John, All on the list,
On Sat, 2005-04-30 at 12:17 -0400, John Darwin Powers wrote:
> The issue with Agilent and the BAMA site have been happily resolved.
> Many thanks to Mr. Simon and Mr. Gallagher of Agilent for their
> favorable decision. I'm sure that there are several unnamed people who
> contributed in a positive way, and helped Agilent understand the
> importance of the HP heritage as something that is not only in the
> past, but continues on today with a vibrant existence.
That is what HP once was - when it was Hewlett-Packard and not the
now newly named HP Invent. The original HP is, when you look at the
first products that left HP, now Agilent.
> It was
> interesting to see how many people referenced the educational value of
> the documentation, and like myself, have enriched their knowledge of
> electronics by studying the manuals and HP's technique(s) of design.
> In my mind, the three most important reasons to have open access to the
> material is education, personal science, and amateur radio. Other
> people may have different opinions, including those that argue for
> customer loyalty ... once HP always HP(Agilent).
Exactly - and I was an employee of HP for more than 12 years.
> Curse Carley for the
> last.
Well, she made me leave HP. Because HP was forced to be HP Invent and
no more allowed to be Hewlett-Packard.
when she left (ahem, was forced finally to resign) many sites went
into celebrating this - spontaneously, immediately!
Carly broke down HP. She did what no employee really wanted. And she
lost - but HP is broken in a way that there's no way back.
> Most of you may be familiar with the Collins Collector
> Association. A site that is (I believe) "blessed" by Collins, and
> presents their old technology in a very organized and professional
> manner. Would it not be beneficial to HP/Agilent to maybe ask the HP
> foundation to fund an organization to preserve the heritage of Bill and
> Dave by supporting a site like Collins? Not only to remember the
> people, but also the equipment the the people made famous? The way
> things appear to be going, in lets say fifty years, how much of the
> real HP will people remember? Anyway, it's just a crazy idea.
No, this is definitely a quite good idea. It might be more than
welcomed by the foundation!
>
> Also, maybe this question is not appropriate for this site, but I have
> a question that can only be answered with an opinion. Was the breakup
> of HP really necessary, and has it helped or hindered HP and Agilent?
>
My own, opiniated answer:
No. I was into the financials at that time working in Germany. No, it
was not necessary. But this was not Carly's fault. This happened before
she came. HP wanted to be IBM or even better. That was the former
strategy. But then Bill and Dave left the company in terms of active
involvement and things got worse. Strategy changed and external
consultants brought in ideas that haven't been checked against the
original idea of HP as thought of by Bill and Dave. This was the
beginning of the breakdown.
Dividing HP and Agilent amounted to a cost figure of US$ 240 Million!
That's 240.000.000,00 US$. A lot could have been done with money to
cure the situation of the Test & Measurement Business Unit.
Carly was the first CEO to neglect the heritage and the basic principles
and drove HP to be a "0815 company" (as we say in Germany) - meaning
HP to be just another company with no own identity.
> Thank you.
>
Thank you - you made me say some things I wanted to say already for
quite a long time. Today, I run my own company and the basic ideas
and management principles are directly based on the HP Way.
> John
>
Cheers,
Frank DG1SBG
PRION Consulting, Germany
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