Let the good times roll

Working for five years in the Product Planning and Management organization of NEC's U.S. computer division was an awesome, exhilirating, and eye-opening experience. I learned so much about computer and networking technology, product planning, project management, and leadership. I had the most fun I'd ever had. The people I worked with were intelligent, collaborative, and really enjoyable to work with. Sure, there were exceptions to the rule, every so often a bad egg showed up, but they usually didn't last long and they were the exception rather than the rule..... I've lost track of how many generations of server, desktop, and consumer personal computers I developed during this time frame, but I sure enjoyed the work and the peope. It was exciting and rewarding. The good times had arrived....

The side benefits were great, too - many business trips to visit strategic technology partners, prospective vendors, hardware suppliers, and independent software vendors in California, Washington, Texas, Florida and other places. These road trips usually involved travelling with other team members from marketing and purchasing groups, and everyone had such a great team spirit. We all worked well together. I remember this one trip during the late fall or early winter, we were trying to confirm our selection of some specific components and manufacturers on the next generation of consumer desktop personal computers. Everybody wanted to get in on the action, all the different department heads wanted to have representation, nobody wanted to feel left out. So there we were, at some swank dinner restaurant by the marina in some nondescript seaside town in Southern California - fourteen NEC engineers, product planners, project managers, marketeers, and purchasers, and only two salesmen and a lone marketing guy from the vendor. Enjoying the warm weather, taking it all in after a busy day of non-stop meetings and negotiations. A few appetizers and pre-meals drinks later, I leaned over to my immediate supervision and whispered "We're picking up the tab, right? You're not going to stick them with a large bill like this, are you?" to which he replied "No problem, I'm sure our budget will cover it." So I guess maybe one or two engineers went overboard with extra appetizers (or something!), because the bill came out much higher than expected...... But we still picked up the tab, because we were ethical and didn't want the vendor to get stuck with an unfairly large restaurant tab just because we brought along "a few" extra experts to help close the deal.....

Another time I was flying between Boston and Huntsville, Alabama more times than I could keep track of. I was spinning up a contract manufacturing plant that would produce a a new generation of consumer PC. We were talking tens of thousands of units a month in volume, so it was important that everything was done in accordance with NEC's policies and procedures and all the technical specifications were met. I'd already had previous trips to Huntsville where there were no cars at the rental car lots, even though I had reservations. What good is a guaranteed reservation if it can't be fulfilled with a car? I even had one trip where I checked into a hotel late at night, was given my key, and as I opened to the door to what I thought was my hotel room I saw two baffled middle-aged women sitting in their pajamas watching television looking horrified at the stranger who just opened their door! I don't know who was scared worse, them or me. but nothing prepared me for the following exchange at hotel in Hunstville at about 11:00pm on a week night.

"I'd like to check in, please. Reservations for Phillips," I said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, one moment please..... Oh, I see it here. Here's your reservation. Sorry, we don't have any more rooms," the man behind the front desk said.
"But I have a guaranteed reservation," I said, "its guaranteed."
"Yes, well, I'm terribly sorry, but we don't have any more rooms," he replied.
"There must be some mistake, I have a guaranteed reservation that's guaranteed for late arrivals," I offered hopefully.
"I understand that, sir," the front desk clerk said, "but I'm afraid we can't honor it."
"Then what does having a guaranteed reservation mean around here?" now I was getting huffy.
"Well," he said, "it means you are guaranteed a reservation for a room, but I'm terribly sorry that we don't have a room to offer you, they are all taken."
"You have not a single room available in this whole wide big hotel?"
"No, sir."
"Not a single room? I find that hard to believe. What do you expect me to do? Its almost midnight, I just flew in after working all day, and I'd really like to get some sleep before my meetings in the morning," I suggested plaintively, figuring compassion was in order here.
"Well, actually, we have a conference room suite that has a sofa with a roll-away-bed. Would that work for you?" he offered.
"I'll take it. " I replied, and I was off to a fitful night of uneasy sleep in a huge conference room on a small sofa bed. Lucky for me it had a bathroom complete with shower.....

So aside from a few bumps along the road, everything was rather pleasant. Cool products, cool work environment, cool colleagues. What's not to like? Let the good times roll...... I can honestly say those five years working in the Product Planning and Management organization of NEC's U.S. computer division were the happiest five years of my professional life so far. Thanks for the memories, everyone, you know who you are.....