An insiders' exuberant, albeit candid, account of how a backwater outpost in IBM's empire managed to overcome its shortcomings and produce a new family of computers that not only proved a bestseller but also earned its creators a prestigious Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. Bauer and his associates were all involved in the Silverlake Project, a crash program undertaken in the mid-1980's by Big Blue's Rochester, Minn., unit to retrieve its flagging fortunes in mid- range systems—a protean category encompassing machines whose price tags run from $15,000 to $1 million apiece. At the outset, according to the authors, the outlook was bleak, mainly because IBM Rochester had lost touch with its prospects as well as customers and was turning out hardware designed to please in-house engineers. By applying a ten-point set of operating principles, however, the facility was able to build and introduce the AS/400 series in just 28 months (against a normal cycle of five or more years). Among other valuable insights gained from the project, the authors cite visionary leadership, empowerment of employees, and close working relationships with buyers. By their account, error-free design, market research, and realistic priorities are also musts if schedules are to be met and goals achieved. IBM Rochester clearly did a lot of things right, since AS/400 revenues alone would make it the world's second largest computer enterprise (trailing only the parent organization). Whether the lessons to be learned from the Silverlake Project are applicable to other concerns lacking Big Blue's researchers is an open question. There's real interest, though, in the possibility that Rochester could serve as a paradigm for the restructuring to which IBM publicly committed itself last November. (Two dozen line- cuts.)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-19-506754-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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