In his book The Design of Design, Frederick Brooks describes his most productive decision as a manager at IBM.
My most productive single act as an IBM manager had nothing to do with product development. It was sending a promising engineer to go as a full-time IBM employee in mid-career to the University of Michigan to get a PhD. This action … had a payoff for IBM beyond my wildest dreams.
That engineer was E. F. Codd, father of relational databases.
Related post:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Daniel Lemire 04.12.10 at 10:45
There are some great quotes in this book. Following one of your previous posts, I bought the book and I’m reading it.
I’m amazed to find confirmation for everything I already believe. It is like Brooks and I have shared an identical experience… (And no, I never worked at IBM.)
It could have been better edited though. At times, it feels a bit like reading a blog. But I guess the informal character of the book is part of its charm.