Book Review - In Search Of Stupidity (2nd Edition) by Merrill R. Chapman
Category Book Reviews
This is one of my favorite IT business strategy books out there... In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters, Second Edition by Merrill R. Chapman. It's amazing that people were paid millions to make these decisions and blunders.
Contents:
First Movers, First Mistakes: IBM Digital Research, Apple, and Microsoft
A Rather Nutty Tale: IBM and the PC Junior
Positioning Puzzlers: MicroPro and Microsoft
We Hate You, We Really Hate You: Ed Esber, Ashton-Tate, and Siebel Systems
The Idiot Piper: OS/2 and IBM
Frenchman Eats Frog, Chokes to Death: Borland and Philippe Kahn
Brands for the Burning: Intel, Motorola, and Google
From Godzilla to Gecko: The Long, Slow Decline of Novell
Ripping PR Yarns: Microsoft and Netscape
Purple Haze All Through My Brain: The Internet and ASP Busts
The Strange Case of Dr. Open and Mr. Proprietary
On Avoiding Stupidity
Stupid Analyses
Afterword: Stupid Development Tricks
Glossary of Terms
Selected Bibliography
Index
Chapman covers some of the most famous blunders of the high tech industry... How did Lotus 1-2-3, an industry standard, lose the battle to Microsoft Excel? How did OS/2, a technically superior operating system to Windows, end up dying a slow, agonizing death? What technical decisions led to Netscape's slide to irrelevance after creating the browser market? All of those are examined here in biting, satirical detail. I'll grant that there's an element of "everything's clear in hindsight" in play here. Kildall's decision not to talk with IBM about CP/M (and Microsoft's subsequent win with DOS) *did* define how the PC industry played out, but how many other "no show" meetings happened during that time that never resulted in anything? You can only add in the drama after the fact. But the important thing here is to observe and learn. Netscape's decision to completely rewrite their browser may have sounded OK at the time, but history shows that those types of technical decisions will likely kill your market share. As such, you should think about Netscape when some techie guru says that a rewrite of your cash-cow product is a good idea. It's not...
Even if you're not interested in the industry examples (and you should be), the writing is a pure pleasure. In what other tech book can you find a suggestion like "decreased drug use by industry executives might lead to clearer thinking" and "stupidity bites"? Chapman pulls absolutely no punches in his storytelling and analysis, and he has a excellent ability to turn a phrase and roast those corporate sacred cows. It's not often that I audibly chuckle or laugh when reading a book (especially a business or IT book). It happened a number of times here.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Here are plenty of examples of "doomed" companies who continued to pull the trigger in hopes of missing their foot the next time. Some time spent reading this book could help you figure out how to avoid being part of Search's 3rd edition.
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
This is one of my favorite IT business strategy books out there... In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters, Second Edition by Merrill R. Chapman. It's amazing that people were paid millions to make these decisions and blunders.
Contents:
First Movers, First Mistakes: IBM Digital Research, Apple, and Microsoft
A Rather Nutty Tale: IBM and the PC Junior
Positioning Puzzlers: MicroPro and Microsoft
We Hate You, We Really Hate You: Ed Esber, Ashton-Tate, and Siebel Systems
The Idiot Piper: OS/2 and IBM
Frenchman Eats Frog, Chokes to Death: Borland and Philippe Kahn
Brands for the Burning: Intel, Motorola, and Google
From Godzilla to Gecko: The Long, Slow Decline of Novell
Ripping PR Yarns: Microsoft and Netscape
Purple Haze All Through My Brain: The Internet and ASP Busts
The Strange Case of Dr. Open and Mr. Proprietary
On Avoiding Stupidity
Stupid Analyses
Afterword: Stupid Development Tricks
Glossary of Terms
Selected Bibliography
Index
Chapman covers some of the most famous blunders of the high tech industry... How did Lotus 1-2-3, an industry standard, lose the battle to Microsoft Excel? How did OS/2, a technically superior operating system to Windows, end up dying a slow, agonizing death? What technical decisions led to Netscape's slide to irrelevance after creating the browser market? All of those are examined here in biting, satirical detail. I'll grant that there's an element of "everything's clear in hindsight" in play here. Kildall's decision not to talk with IBM about CP/M (and Microsoft's subsequent win with DOS) *did* define how the PC industry played out, but how many other "no show" meetings happened during that time that never resulted in anything? You can only add in the drama after the fact. But the important thing here is to observe and learn. Netscape's decision to completely rewrite their browser may have sounded OK at the time, but history shows that those types of technical decisions will likely kill your market share. As such, you should think about Netscape when some techie guru says that a rewrite of your cash-cow product is a good idea. It's not...
Even if you're not interested in the industry examples (and you should be), the writing is a pure pleasure. In what other tech book can you find a suggestion like "decreased drug use by industry executives might lead to clearer thinking" and "stupidity bites"? Chapman pulls absolutely no punches in his storytelling and analysis, and he has a excellent ability to turn a phrase and roast those corporate sacred cows. It's not often that I audibly chuckle or laugh when reading a book (especially a business or IT book). It happened a number of times here.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Here are plenty of examples of "doomed" companies who continued to pull the trigger in hopes of missing their foot the next time. Some time spent reading this book could help you figure out how to avoid being part of Search's 3rd edition.
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
| Permalink |
