 7 |
| RE: .-1
And I got so dizzy from the spin when reading them that I had to lay
down.
-Publius
|
| 3046.51 | so what IS IT | ICS::BEAN | Attila the Hun was a LIBERAL! | Wed Jun 08 1994 08:43 | 1 |
|
|
| 3046.52 | Some Survey results for Storage | HIBOB::KRANTZ | Next window please. | Wed Jun 08 1994 13:48 | 223 |
| Top survey results for Storage - forwards and distribution removed
This message only contains the top and bottom 10 questions, their results
within storage, and results world-wide.
I assume that since this memo requests wide distribution within storage
that there is NOT a problem with posting it here. (Moderators please
let me know if I'm wrong...)
Joe
From: SSDEVO::SHRMSG::SHRMSG::MRGATE::"A1::CHRIST.CHARLES" "03-Jun-1994 1042" 3-JUN-1994 12:44:18.44
To: @Distribution_List
CC:
Subj: RENEW 94 SURVEY RESULTS 1
From: NAME: Charles Christ @SHR
FUNC: VP Storage Business Unit
TEL: DTN 237-3476 LOC SHR3-2/J16 <CHRIST.CHARLES AT A1 at SHRMSG at SHR>
To: See Below
(PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MEMO TO ALL EMPLOYEES IN YOUR STORAGE GROUP)
Dear Fellow Storage Employee:
We are pleased to now present to you the overall RENEW 94 survey
results for our Storage Business Unit Group. A total of 1,082 people,
or 35%, of us completed the survey. We want to thank those of you
who took the time to tell us what's on your mind, and hope that
everyone will get involved in the upcoming phases of the survey
process. (After this memo follows the statistical summary of the top
ten highest scoring and ten lowest scoring survey questions for Storage).
The results are displayed by relisting the survey item as it was
presented in the Videotext (VTX) questionnaire. To the right of each
item are columns showing the percent of `Agree' scores; the
`Undecided' response percent; the `Disagree' responses. The `Agree'
responses are the positive, favorable responses. (A separate report
showing the results of every survey item will be sent shortly to the
management staff. Please see you manager if you are interested in
this detailed report).
As you review the results, you'll notice the openness and candor of your
responses. You will also notice that our responses are quite similar to
those of the rest of the Digital respondents. During these challenging
times, we see the even greater value of the survey as another vehicle to
maintain two-way communications within Storage.
A little about where we are in the survey process and where we are heading:
To date, we have met our survey project milestones. Before the end of June,
we should be receiving from the external consultants, Gallup, the results for
the businesses within Storage. Then, around Mid-July, we should receive
reports for the smaller businesses within those businesses - assuming
there are at least 10 respondents at that level of reporting.
We are expecting managers to meet with their employees when they receive
their specific reports to share the results and to plan with their
employees actions to correct some of the problems that the results highlight.
Certainly not all problems can be addressed, but we want to try to
fix some of the issues that get in our way.
At the Storage level, our staff will also review and analyze the results
to identify areas we can work across Storage.
Once the results have been communicated to you and action plans are in
place, the respective managers will share the plans with you and may
enlist your help in fixing some of these matters. You will be periodically
updated on the progress.
We want to thank you for your time and support of this very important program.
We look forward to working together to further improve the quality of our
working life and customer and employee satisfaction in Storage.
Regards,
Charlie Christ and Staff
Following are the summary results of the top ten survey items from the
RENEW 94 Survey, comparing Storage's responses to the rest of Digital.
The response scale on the survey was (Strongly Disagree); (Disagree);
(Undecided); (Agree); and (Strongly Agree). To make it easier to read this
report, we have combined the Strongly Disagree and Disagree into one column
(Disagree); and combined the Strongly Agree and Agree into an "Agree" column.
