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DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation
DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC tells the 40-year story of the creation, demise, and enduring legacy of one of the pioneering companies of the computer age. Digital Equipment Corporation created the minicomputer, networking, the concept of distributed computing, speech recognition, and other major innovations. It was the number two computer maker behind IBM. Yet it ultimately failed as a business and was sold to Compaq Corporation. What happened?
Edgar Schein consulted to DEC throughout its history and so had unparalleled access to all the major players, and an inside view of all the major events. He shows how the unique organizational culture established by DEC's founder, Ken Olsen, gave the company important competitive advantages in its early years, but later became a hindrance and ultimately led to the company's downfall. Schein, Kampas, DeLisi, and Sonduck explain in detail how a particular culture can become so embedded that an organization is unable to adapt to changing circumstances even though it sees the need very clearly.
The essential elements of DEC's culture are still visible in many other organizations today, and most former employees are so positive about their days at DEC that they attempt to reproduce its culture in their current work situations. In the era of post-dot.com meltdown, raging debate about companies "built to last" vs. "built to sell," and more entrepreneurial startups than ever, the rise and fall of DEC is the ultimate case study.
Edgar Schein consulted to DEC throughout its history and so had unparalleled access to all the major players, and an inside view of all the major events. He shows how the unique organizational culture established by DEC's founder, Ken Olsen, gave the company important competitive advantages in its early years, but later became a hindrance and ultimately led to the company's downfall. Schein, Kampas, DeLisi, and Sonduck explain in detail how a particular culture can become so embedded that an organization is unable to adapt to changing circumstances even though it sees the need very clearly.
The essential elements of DEC's culture are still visible in many other organizations today, and most former employees are so positive about their days at DEC that they attempt to reproduce its culture in their current work situations. In the era of post-dot.com meltdown, raging debate about companies "built to last" vs. "built to sell," and more entrepreneurial startups than ever, the rise and fall of DEC is the ultimate case study.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
27 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Edgar H. Schein
112 books201 followersEdgar Henry Schein is the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus and a Professor Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Schein investigates organizational culture, process consultation, research process, career dynamics, and organization learning and change. In Career Anchors, third edition (Wiley, 2006), he shows how individuals can diagnose their own career needs and how managers can diagnose the future of jobs. His research on culture shows how national, organizational, and occupational cultures influence organizational performance (Organizational Culture and Leadership, fourth edition, 2010). In Process Consultation Revisited (1999) and Helping (2009), he analyzes how consultants work on problems in human systems and the dynamics of the helping process. Schein has written two cultural case studies—“Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board” (MIT Press, 1996) and “DEC is Dead; Long Live DEC” (Berett-Kohler, 2003). His Corporate Culture Survival Guide, second edition (Jossey-Bass, 2009) tells managers how to deal with culture issues in their organizations.
Schein holds a BPhil from the University of Chicago, a BA and an MA in social psychology from Stanford University, and a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University.
From:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detai...
Schein investigates organizational culture, process consultation, research process, career dynamics, and organization learning and change. In Career Anchors, third edition (Wiley, 2006), he shows how individuals can diagnose their own career needs and how managers can diagnose the future of jobs. His research on culture shows how national, organizational, and occupational cultures influence organizational performance (Organizational Culture and Leadership, fourth edition, 2010). In Process Consultation Revisited (1999) and Helping (2009), he analyzes how consultants work on problems in human systems and the dynamics of the helping process. Schein has written two cultural case studies—“Strategic Pragmatism: The Culture of Singapore’s Economic Development Board” (MIT Press, 1996) and “DEC is Dead; Long Live DEC” (Berett-Kohler, 2003). His Corporate Culture Survival Guide, second edition (Jossey-Bass, 2009) tells managers how to deal with culture issues in their organizations.
Schein holds a BPhil from the University of Chicago, a BA and an MA in social psychology from Stanford University, and a PhD in social psychology from Harvard University.
From:http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detai...
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 24, 2010
I'm not sure what I expected this book to be... turns out it's a management theory case study written by this dude who consulted at DEC for 30-odd years.
It's the kind of thing you'd read if you were studying management in grad school
There were some good bits about how large organizations fail (extreme handwaving here cos I skimmed it and can't recount the pithy management-studies-buzzwords and jargon) but it's honestly way too abstract for my taste. Some people like thinking about companies at this level, but I was looking for more of a human-interest angle (a la "Showstopper: the Race to Create Windows NT," which indirectly prompted this purchase as Dave Cutler [architect of NT] went to Windows from DEC)
I work with some ex-Digital people... they're very bright & clearly the company left a mark.
Oh "once-born" vs "twice-born", Google that. There are some good bits to flip through if you pick this up in a dollar bin.
Two stars is unfair perhaps but so is life... just ask the ex-CEO of DEC! (It's apparent that he was to blame for much of the troubles at the end, but nobody expects things to crumble like that)
It's the kind of thing you'd read if you were studying management in grad school
There were some good bits about how large organizations fail (extreme handwaving here cos I skimmed it and can't recount the pithy management-studies-buzzwords and jargon) but it's honestly way too abstract for my taste. Some people like thinking about companies at this level, but I was looking for more of a human-interest angle (a la "Showstopper: the Race to Create Windows NT," which indirectly prompted this purchase as Dave Cutler [architect of NT] went to Windows from DEC)
I work with some ex-Digital people... they're very bright & clearly the company left a mark.
