The computer revolution brought with it new methods of
getting work done—just look at today’s news for reports of hard-driven,
highly-motivated young software and online commerce developers who sacrifice
evenings and weekends to meet impossible deadlines. Tracy Kidder got a preview
of this world in the late 1970s when he observed the engineers of Data General
design and build a new 32-bit minicomputer in just one year. His thoughtful,
prescient book, The Soul of a New Machine, tells stories of 35-year-old
"veteran" engineers hiring recent college graduates and encouraging them to
work harder and faster on complex and difficult projects, exploiting the
youngsters' ignorance of normal scheduling processes while engendering a new
kind of work ethic.
These days, we are used to the "total commitment" philosophy of managing
technical creation, but Kidder was surprised and even a little alarmed at the
obsessions and compulsions he found. From in-house political struggles to
workers being permitted to tease management to marathon 24-hour work sessions,
The Soul of a New Machine explores concepts that already seem familiar, even
old-hat, less than 20 years later. Kidder plainly admires his subjects; while
he admits to hopeless confusion about their work, he finds their dedication
heroic. The reader wonders, though, what will become of it all, now and in the
future. —Rob Lightner