THE TEN HIGHEST SCORING SURVEY ITEMS
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#59. When I make a commitment to my
customer, I keep it
Digital World-wide 1% 3% 95%
Storage 1% 6% 93%
#22. In the last week, I have told a co-worker
to let me know if I could help him or her
Digital World-wide 6% 5% 89%
Storage 6% 2% 92%
#69. I believe my efforts directly and
positively impact the success of my work unit
Digital World-wide 3% 7% 90%
Storage 4% 5% 92%
#8. During the last five working days, I
completed a task or assignment
Digital World-wide 6% 4% 89%
Storage 6% 4% 90%
#54. I understand how my work contributes
to the Company's profitablility
Digital World-wide 7% 9% 84%
Storage 6% 8% 86%
#39. My co-workers treat me in a positive
and accepting manner
Digital World-wide 5% 8% 88%
Storage 7% 8% 84%
#60. In the last week, I have praised
someone within Digital for doing a good job
Digital World-wide 9% 8% 82%
Storage 9% 7% 83%
#13. I have the right amount of independence
from my immediate manager to do my job
Digital World-wide 9% 7% 84%
Storage 10% 7% 83%
#63. I have a good understanding of
my customers' needs
Digital World-wide 5% 10% 86%
Storage 8% 13% 79%
#109. I understand the long term goals
of my own business unit
Storage 11% 13% 77%
THE TEN LOWEST SCORING SURVEY ITEMS
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#5. Processes and procedures at Digital
allow me to meet my customers' needs in
the most efficient manner
Digital World-wide 66% 16% 19%
Storage 55% 19% 26%
#34. Digital management does all it can to
make Digital a better place for us to work
Digital World-wide 55% 26% 19%
Storage 52% 27% 22%
#21. My immediate manager has helped me
develop realistic career goals
Digital World-wide 46% 23% 31%
Storage 50% 21% 29%
#65. Senior management has a clear sense
of direction for our Company
Digital World-wide 50% 33% 17%
Storage 49% 34% 16%
#40. Policies and decisions made by senior
management are always consistent with our
mission
Digital World-wide 50% 36% 15%
Storage 48% 36% 16%
#45. I feel the cooperation among
territories, areas, countries, functions
and corporate is excellent
Digital World-wide 56% 28% 15%
Storage 47% 36% 17%
#15. Senior management sticks to a decision
long enought to see if it will work
Digital World-wide 57% 28% 15%
Storage 47% 32% 20%
#57. Promotions in Digital are based
on performance
Digital World-wide 49% 26% 24%
Storage 47% 28% 25%
#3. Recognition at Digital is based on
performance
Digital World-wide 45% 20% 35%
Storage 46% 20% 35%
#70. I could clearly explain, to others,
the mission of Digital
Digital World-wide 37% 28% 36%
Storage 46% 26% 28%
{Digital Internal Use Only}
Distribution List - removed
|
| 3046.53 | | AXEL::FOLEY | Rebel without a Clue | Wed Jun 08 1994 16:10 | 10 |
|
So basically, 50-80% of Digital employees think that
DEC Management is sorely lacking in the capabilities to
run a business and satisfy our customers.
My apologies for my cynicism, really, but I wonder what kind
of spin will get put on this...
mike
|
| 3046.54 | I'll see your cynicism and raise you two | SMAUG::WADDINGTON | Brother, can you paradigm? | Wed Jun 08 1994 17:07 | 11 |
| > My apologies for my cynicism, really, but I wonder what kind
> of spin will get put on this...
How's about:
"After serious deliberation and careful review, the survey clearly
supports Digital's recent policy decisions. It clearly demonstrates
that we have 50-80% too many employees."
Rich
|
| 3046.55 | Another reason not to rely on VTX | TALLIS::CHERNOFF | | Mon Jun 13 1994 15:37 | 24 |
| I didn't complete the RENEW survey due to a lack of access to VTX. Why no
access, you ask? Well, I have in my office the two systems that have been
publicly stated to be DEC's system offerings of the future: an Alpha running
OSF/1 and another running Windows NT. They both run TCP/IP, not DECnet. There
are no officially supported or distributed VTX clients for either of thoses
systems, nor have I heard of any plans for them. So: the systems we recommend
to our customers, and the ones which we *should* be converting to in-house, have
no supported access to the corporate VTX system.
Now, since I'm replying to this note, and the header shows me as
TALLIS::CHERNOFF, there's a contradiction here. Not really; I never log in to
the VMS system known as TALLIS. I have had someone who understands VMS create a
procedure that I can invoke from my OSF/1 system that submits a job to the
TALLIS batch queue that runs a detached NOTES program and displays it back to my
workstation.
Also, many of you out there know what I do for this company: AXP migration
tools. And yes, I have taken the ULTRIX VTX client and run it through
DECmigrate (mx). And yes, it works flawlessly. So, I do have VTX access of a
sort. BUT it isn't supported or distributed within the company. That is my
complaint: that the VTX services are not officially available within the
company on the systems that it says are strategic for the company's future.