Oh "once-born" vs "twice-born", Google that. There are some good bits to flip through if you pick this up in a dollar bin.
Two stars is unfair perhaps but so is life... just ask the ex-CEO of DEC! (It's apparent that he was to blame for much of the troubles at the end, but nobody expects things to crumble like that)
July 14, 2018
An informative description of DEC's rise and fall, this book gave some of the history of the company with which I had my first job in the computer industry. For those who watched the folding of Digital into Compaq and HP, Schein fills in some of the holes from not only his point of view, but those of some senior managers. He also describes the DEC's legacy of which I am a part, and which has lived on in other leading companies which continue to push back computing frontiers. If you want to read about a true "culture of innovation" embraced and cultivated by pioneers of the industry, or if you want an idea of what organizations can accomplish when let off the leash, this book might be fore you. If you want to know how major screw-ups can take a giant of an industry down, this book might also be for you.
Long live DEC.
Long live DEC.
June 2, 2021
DEC is the kind of company that left a lasting impact on the world. Hacker lore, especially the really old tomes that date way back, speak of DEC's PDP series of computers with reverence. They where the system that Unix was built on! VAX machines are a subject you'll hear about when reading old web stuff. David Cutler, the frequent subject of Showstopper, was a bigshot at DEC before he moved to microsoft. So how did a company so influental end up in a state of non-existence while leaving such a large shadow? What happened to DEC was always one of those questions I had. I went into this book hoping to find the answer. I also wanted something like Soul Of A New Machine or ShowStopper, but I always want that.
The first half of the book is heavy on dated managament-speak and light on human or technical narrative. It is focused on the culture if DEC and what factors created it, but it gives responsibilty almost entirely to Ken Olson as though it emerged entirely from the specific actions of the founder, and had nothing to do with time, place, or subject matter. as a result, instead of a rich tapestry we get dry repitition. Fanatical devotion to employees caused fanatical devotion to the company was said at least five different ways. Job security. Felt like a family. Maybe this all feels very rinsed out, though, because a lot of DEC's values are also the values of Startup Culture, SV, Hacker culture, etc. It is hard to pick up what DEC con tributed from this very limited and very inward-looking portrait.
The second half focuses more on the actual events. We get some textbook explanations of why a vertically integrated company was a mistake in the PC era, and such. There are some blinding errors mentioned, to be sure, but the best chapter is the last one. In it, Gordon Bell (not the primary author) is not convinced about the 'money gene' theory. Instead he lays blame at the feet of managament for missing opportunities, lacking strategic vision, and what would now be called 'not invented here syndrome.' Fabbing their own chips, ignoring Unix even though everyone was installing it on their machines, and losing the type of talent (Bell and Cutler) that was driving the successful stuff to political failures.
The first half of the book is heavy on dated managament-speak and light on human or technical narrative. It is focused on the culture if DEC and what factors created it, but it gives responsibilty almost entirely to Ken Olson as though it emerged entirely from the specific actions of the founder, and had nothing to do with time, place, or subject matter. as a result, instead of a rich tapestry we get dry repitition. Fanatical devotion to employees caused fanatical devotion to the company was said at least five different ways. Job security. Felt like a family. Maybe this all feels very rinsed out, though, because a lot of DEC's values are also the values of Startup Culture, SV, Hacker culture, etc. It is hard to pick up what DEC con tributed from this very limited and very inward-looking portrait.
The second half focuses more on the actual events. We get some textbook explanations of why a vertically integrated company was a mistake in the PC era, and such. There are some blinding errors mentioned, to be sure, but the best chapter is the last one. In it, Gordon Bell (not the primary author) is not convinced about the 'money gene' theory. Instead he lays blame at the feet of managament for missing opportunities, lacking strategic vision, and what would now be called 'not invented here syndrome.' Fabbing their own chips, ignoring Unix even though everyone was installing it on their machines, and losing the type of talent (Bell and Cutler) that was driving the successful stuff to political failures.
May 30, 2023
a very interesting read
Was expecting a more technical look at DEC, but enjoyed the thorough view of the positive and negative aspects of its culture and its demise, even as the company lives on through its managers, employees and products.
Was expecting a more technical look at DEC, but enjoyed the thorough view of the positive and negative aspects of its culture and its demise, even as the company lives on through its managers, employees and products.
July 20, 2023
This is exactly the book that you would expect from business consultant. Too many dry theoretical discussion about vague concepts like strategy culture values etc, discussions about company models. The expectations should be set accordingly.
October 14, 2025
Awesome book!!!
Smart and academic study of why DEC failed so miserably to adapt to the Technology changes of its time.
Adapt or die.
Thank you very much.
Smart and academic study of why DEC failed so miserably to adapt to the Technology changes of its time.
Adapt or die.
Thank you very much.
April 8, 2010
This book is really interesting if you once worked for DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation). A lot of memories I hadn't thought of in many years were brought to mind while reading this book.
If you never worked for DEC it's probably not so engrossing. But if you're are interested in how a once super-successful technology company fell, and how its innovations continue to affect us today, then this book provides some good insights.
If you never worked for DEC it's probably not so engrossing. But if you're are interested in how a once super-successful technology company fell, and how its innovations continue to affect us today, then this book provides some good insights.
January 29, 2012
Written by a reporters who followed the company, it shows how / where former employees of DEC carried the good part of the culture on to other organizations. OK read, but maybe more like reading a long newspaper with information vs: an exciting story.
Want to read
October 14, 2008Amazon 2008-10-13.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews