Senior information analyst

1984 to 1986

Overcoming discontent: I was a mercenary now. It was the eighties, business was booming and the money was good. I no longer thought about becoming ‘Joe great psychologist’. But, I wasn’t all that happy with what I was doing. Then I remembered advice I had received from a former IT director. He warned me against becoming a ‘technical guru’. He said it could make me obsolete real fast. The future was in ‘business apps’ .. not the latest device coming out of IT. He recommended that I learn as much as I can about business operations. Things like sales and shipping. However, I was in no position to learn business operations. I was spending most of my time solving day-to-day ‘technical’ problems. Meanwhile my colleagues with business degrees were already forming start-up companies. One colleague successfully developed software that could keep a company’s ‘haz mat’ instructions in-compliance. Another developed a method to help suppliers deliver composite materials with less spoilage. The people I saw getting ahead were the one’s using their knowledge of information technology to solve business problems, not technical problems, just like the IT director said.

Finance specialist

1986 to 1988

Creating opportunity: I felt like I was behind the curve and needed to catch up. I decided to take time out each day and go talk to people in other departments under the pretense of seeing how their computer system was working for them. I quickly discovered how much Accountants know about business operations. So, when a position opened up to work on accounting systems ..I took it! Then, when accounting needed someone to audit shipping and receiving operations ..I volunteered! At first my superiors in IT balked. So I convinced them we needed to generate ‘good will’ with accounting to get their ‘buy-in’ on future projects. Consequently, I got tapped to lead a project installing a new General Ledger system. When installation was complete, I felt like I had enough experience, as well as confidence, to make a career change. I applied for a position directly with Finance. It actually required more experience than I had, but the managers in Accounting felt like they had invested enough time in me already so they petitioned the General Manager to waive the ‘years of experience’ guideline and I got the job. This put me in a position to participate in a broader range of business activities. I got to analyze business operations, set budgets and report progress to the Controller’s office. Although I would eventually return to information services, I now had greater latitude in choosing jobs I wanted, as well as the possibility of creating my own.

Finance specialist

1987 to 1988

Finding the killer app: By 1987, Northrop was a major player in the aircraft industry and subcontracting most their work. However, their legacy computing systems were not handling the job of ‘subcontracting’ very well. A subcontract order is a collaborative effort between different organizations. It contains engineering specifications and financial schedules in addition to the terms and conditions worked out between buyer and seller. I felt ‘client server’ technology would be better suited to the task. Each organization could prepare it’s own section on a desktop computer (client) and submit it to a Subcontract Administrator. The Subcontract Administrator would assemble different sections, at their workstation (server), and create the completed agreement. It sounded like a ‘killer app’ to me. However, client server technology was relatively new and management considered it risky. I prepared a cost-benefit analysis showing how much money they could save by eliminating one nagging task – re-typing standard inspection-notes on every purchase order. In return, I received a small budget to build a working demonstration.

the story continues ~> [ link ]

Finance specialist

1987 to 1988

Promoting the killer app: There was only one person around who knew anything about client server technology. His name was Nick and he wasn’t even an employee. He was a consultant. Between Nick’s role as consultant, and my new role as spiky-hair manager, we were not able to find enough time to sit down and prepare a demonstration. Nor could I find a VP who was willing to sponsor the project and release us from our day-to-day responsibilities. However, Nick and I were sufficiently motivated to devote our own time to it. I was interested in making Director, which I figured a project of this magnitude would entail, and Nick was interested in making Partner at his Consulting Firm. So, on weekends we would commandeer a large table at a restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean and, over beer and clams, we proceeded to draw network plans, with crayons and paper tablecloths. Next, we found vendors willing to ‘buy-in’ and contribute networking equipment for free, or ‘on spec’, in hopes of receiving a substantial payoff later. It was this way we were able to produce a working demonstration and show Buyers they could publish a subcontract order on a desktop PC, something they had never seen before. The Buyer Workstation project was officially approved and we were awarded funding for limited-deployment. This meant we could roll-out Buyer Workstations in just few departments, mainly the ones that purchased general supplies (pencils, paper and whatnot). Not exactly what I had in mind, but they were playing it safe, the way conservative companies generally do.