Just my $.02
|
| 3046.56 | | DRDAN::KALIKOW | No Federal Tacks on the Info Hwy! | Mon Jun 13 1994 15:47 | 7 |
| But surely the solution is not to extend VTX to OSF/1 and NT, but to
switch to more contemporary info dissemination tools? Your note
implied (well OK, I *inferred*) that you were in favor of being able to
access VTX directly from OSF/1 and/or NT...?
/Dan_co-holder_(with_Bob_Fleischer)_of_the_Brian_Reid_"VTX_Adjustment_Tool"
|
| 3046.57 | Sorry, a misimpression | TALLIS::CHERNOFF | | Mon Jun 13 1994 16:03 | 28 |
| Right. I approve of the VTX adjustment tool. It should get a good
workout, along with the NOTES adjustment tool and the DECnet
adjustment tool. BTW: don't use the funny :: style mail address you
see in the header. Use "[email protected]" instead. That's
what is listed in ELF, and that's the only address I respond to.
(Yah - we need and ELF adjustment tool, too, right?)
I apologize. You are correct, I didn't mean to support VTX. If it
died tomorrow in favor of a better (read "good") more modern tool, I'd
be a lot happier and more optimistic about things. I'm NOT in favor
of VTX. Kill it now, please.
The point of .-2 was that the company is relying on tools that are not
generally available.
The larger point, per Brian Reid's frequent argument, is that we're
using obsolete tools on obsolete systems, and nobody inside the
company is working to bring our internal infrastructure into the 90's.
How can we expect to understand our customers' needs if we don't
create an environment internally that resembles the one our customers
use?
Large corporate customers need tools that provide the features of VTX
and notes (another legacy product). If we don't force ourselves into
a situation where we feel the same needs (by cutting off VTX and notes
internally), how can we expect to build (or partner with someone to
build) the tools that will sell our system?
|
| 3046.58 | [email protected] | HOTAIR::ADAMS | Visualize Whirled Peas! | Mon Jun 13 1994 16:58 | 13 |
| re: past 3 notes
Thanks for articulating what I've been thinking for quite some time.
Next I'd like to see the end of the term "80x25". I know it'll be
around for a time, but, except for notes, I have GUI-based applications
for every information source I access. Eudora for e-mail, Trumpet for
news, FTP Client for FTP, Mosaic for most other info sources( Gopher,
WAIS, Archie, etc).
I think DECnet is a great protocol that has seen its day. I think
DECnet/OSI is, well, um, I'll get back to you on that one. :)
--- Gavin
|
| 3046.59 | rename Digital to "Home for Binary Challenged" | TROOA::MSCHNEIDER | What is the strategy this hour? | Mon Jun 13 1994 19:27 | 17 |
| What a binary company:
1980's DECnet, Notes, VTX .... good
TCP/IP .... bad
1990's DECnet, DECnet/OSI, Notes, VTX .... bad
TCP/IP, FTP, Mosaic .... good
How about these are all useful tools that we can use as appropriate. I
don't care what the underlying protocol is .... it's the tools that
make my live easier.
Regarding not being able to access the survey because of no VTX
interface on OSF/1 or WNT .... give me a break ... sometimes TELNET or
SET HOST is the right answer. That why I have a terminal emulation
program on my PC.
|
| 3046.60 | Old doesn't mean bad | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Tue Jun 14 1994 00:18 | 5 |
| Running Notes or VTX on a system that can run it and displaying it on your
desktop device is a perfect example of client/server in action. So, VTX *is*
available to you even though it doesn't actually execute on your desktop device.
Paul
|
| 3046.61 | | PLAYER::BROWNL | A-mazed on the info Highway! | Tue Jun 14 1994 05:53 | 11 |
| Yeah, but DrDan is correct (I infer!) We should be using more
up-to-date and platform "independant" means of disseminating and
collecting information. For instance, I'm struggling here trying to
read a bookreader "book" which refuses to display properly on my old
steam-driven VXT. Why not, I asked, convert it to HTML and WWW it? Far
too radical. This survey should have been done on the WEB too: what a
golden opportunity to open a *lot* of eyes to the information
revolution too many in DEC haven't heard about, and too many refuse to
acknowledge.
Laurie.
|
| 3046.62 | | KLAP::porter | justified and ancient | Tue Jun 14 1994 10:27 | 2 |
| SET HOST ... the networking paradigm of the 1970s !!
|
| 3046.63 | Heterogeneous world | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Tue Jun 14 1994 10:53 | 18 |
| re .61,
� This survey should have been done on the WEB too: what a golden opportunity to
� open a *lot* of eyes to the information revolution too many in DEC haven't
� heard about, and too many refuse to acknowledge.
This all demonstrates that at Digital, like in the real world, there is not
*one* platform consistently available to all. It's like the OPAL people putting
presentations in PowerPoint, assuming everyone has access to a PC, and with that
particular software running on it. Making the presentations available in
PostScript makes coverage more complete, but I suppose there are some people
without access to a PC with PowerPoint *and* no PostScript printer.
Digital is becoming like our customers in that we have lots of different systems
with lots of different applications and a common denominator is becoming hard to
find.
Paul
|
| 3046.64 | Reluctant disagreement with .61 and a bit with .63 too | DRDAN::KALIKOW | No Federal Tacks on the Info Hwy! | Tue Jun 14 1994 12:28 | 31 |
| ... label USE_VTX_FOR_NOW ...
.61> This survey should have been done on the WEB too ...
I don't usually differ with my friend Laurie but here I have to say
that when I first heard of this survey, and the timescale on which it
was to be executed, my first reaction was that VTX was the ONLY
platform that was even close to universal AT THAT TIME and given that
EMail responses were eliminated (for economic reasons as I recall -- it
would have been prohibitively expensive to validate and hand-transfer
all the data).
Now I know that there was some griping about the possibility of
"ballot-box-stuffing" with the VTX approach since there was no
proscription against multi-entries. However, I feel that the
incredibly boring and frustrating nature of both the questions and the
UI of the response medium ensures that only the most masochistic of
employees would be able to stand it twice. :-)
.63> ... lots of different systems with lots of different applications
and a common denominator is becoming hard to find.
That's one of the major reasons that the Web, and Mosaic/Lynx, are so
very attractive -- because NCSA and U. Kansas put together a set of
clients that cover, at one stroke, ALL - ALL - ALL of the major
platforms! Now all we need to do is deploy the SW and the TCP/IP
infrastructure, and the support and consulting for both, and we're home
free!
(-: did I say "free"?? well, not exactly... goto USE_VTX_FOR_NOW...:-)
|
| 3046.65 | | PLAYER::BROWNL | A-mazed on the info Highway! | Tue Jun 14 1994 12:30 | 3 |
| Yeah, good points Dan.
Laurie.
|
| 3046.66 | | LGP30::FLEISCHER | without vision the people perish (DTN 223-8576, MSO2-2/A2, IM&T) | Tue Jun 14 1994 14:47 | 27 |
| re Note 3046.62 by KLAP::porter:
> SET HOST ... the networking paradigm of the 1970s !!
I'll let that pass as long as you *assure* me that you
wouldn't say:
telnet ... the networking paradigm of the 1990s !!
Like the author of the "binary challenged" note above, I'm a
bit peeved by the attitudes of some that DECnet ==
automatically bad and TCP/IP == automatically good on all
counts.
I'm more concerned by those who describe Notes as a "legacy"
or somehow deficient compared with what the Internet uses.
It isn't. Even many of us who do a lot of internet stuff
still use Notes -- the internet stuff doesn't exactly replace
it. What probably *does* replace it, and go a good ways
farther in developing the paradigm, is Lotus Notes. (But
since it isn't free we'll probably never see it widely
deployed at Digital.)
Bob
P.S. VTX, on the other hand -- never mind, this note would
get deleted!
|
| 3046.67 | More-complete results | SSDEVO::PARRIS | RAID-5 vs. RAID-1: n+1 << 2n, in $$$ | Tue Jun 14 1994 15:12 | 598 |
| From: NAME: Charles Christ @SHR
FUNC: VP Storage Business Unit
TEL: DTN 237-3476 LOC SHR3-2/J16 <CHRIST.CHARLES AT A1 at SHRMSG at SHR>
Date: 06-Jun-1994
Posted-date: 06-Jun-1994
Precedence: 1
Subject: RENEW 94 SURVEY RESULTS 1
To: See Below
In our employee memo announcing the ten highest and lowest scoring
survey questions, we said that we would follow-up with a report to
managers that lists the results from every survey question. Further,
that interested employees could contact their manager to obtain a
copy.
Following is the detailed item-by-item report.
