A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

96
 1 INSIDE HP: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF HEWLETT-PACKARD FROM 1939  1990  by John Minck Introduction I started writing some parts of t his back in the early 1980‘s,  because I felt that it might be useful for new employees of HP (and later Agilent) to know more about the early culture of ourcompany. During my 37 years with HP , I had always felt very privileged to have been offered employment here i n 1957. Immodestly, this narrative contains a lot of personal experiences and even some non-HP stories of my li fe and times, although my Life and Times life narrative is another long document. When you finish reading all of this you may think I should have sub-titled it Hewlett-Packard and Me. Leading up to the 1980‘s, the company had reached some growth years when we hired thousands of new employees each year, with perhaps hundreds of them as engineers and field sales people. As I gave orientation l ectures to new employees in our Stanford Park Division, on ho w our customers used our equipment, or to neophyte field sales engineers from all over the world, I found a tremendous interest in the company‘s past history. I often led auto trips down to Dave and Bill‘s first garage on Addison Avenue, in downtown Palo Alto. By the 1980‘s, Hewlett-Packard had become a business  phenomenon. The company's external success and its internal workings had caught the fancy of the nation‘s business press, as well as the popular Bay Area press. Management texts and conferences began to contain frequent references to HP's organizational and business strategies and tactics. Tom P eter's 1982 book, "In Search of Excellence,"  gave high marks to HP for our ability to organize and to innovate, both in products and our work culture. All of us who worked at HP in those years had become very  proud of this recognition. It was a great ego-booster, to  belong to a winning team, and HP was a winner, in products and profits and performance. But, in 1985, HP was a lot more than a successful multi- national corporation, with over 82,000 people, hundreds,  perhaps thousands of buildings, and more than 1000 acres of floor space unde r roof. It was the place wher e we employees spent about a third of our waking hours. And next to our family and friends, HP was often the most important thing in our lives. For some, it may actually have been THE most important thing. I recall a late evening in the early 1960‘s, I was working on some midnight project, in Bldg 5U, and using the copying machine, when I ran into Carl Anderson. At that time, Carl was managing some corporate promotion and catalog functions. Go home, Carl!I said, and he answered, I am home; once in a while, I go to my house.(When I retired in 1995, I remember explaining to my friends that I was feeling  pretty-much adrift--not having any hobbies to fall back on   since, in a real sense, I am what I do.) That's the whole point to this monograph. The HP Company culture, down at the people level, has been mentioned  positively in most of the flattering articles about us. The management philosophy coined by Bill Hewlett or Dave Packard, "The HP Way,"  has been described and analyzed a lot over the years. Those many i ndustry authors would analyze our processes and organizational details of how we worked with each other in a spirit of openness and cooperation. My memories are rich and full. I've visited hundreds of customer plants in my 37 years with HP, and have probably talked with a thousand customers in their workplaces as well as at trade shows and conferences. In those disc ussions, a lot comes out about the working cult ures in those other companies. What I found was that t here are almost no workplaces that matched HP in overall friendliness and spirit and personal relationships. I could walk down t o the desk of a lab engineer, and ask for a half hour of microwave tutorial to help solve a customer problem. There would be no hesitation, nor would they worry about someone stealing credit for something they created. There were many companies I visited, where engineers held everything technical very close to their office, since there were so many cases where others would steal their clever ideas as their own. But, in the 199 0‘s, that very style of openness (and of course, the business acumen) that had created our successes threatened to bury us in a continuing growth that might have overwhelmed the personal "feel" of the company we o nce were. By the time of the spinoff of the Agilent product line, HP had become a giant, powerful, and imposing corporation. For the tens of thousands of new employees who have joined HP and Agilent in the recent years, from a worldwide diversity of cultures, I felt that this story about some of the early HP personalities would be interesting, as well as  perhaps useful. By meeting some of these engaging  personalities, we could see that the present HP/Agilent  business culture has its roots in a long line of HP employees. Like any shared human endeavor, these early characters are diverse and interesting. All the human strengths and weaknesses are there, but there is a good-nature to them. They get along. They work as a team. They have fun working together. There is no caution or distrust in dealing with each other. With the spinoff of Agilent Technologies, of the Test and Measurement, Health and Chemical sectors in 1999, we hoped that most of the early HP culture would transfer to the new entity. But surely, as the HP corporation continues to  branch further into computer, PC and Internet cultures, some sense of its HP Way roots will remain, just as do some thousands of senior employees who have stayed with the computer part of HP. Even as the Compaq merger consolidation goes forward, the HP Way will metamorphose, to guide the company that Bill and Dave founded. I believe

Transcript of A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 1/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 2/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 3/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 4/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 5/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 6/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 7/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 8/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 9/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 10/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 11/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 12/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 13/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 14/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 15/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 16/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 17/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 18/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 19/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 20/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 21/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 22/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 23/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 24/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 25/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 26/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 27/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 28/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 29/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 30/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 31/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 32/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 33/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 34/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 35/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 36/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 37/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 38/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 39/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 40/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 41/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 42/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 43/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 44/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 45/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 46/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 47/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 48/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 49/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 50/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 51/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 52/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 53/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 54/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 55/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 56/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 57/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 58/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 59/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 60/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 61/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 62/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 63/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 64/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 65/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 66/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 67/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 68/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 69/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 70/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 71/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 72/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 73/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 74/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 75/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 76/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 77/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 78/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 79/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 80/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 81/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 82/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 83/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 84/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 85/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 86/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 87/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 88/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 89/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 90/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 91/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 92/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 93/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 94/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 95/96

8/10/2019 A Narrative History of Hewlett-packard From 1939–1990

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-narrative-history-of-hewlett-packard-from-19391990 96/96