Although I established this blog page quite a while ago, I left Sun before I ever posted anything. Fortunately, the winds of change have blown me back and it seems apropos that, like my manager, I jot down some random thoughts now and again. If you are reading this, well, thank you first :) Second, though, it implies knowledge that Sun encourages this activity. That is the gist of my rambling for the day.
Many months ago, I ran across an article that talked about why ketchup hasn't fundamentally changed for such a long time. Now, I honestly don't ponder things of this nature regularly, but there was something in that article that percolated to the top of my thoughts yesterday as I was contemplating my first blog entry. The article can be found here: The Ketchup Conundrum. It is a lengthy article, but it was section four that struck me (and gave me enough keywords to find the article). That section goes into detail about what makes Heinz ketchup as popular as it is. Their ketchup contains a well engineered combination of ingredients that cause your taste buds to fire on all cylinders as it were.
Now, to bungee back to engineering, let us combine the concept of Heinz ketchup and some of Dan's thoughts about engineering and management, specifically the Rules For Engineering. What Dan gets, as well as the vast majority of folks at Sun, is that there is a set of talents and skills that make for great engineering. In fact, to take it one step further, it is also a combination of engineers, managers, and all the other facets of any engineering company that must be in the right balance in order to attain the proper force multiplier. When this is accomplished, the results can far exceed what other, more mediocre teams or companies can accomplish.
This, my friends, is what Sun gets. Don't get me wrong. It would be far too easy for me, being an employee of Sun, to simply gush on and on about what a fantastic company Sun is. That's not my point, though. There are many companies out there creating outstanding products with teams of extremely talented people. I haven't worked for that many companies over the years, but I've seen enough to know that there are definitely companies that do not grok this concept.
As talented engineers, managers, marketing people, or whatever your individual passions and skill sets are, you are likely challenged to outperform the expectations of your peers, your management, and especially yourself when you see others around you attempting to do the same thing. Sun is changing, just like everybody else. Sun has issues, just like any other company. Sun isn't perfect, but the fact that they do understand these concepts, from Jonathon Schwartz all the way down to those of us in the trenches, is the exact reason why I am pleased to be back.
Cheers,
David