Regards,
Charlie Christ and Staff
Following are the overall results of the RENEW 94 Survey, comparing Storage's
responses to the rest of Digital.
The survey questions have been arranged into categories, so that questions
that ask about a similar theme will be found in that category. The response
scale on the survey was (Strongly Disagree); (Disagree); (Undecided);
(Agree); and (Strongly Agree). To make it easier to read this report,
we have combined the Strongly Disagree and Disagree into one column (Disagree);
and combined the Strongly Agree and Agree into an "Agree" column.
Category: COMMUNICATIONS
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#29. My immediate manager is available
when I need to talk to him/her
Digital World-wide 19% 12% 68%
Storage 21% 10% 69%
#31. My immediate manager listens to me
Digital World-wide 13% 16% 70%
Storage 15% 17% 68%
#38. The last time I asked my immediate
manager a questions, I got an answer
Digital World-wide 13% 10% 78%
Storage 13% 8% 78%
#14. I get enough information from my
immediate manager to do my job well
Digital World-wide 25% 18% 57%
Storage 26% 15% 60%
#23. I get enough information from
co-workers in my work unit to do my job well
Digital World-wide 13% 14% 73%
Storage 14% 12% 74%
Category: PERFORMANCE ORIENTATION
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#48. My immediate manager fairly
evaluates my performance
Digital World-wide 16% 27% 57%
Storage 19% 27% 55%
#52. I know what my immediate manager
expects of me
Digital World-wide 14% 16% 70%
Storage 17% 14% 70%
#44. My immediate manager has discussed my
work performance with me in the last 6 months
Digital World-wide 34% 8% 58%
Storage 44% 7% 49%
#8. During the last five working days, I
completed a task or assignment
Digital World-wide 6% 4% 89%
Storage 6% 4% 90%
#30. My immediate manager helps me remove
any barriers that get in the way of doing
my job well
Digital World-wide 21% 22% 57%
Storage 22% 20% 58%
#68. In general, meetings I attend help
me do my job better
Digital World-wide 32% 23% 45%
Storage 32% 20% 49%
#16. My immediate manager understands
what I do
Digital World-wide 21% 13% 65%
Storage 22% 13% 65%
Category: CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#63. I have a good understanding of
my customers' needs
Digital World-wide 5% 10% 86%
Storage 8% 13% 79%
#49. The people with whom I work respond
quickly to the needs of our customers
Digital World-wide 13% 16% 71%
Storage 9% 14% 77%
#43. During the last week, I have seen my
immediate manager do something that meets
the needs of our customers
Digital World-wide 24% 23% 53%
Storage 18% 19% 63%
#12. Whenever I need help with a customer,
I know whom to call within Digital for help
Digital World-wide 43% 16% 43%
Storage 40% 18% 42%
#18. I have the resources I need to meet
the needs of my customers
Digital World-wide 44% 18% 38%
Storage 34% 17% 49%
#53. My immediate manager always encourages
me to be honest with our customers
Digital World-wide 8% 17% 75%
Storage 10% 16% 74%
#5. Processes and procedures at Digital
allow me to meet my customers' needs in
the most efficient manner
Digital World-wide 66% 16% 19%
Storage 55% 19% 26%
#20. I have a good understanding of what
Digital has to offer our customers
Digital World-wide 22% 21% 57%
Storage 30% 23% 47%
Category: PERSONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#4. I have opportunities for advancement
within Digital
Digital World-wide 39% 25% 36%
Storage 33% 23% 45%
#57. Promotions in Digital are based
on performance
Digital World-wide 49% 26% 24%
Storage 47% 28% 25%
#21. My immediate manager has helped me
develop realistic career goals
Digital World-wide 46% 23% 31%
Storage 50% 21% 29%
#42. This last year, I have had
opportunities to learn and grow
Digital World-wide 21% 11% 67%
Storage 18% 10% 72%
#58. The job I am now in uses my
talents to their fullest
Digital World-wide 43% 18% 40%
Storage 45% 18% 37%
Category: TRUST
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#55. My immediate manager takes corrective
action when employees violate ethical standards
Digital World-wide 13% 33% 55%
Storage 19% 35% 46%
#65. Senior management has a clear sense
of direction for our Company
Digital World-wide 50% 33% 17%
Storage 49% 34% 16%
#28. When errors occur, the emphasis in our
work unit is on making it right instead of