the story continues ~> [ link ]

Manager

1988 to 1990

Reaching first base: I was promoted to Manager of General Procurement (not exactly what I had in mind) and Nick was promoted to Principle at his Consulting Firm (not exactly what he had in mind either). Nick’s firm, along with a growing network of suppliers, were willing to continue working ‘on spec’ with the hope of participating in a contract for full-scale deployment somewhere down the line. This arrangement, as I was about to discover, did not come without it’s own set of less-than-desirable ~ and in some cases ~ downright fucked-up consequences. Needless to say, there’s more to this tale [ link ].

Manager

1988 to 1990

Deploying the killer app: Being manager of general procurement meant that, in addition to buyer workstations, I was responsible for a department that bought office supplies. Definitely not what I had in mind. While some of us were stocking supply cabinets, others were ordering network equipment. Nick was setting up buyer workstations and purchasing agents were dealing with network suppliers to see how long we could avoid paying them. In the meantime, I was playing a shell-game to cover expenses and routinely dealing with Nick’s account manager to see how long I could avoid paying him. Accounts payable was calling me every week about unpaid invoices. Controllers were calling me everyday to get budget estimates and a spreadsheet was telling me I owed $1,250,000 in network supplies and consulting fees. In addition, my boss was on my case every half-hour about performance reviews ..and the cafeteria was complaining that they were low on salt.

the saga continues ~> [ link ]

Manager

1988 to 1990

Stealing second: I felt like I was trying to manage chaos. Then, after less than a year, Northrop announces a re-organization. They’re combining departments and eliminating levels of management. Since I was the newest kid on the block, I was on the phone with recruiters almost every day. Everyone was panicking. No one knew where the chips were going to fall. Even though I had submitted my budget plan, it was frozen. Then ka-boom, they decide to retain managers based on a system of merit rather than seniority (and it helped that I had a college degree which many of the senior managers didn't). What didn’t help was that many of those senior managers were now reporting to me and I had no idea how to deal with it. I was responsible for departments I’d never heard of: Facilities (building and maintenance. Record Keeping (document retention), Security, Video Teleconferencing (cool) and Data Entry. Basically every department except the ones I thought would benefit most from buyer workstations, which is what started me down this path in the first place. In the words of Karen Blixen “This is not what I thought would happen to me now.”

and continues ~> [ link ]

Manager

1988 to 1990

Fallout: The former head of security (who reports to me now) wants permission to go undercover and bust an industrial spy ring ..operating out of Las Vegas. The next day his wife appears and pleads with me to turn down this request ..she warns me not to believe a word he says. My boss hires Rick, an expert in network computing, to help me with buyer workstations. When it turns out that Rick knows squat about network computing and refuses to do any other assignment I can think of; I initiate steps to have him either transferred or fired. When my boss finds out about this, he tells me not to worry and promptly puts Rick on his administrative staff. When members of my staff find out, I have a morale problem because it looks like the price for doing nothing is a promotion. Later, my boss asks me to do Rick’s performance review (because he still reports to me on paper). I refuse. Next my boss asks me to sign one that he wrote .. and I refuse. This time he threatens to fire me . I tell him to go ahead ~ my first ever act of brinkmanship. Shortly thereafter, funding for buyer workstations gets slashed ..and the consulting firm, as well as all the network suppliers, threaten to sue (I owe them over two and a half million dollars now). I feel like the buyer workstation project is doomed. Late one afternoon, I’m sitting at my desk making out a requisition for a gun to shoot myself, when the secretary asks if I want to take a call from someone in Santa Barbara. I had sent my resume there before the reorganization ~ flash ~ I’m looking out the window of my new office in Santa Barbara ~ deer are grazing in a nearby eucalyptus grove and I can walk to the beach for lunch. A former colleague from Northrop calls and asks how I’m doing. I tell him I feel like a kid at summer camp.