[geomark]

I was a manager in a nearly identical situation. I had 5 engineers working for me at a remote office. The "curve" had not been used in past years. Now they insisted on applying it. Since 4 out of 5 had substantially exceeded their goals it would have been a lie to state that any of them had not met expectations. So I told my boss no, I'm not doing it. You can take whatever raise you planned for me and spread it across my direct reports (unstated was that I would almost certainly quit as a result). Or you can fire me for insubordination. He ran that back up the chain of command. Apparently I wasn't the only middle manager who refused to do it, as senior management ended up rescinding the order.

Moral of the story: If you are a middle manager then grow a backbone.

[pklausler]

(I think this is a true story, but it was somewhat before my time.)

Control Data decided to lay off 10% of its employees, and to do so across the board. Seymour Cray had a group of only 20 engineers in his lean development group in Chippewa Falls, so they told him to fire two. So he and Les Davis, his right-hand man, quit and started Cray Research.

[kQq9oHeAz6wLLS]

"March 1972 an appalling rumor swept through the hallways at Control Data--Seymour Cray had resigned! The rumor was quickly confirmed by a press release. The press release was worded carefully to soothe investor fears. Seymour was reported to be "phasing out" of full-time employment with Control Data It was emphasized that development would continue at the Chippewa Lab. Trading in Control Data stock was briefly suspended. Old-timers who had followed Seymour's career since his Univac days, many of whom had worked with him at Chippewa, were skeptical of the official statements. What could have caused Seymour to resign? He was, of course, a wealthy man from his stock holdings and could do what he wished. But because he had always done just exactly what he pleased at Chippewa, why should he resign to seek more freedom as his own boss? The statement in the press release simply did not make sense. Two rumors told to me at the time may have no truth whatsoever, but they do capture the flavor of the suspicions of many employees.

The first story concerns a Control Data senior financial executive who one day reportedly called Seymour at Chippewa Falls and told him that the lab budget would have to be cut by 10 percent. The Chippewa Lab, with its thirty-odd employees was certainly the most cost-effective computer development facility in the world. Certainly it was the envy of IBM, as attested to by the Watson memo described earlier. Seymour reportedly replied, "Fine, cut me and Les Davis out of the budget" and hung up the phone. This rumor was given credibility by the continuing budget crunches and by the fact that Les Davis, Seymour's chief assistant did resign and join Seymour in his new venture.

The second story was told to me by a friend who had worked at the Chippewa Lab. He met Seymour in the hallway at headquarters one day. Knowing that Seymour hated being away from his work at Chippewa, he asked him what he was doing at headquarters. Seymour replied that he had been asked to serve on a senior technical task force that had been convened to recommend the future direction of computer development at Control Data Seymour intensely disliked meetings and task forces, but he agreed to serve because he had been personally assured by a very senior executive that the recommendation of the task force was vital to the future of the corporation. The task force of seven members met for some weeks and concluded that the design direction being taken by the model 8600 (the newest machine under development at Chippewa, successor to the model 7600) was indeed the best architecture for future CDC computers. Just before the final report was submitted, the members of the task force received memos from a second senior executive thanking them for their efforts and stating that the corporation had elected to go in a different design direction. Seymour immediately resigned."

From "A Few Good Men From UNIVAC"

[beezle]

Still have my dad's "Programming Univac Systems Instruction Manual 1" from 1953 when he started working for Sperry Rand. 1950s-1960s must have been a phenomenal time to work in the nascent computing industry.

[koolba]

> If you are a middle manager then grow a backbone.

This applies more generally even if you’re not managing people. Particularly as most corporate cogs are programmed to avoid confrontation. You’re more likely to get someone who respects your principles or someone who just bends over than an incalcitrant “no”.

[thewileyone]

I put together performance metrics that showed my team members were less than 5% deviation from each other, thus I couldn't grade on the curve. HR couldn't argue against that.

[ramphastidae]

Thank you for doing that.

[achalkley]

This.