assigning blame
Digital World-wide 15% 15% 70%
Storage 18% 15% 68%
#19. I trust my immediate manager
Digital World-wide 17% 18% 65%
Storage 20% 15% 64%
#56. I feel free to take risks in getting
my job done at Digital
Digital World-wide 24% 20% 57%
Storage 23% 20% 56%
#15. Senior management sticks to a decision
long enough to see if it will work
Digital World-wide 57% 28% 15%
Storage 47% 32% 20%
#41. I believe managers at Digital will use
the results of this survey in a positive way
Digital World-wide 25% 39% 36%
Storage 28% 39% 34%
#62. I feel free to express my thoughts,
feelings and ideas to my immediate manager
without fear of reprisal
Digital World-wide 20% 14% 65%
Storage 21% 12% 67%
#59. When I make a commitment to my
customer, I keep it
Digital World-wide 1% 3% 95%
Storage 1% 6% 93%
Category: RECOGNITION
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#47. My immediate manager emphasizes my
strengths rather than my weaknesses
Digital World-wide 17% 27% 56%
Storage 19% 25% 57%
#9. My immediate manager gives me praise
whenever I deserve it
Digital World-wide 30% 17% 53%
Storage 34% 15% 52%
#60. In the last week, I have praised
someone within Digital for doing a good job
Digital World-wide 9% 8% 82%
Storage 9% 7% 83%
#3. Recognition at Digital is based on
performance
Digital World-wide 45% 20% 35%
Storage 46% 20% 35%
Category: MISSION
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#72. I like coming to work each day
Digital World-wide 21% 21% 57%
Storage 22% 19% 59%
#40. Policies and decisions made by senior
management are always consistent with our
mission
Digital World-wide 50% 36% 15%
Storage 48% 36% 16%
#17. I am committed to senior management's
direction for Digital
Digital World-wide 13% 32% 54%
Storage 17% 36% 48%
#25. My immediate manager cares about me
as a person
Digital World-wide 15% 20% 64%
Storage 18% 19% 64%
#70. I could clearly explain, to others,
the mission of Digital
Digital World-wide 37% 28% 36%
Storage 46% 26% 28%
#2. Creating a positive work environment
is a vital part of Digital's mission
Digital World-wide 19% 11% 70%
Storage 23% 13% 64%
#54. I understand how my work contributes
to the Company's profitablility
Digital World-wide 7% 9% 84%
Storage 6% 8% 86%
Category: TEAMWORK
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#22. In the last week, I have told a co-worker
to let me know if I could help him or her
Digital World-wide 6% 5% 89%
Storage 6% 2% 92%
#39. My co-workers treat me in a positive
and accepting manner
Digital World-wide 5% 8% 88%
Storage 7% 8% 84%
#7. The last time I asked for someone in
another work unit for help, I got it
Digital World-wide 16% 10% 74%
Storage 14% 9% 77%
#46. The environment at Digital
supports teamwork
Digital World-wide 43% 22% 34%
Storage 37% 22% 40%
Category: TRAINING
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#1. The ongoing training that I receive
helps me do my job better
Digital World-wide 26% 14% 59%
Storage 26% 14% 60%
#37. The last training activity I completed
helped me increase my productivity
Digital World-wide 28% 19% 53%
Storage 31% 16% 53%
#36. Overall, our training programs are
meeting my expectations
Digital World-wide 48% 23% 30%
Storage 44% 23% 33%
Category: MANAGING PRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#27. My immediate manager is consistent
and predictable
Digital World-wide 20% 19% 61%
Storage 22% 19% 60%
#50. I am able to balance demands on my time
between my work life and my personal life
Digital World-wide 25% 11% 63%
Storage 23% 12% 65%
#24. My immediate manager involves me in
decisions which affect my job
Digital World-wide 28% 16% 55%
Storage 31% 14% 55%
#13. I have the right amount of independence
from my immediate manager to do my job
Digital World-wide 9% 7% 84%
Storage 10% 7% 83%
#69. I believe my efforts directly and
positively impact the success of my work unit
Digital World-wide 3% 7% 90%
Storage 4% 5% 92%
Category: FUTURE ORIENTATION
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#51. I plan to be working for Digital
one year from now
Digital World-wide 7% 24% 69%
Storage 7% 18% 75%
#71. I am very optimistic about my
future with Digital
Digital World-wide 44% 33% 23%
Storage 38% 31% 31%
#6. At Digital, we are developing products
and services that will allow us to be
successful well into the future
Digital World-wide 11% 29% 59%
