Xerox

SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCES

Xerox Corporation, Printing Systems, Systems Analyst. El Segundo, California.

August 1983 - January 1985.
I started to work at Xerox on August first. This was literally immediately after I left Arizona-- I had only a two week break to move find a place to stay and get settled before I started.
From the beginning, the job was 'very flexible'. I was hired to manage the 'new' local area network being installed. The manager I was to work for put in his notice the day I started so I ended up supporting the Finance group. This was a lot of fun (not) but I did learn a great deal about my least favorite aspect of business.
After a short while a project came up to support Marketing. While this is also not one of my favorite parts of the business, it was at least a chance to get out of Finance. The project entailed programatically proving that the Xerox high-end laser printers were a better buy than other systems then available. Of course, since we had to go into internal rates of return and net present value calculations this was actually not the case-- but the program did 'prove' it was better to buy the Xerox if you planned on keeping it for more than five years. The project also gave me my first chance at a business trip-- to London! I had to spend a week just before Christmas training the UK development team on what I had done so they could make it useful in Europe-- it was a lot of fun.
After that, I was back to Finance and working with Accounts Payable. It was a good learning experience, especially from my boss at the time. I've come to realize that you learn the most from bad examples. I've found that it's easier to notice what NOT to do, than what TO do. I learned a lot from my manager in Xerox Finance....

Xerox Corporation, Printing Systems, Telecommunications Analyst. El Segundo, California.

January 1985 - June 1987.
After about a year working in Finance on developing software applications on the Xerox 820 Personal Computer I was asked to work with our mainframe operations group on the connections we used in Finance to the host computers. After explaining that I had no training or experience in this area, I was informed that while that may be the case, I had become the 'resident expert'. Needless to say, a sad state of affairs.
So, I picked myself up and proceeded to learn everything I could about IBM 3025s, PCL protocol converters, teletype terminals, modems, wiring, phone systems, etc., etc., etc. It took some time, but I was finally able to learn enough to get back into the job I was originally hired for-- network administration
Of course, that would have to be on my own time, but was still expected. I worked crazy hours for about a year before I went to my new boss and explained that we needed a staff to do this stuff. He agreed, so we hired three more people to do what I had been doing alone-- and I became their manager.

Xerox Corporation, Printing Systems, Systems Manager. El Segundo, California.

June 1987 - April 1989.
As a manager, I began to build my 'empire' and was soon managing not only the telecommunications staff, but also several systems development teams. That's when I learned that having and 'empire' isn't all it's cracked up to be! I soon found that I could do just fine with a small group of support folks and a small team of developers, and still have time to test out new versions of the Xerox LAN applications All this testing finally paid off when I was offered a position working for the Office Systems group in Northern California-- when I had always wanted to live.

Xerox Corporation, Office Systems, Software Development Manager. Sunnyvale/Palo Alto, California.

April 1989 - December 1991.
So after testing the software for several years, I was now responsible for building and delivering it. I certainly got a better appreciation for all those bugs I had found while testing this stuff, that's for sure!
Eventually, I was given responsibility for my own development team and could now influence the product even more, or so I thought. I started working on the mail system and eventually was responsible for porting the entire system off the Xerox proprietary platform to the Intel PC platform. It was a great experience and we had a lot of fun working with some of the best, most highly motivated developers I have ever known.
Unfortunately, nothing this good could last forever, and as soon as the product was launched the team was split up and most of them left the company. I should have seen the handwriting on the wall.

Xerox Corporation, XSoft, Product Program Manager. Palo Alto, California.

December 1991 - May 1993.
After losing most of my team I decided to take a crack at product management. Of course, this was not enough, in and of itself, I was also responsible for the development, testing and documentation teams in addition to the 'normal' job of product direction, packaging and launch. It was a good experience but one I hope never to repeat.
As you can imagine, when the chance to be the Division Information Officer came along, I jumped at the chance.

Xerox Corporation, XSoft, Division Information Officer. Palo Alto, California.

May 1993 - February 1995.
Getting back in the network administration and system support was like going home. I was able to gather a team that could and would do the job and we eventually got the user community to a point where they were very self-sufficient. This not only saved us time but also got the users back up faster because most of their problems they could resolve themselves.
In addition to my work with XSoft, I was also a part of the Information Systems board of Xerox. Most of my time in this area was in preparing for outsourcing most of our activities-- an idea that was great for some groups and a disaster for others. Unfortunately for those others, in large corporations, what's good for the majority WILL be made to work for all!
As time went on, the reduced need for our support, the increased pressure to outsource everything and the need to reduce expenses caught up with us. In a casual statement to my boss at the time, I shared my view that since the division had done without MIS for so long before my group was formed, if we really needed to reduce expenses why not just get rid of the whole team? Note the old addage-- be careful what you wish for, your wishes may come true-- it did.
At the end of 1994, part of my team was outsourced, part was absorbed into development and part (my part) were given a package and sent on our way.
So ended some eleven years of dedicated work for Xerox and began my search for another company that could appreciate my talents... Lotus .