Computer Legend Tom West
Posted by Mike on Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tom West was project manager whose early work developing small business computers for Data General Corp. made him into a legend of the computer industry.
As depicted in the Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 book “The Soul of a New Machine,” Mr. West drove his team of pocket-protected nerds through highly caffeinated 90-hour weeks in the late 1970s to develop a miniaturized descendant of the mainframe computer that saved the company.
Mr. West, who died May 19 at age 71, could be abrasive and imperious, but he spurred his team with slogans like, “Not everything worth doing is worth doing well.” He compared tech projects to pinball, where the prize for winning is another game—a new and more challenging project.
Leave a comment, and if you'd like your own picture to show up next to your comments, go get a gravatar!