Storage 11% 28% 61%
#32. I am aware of Digital's future
technical direction
Digital World-wide 27% 26% 48%
Storage 30% 29% 41%
Category: ENVIRONMENT
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#34. Digital management does all it can to
make Digital a better place for us to work
Digital World-wide 55% 26% 19%
Storage 52% 27% 22%
#73. The diversity of the people at Digital
is one strength of our organization
Digital World-wide 11% 21% 68%
Storage 16% 23% 61%
#66. I am treated with respect
Digital World-wide 11% 16% 71%
Storage 13% 15% 71%
#26. I am very loyal to Digital
Digital World-wide 7% 14% 79%
Storage 10% 16% 73%
#11. My immediate manager acts in accordance
with Digital's stated core values
Digital World-wide 16% 23% 62%
Storage 18% 22% 61%
#10. Senior management's behaviors are
consistent with Digital's stated core values
Digital World-wide 45% 35% 20%
Storage 43% 35% 22%
#64. My manager creates an environment where
diverse perspectives are valued and encouraged
Digital World-wide 19% 27% 55%
Storage 18% 25% 56%
Category: QUALITY
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#35. In the past week, I discovered a way
to prevent an error from happening in the future
Digital World-wide 21% 21% 58%
Storage 18% 20% 62%
#67. In the last month, I have seen a
person in senior management take action that
demonstrates his/her commitment to quality
Digital World-wide 40% 32% 28%
Storage 37% 32% 32%
#61. In the last week, I have seen my
immediate manager take action that
demonstrated his/her commitment to quality
Digital World-wide 21% 26% 52%
Storage 19% 22% 59%
#33. My co-workers are committed to
doing quality work
Digital World-wide 9% 15% 76%
Storage 12% 15% 73%
Category: RELATIONSHIP TO CORPORATE
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#49. I feel the cooperation among
territories, areas, countries, functions
and corporate is excellent
Digital World-wide 56% 28% 15%
Storage 47% 36% 17%
Category: STOARGE-SPECIFIC ITEMS
Response Percentages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disagree Und. Agree
#107. I understand the short term goals
of Storage
Storage 13% 15% 71%
#108. I understand the long term goals
of Storage
Storage 22% 26% 52%
#109. I understand the long term goals
of my own business unit
Storage 11% 13% 77%
#110. I understand the short term goals
of my own business unit
Storage 22% 22% 57%
#111. I would recommend Storage as a
good place to work
Storage 12% 22% 66%
#112. I feel that Storage management supports
equal opportunity for all employees
Storage 20% 21% 60%
#113. People in my business unit are
valued regardless of race, sex, religion
and other differences
Storage 12% 13% 75%
{Digital Internal Use Only}
To Distribution List:
<deleted>
|
| 3046.68 | mosaic is catching up with vtx | LEDER1::PETTENGILL | mulp | Tue Jun 14 1994 23:34 | 22 |
| VTX has supported PCs and unix as clients for years. And VTX has supported
GUIs for a while as well. And VTX has supported IP and DECnet for years.
The problem with VTX is
1. we charge money for it
2. internally character cell vtx was sufficiently satisfactory
that few bothered to upgrade to the more recent versions of vtx
So, let's see, You can use Mosaic with IP and with DECnet, the latter by
setting host to some node and using a character cell terminal interface
to get it displayed back to your terminal.
And the people who developed the original Mosiac have formed a company to do
the next generation Mosaic which they expect to make a lot of money on.
Which means that they must be planning to charge money for it. And if I'm
not mistaken, DEC has started selling Mosiac services for money. And I think
we're paying some other company for the Mosaic client that we are shipping.
I hope that somewhere along the way, someone makes Mosaic as easy to use
as VTX. Maybe VTX is less functional, but if I can't figure out how to
use 90% of Mosaic, I figure that that 90% detracts from the value.
|
| 3046.69 | | PLAYER::BROWNL | A-mazed on the info Highway! | Wed Jun 15 1994 07:44 | 8 |
| RE: .66
Agreed. I actually use Notes (via an excellent tool called NEWS-NOTES)
to read Internet News. I do this for several reasons including the
interface, the logical order of topic/replies, and the fact that I can
read NEWS into my notes conference in batch, overnight for later perusal.
