[TUHS] Re: Honor declined

[segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org>]

On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 at 3:55 PM, Ken Thompson <kenbob@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 1:45 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 at 11:53 AM, Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> > 
> > > After Multics, I ran interference to keep our once-burned higher management from frowning too much on further operating-system research.
> > >
> > > Doug
> > 
> > This alone is an all-too-valuable skill that contributes to the cultural success of countless projects. Great ideas can too often die on the vine when the upper echelons have quite different opinions of where time and effort should be placed, and I am glad that in my own career I likewise work with understanding immediate supervisors and business analysts that go to bat for our needs and concerns. The importance of a supportive workplace culture in which work is genuinely valued and defended cannot be understated.
> > 
> > - Matt G.
>
> unix was written in c, c was written in b, b was written in tmg,and doug wrote tmg. it is all his fault.
> 
> 

Ken, your modesty is showing :)

I feel the same way about big things I'm working on in my day job.  No matter how much folks try to laud me as our architect, nothing I did would exist without what my supervisor years and years ago handed me to start with before he moved on to greener pastures.  Invention will always be a group effort, I'm just so glad this particular group effort (re: UNIX) has and continues to have the impact that it does.

A former manager (and respected colleague) would often say "I'm rubber, you're glue, what you bounce off me sticks to you." and it took me a little bit to appreciate what I thought he meant, but even longer to realize that saying encompassed the good as well.

- Matt G.

P.S. Hey Dave, I Bcc'd you, discussions with folks here often remind me of your good advice and management.  Hope you're well, would love to hear from you if you see this!