7 Comments

Curious about the social climate. You can't get productivity through mission and guidelines. You have to create an ethos, friendships, encouragement, collaboration, etc.

Expand full comment

So no DEI then...? 😂

Expand full comment

BL was also very good at serendipity

MSM: If you look back on it from a point of view of manager, is UNIX the sort of thing that management can make happen?

Morgan: No. You can't make it happen. You hire bright people, provide them with a stimulating environment. And you do selective pruning and encouragement of what they undertake.

https://doc.cat-v.org/unix/oral-history/transcripts/morgan.htm

Expand full comment

Microsoft Research (MSR) is a similar and still operating industrial lab. We use the Pasteur’s Quadrant framework to guide tesseract focus, with an emphasis on the namesake quadrant. MSR has been and remains an engine of invention and innovation at Microsoft since it's inception 30 years ago. It played a role in every case study of our new book, The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft. We break down how the research side of the company collaborates with the engineering and business side, and provide a new framework to guide what we call "around the block" initiatives. The current GenAI transformation is one such initiative. I think you'd really enjoy the book! Check it out. All proceeds are going to #STEAM education charities.

Expand full comment

The systems engineer idea is really interesting. Something we’ve been thinking about a lot at our startup lately

Expand full comment

OK I see that you have an arrangement and get an attribution. So if we're aggregating, let me put in a word for this Nature piece: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-022-00426-6

Expand full comment

Do you mind that this guy did this or do you have an arrangement? https://goodscience.substack.com/p/how-did-places-like-bell-labs-know

Expand full comment