Laurie.
|
| 3046.70 | Let's not be so quick to dump the traditionally useful | MOLAR::DELBALSO | I (spade) my (dogface) | Mon Jun 20 1994 11:58 | 20 |
| re: Dan, Anton, et. al.
re: VTX/DECnet/Notes/etc.
I work at home quite regularly, including just about every evening. My
choices for a connection from home originate with either -
1) A VT240
2) A GPX II running VAX/VMS V5.3 and DECWindows
3) An 11/23+ running RSTS/E (yes, Anton) or RSX-11/M+
No peecee. I ain't gonna spend my money on one and DIGITAL ain't gonna
provide me with one while we can't get enough to keep our developers
going.
If we don't stick to a certain core of tools which have some ability to
be accessed from "legacy" platforms/devices, a goodly portion of my
productivity would be lost. I'm probably not the only one sitting at home
with less-than-state-of-the-art tools.
-Jack
|
| 3046.71 | modern VTX | CARAFE::GOLDSTEIN | Global Village Idiot | Mon Jun 20 1994 12:57 | 13 |
| Just fer grins & chuckles, I did
HELP VTX
and noticed some nice command line switches. Since I have DECwindows,
I used
VTX/INT=DECWINDOWS
and came across a fairly nice GUI. I can use the old keypad, or I can
click on a "hot spot" (the numbered spots), and there are some pretty,
if unlabeled, icons on the bottom. This is in VTX5.0; our local
clusters are still at 4.0 and 4.1, and the current product is at least
6.0.
We internal users often don't even know what we have. And we surely
aren't using the technology we have to its limit.
|
| 3046.72 | Ughh | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Mon Jun 20 1994 13:40 | 4 |
| Do you mean there are still people out there running the character-cell version
of VTX? No wonder people complain about the interface!
Paul
|
| 3046.73 | YES! | SWAM2::WANTJE_RA | | Mon Jun 20 1994 13:50 | 12 |
| re: .72
Yes there are people running VTX with character call terminals. For
example, I am using a VT220 right now. I work on a customer site full
time, have a 2400 baud modem, VT220, and LA75. This is my normal
'Digital work Environment' at this site. I could, and accoasionally
do, bring in a lap top PC, but my access to E-net is still by a modem
over standard telephone lines.
I am not alone.
rww
|
| 3046.74 | Foot in mouth | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Mon Jun 20 1994 14:05 | 10 |
| I know those with terminals have to run the character cell interface. I was
surprised that those folks with workstations didn't know about the very nice VTX
Motif interface.
One reason why a workstation user might not know about the Motif interface is
that VTX runs the character cell interface even on a workstation. To its
credit, DEC Notes runs its Motif interface automatically if you are on a
workstation.
Paul
|
| 3046.75 | | NOTIME::SACKS | Gerald Sacks ZKO2-3/N30 DTN:381-2085 | Mon Jun 20 1994 14:20 | 5 |
| > To its
>credit, DEC Notes runs its Motif interface automatically if you are on a
>workstation.
Which is why my LOGIN.COM includes $ no*tes:==notes/nodecwindows
|
| 3046.76 | | OKFINE::KENAH | Every old sock meets an old shoe... | Mon Jun 20 1994 18:22 | 8 |
| >> To its
>>credit, DEC Notes runs its Motif interface automatically if you are on a
>>workstation.
>
>Which is why my LOGIN.COM includes $ no*tes:==notes/nodecwindows
Mine also -- what a hideous user interface.
|
| 3046.77 | Boy, is *this* a rathole! | FUNYET::ANDERSON | MmMmMyAlphaGeneration | Mon Jun 20 1994 18:28 | 5 |
| You can craft a beautiful interface to DEC Notes with a few changes to the
resource file. I've changed colors, shading, and fonts and have the choice, as
usual, of using the mouse or the keypad for traversing notes.
Paul
|
| 3046.78 | A service is not a tool | ULYSSE::FINKA | | Tue Jun 21 1994 04:49 | 14 |
| Re 3046.72
The trouble with VTX is that it too much links the services it provides to its
user-interfaces. This is not acceptable for a general information repository
and discourages integration and re-usability.
This applies to Notes as well. I don't know about WWW, however if the
information it provides can only be seen from a user-interface and cannot
simply be integrated into an application, then this is bad.
Very few people in this corporation do understand such problem. Almost none are
trying to solve it.
Cheers,
Jean
|