"Black Wednesday", or as I hit the Macintosh team

Another, no less interesting than the others, the history of Andy Hertzfeld, a former programmer Macintosh division that occurred in one of the his last days in the Apple II team, why that day became known as "black medium" and it was under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.

I felt that something was wrong, when he came to office in the morning on Wednesday, February 25, 1981. Instead of a normal working environment literally hanging in air pressure. A lot of people have been around, almost all broken into small groups. I ran into Don Denmanom and asked what was going on.

"Have not you heard? This morning Scotty fired almost half of employees Apple II team! Around 9 am, he started calling people one by one to his office to inform about their dismissal. I think it had accumulated about 30 people! No one knows who will be next. It is expected that all will be known at the time of the noon meeting. "

I wondered, I could not understand what was happening. Sales grew, Apple was often heard at all and there was no reason to cut back on staff.

"Do you know who fired it?" - I asked Don.

"Yes, it's unimaginable. Scotty has dismissed three of the four managers. Believe it or not, Rick Aurich also fired! "

I would suggest that managers were not competent enough. Honestly, they do not bother me. But the dismissal Rica was a shock for me. He was one of the most talented programmers in the Apple II division. Rick could carry out a weekly plan of work for a couple of days, and the remaining time to carry out what He pleases. For example, the development of new games. Perhaps it was difficult to manage, but it might not be cause for dismissal. Rick was my only partner in the project DOS 4.0, which only recently entered the development stage. I was upset, losing a valuable partner.

I took his place in the team meeting in the basement, to hear the words of Scotty on today's events. He said that the company has grown in recent times too fast. This influenced the increase in the number of employees at the expense of their quality. He decided to purge the ranks to find new people, appropriate to the requirements of the company.

Scotty himself looked uncertain. Several other leaders attended the meeting, but were left standing on the sidelines. At the end of the meeting there was a question and answer session, in which some employees were accused Scotty in the wrong policy, the effect of which we feel today. Many do not know how to respond to the incident. We came to be called the incident "Black environment."

On the same day I spoke with Dick Houston. He was one of the first Apple programmers who knew the company inside and was close with Scotty. Dick said that he knew of a purge and helped Scotty make a list of dismissed employees. He told me that Scotty requested the approval of this procedure Markkulla Mike and other members of the board of directors, but without waiting for their verdict, decided to purge anyway.

I told Dick that he agrees with the fact that the quality of staff employed over the past year strongly fell. This was especially true of many managers. But the "Stalinist" cleaning series is not the best way to manage a company. I'm the type of employee who likes to feel an attachment to the place of work, but that day I felt alienated.

When I came to work the next morning, he noticed on his desk a letter from the Secretary Mike Scott. In the letter it was said that I was supposed to meet with Mike. Obviously, he was talking with Dick.

Scotty looked exhausted at the time of our meeting. He said he had heard about my frustration company policy, but wanted to keep me at Apple. Scotty said that it was necessary to keep me in my place. I told him that I wanted to work on the Macintosh division with Burrell and Bud.

In the afternoon of the same day, Scotty secretary called me and warned that I have an appointment with Steve Jobs. Steve Mac has become the team leader about a month ago, sacking of Jef Raskin, who was the founder of the Macintosh project.

Many feared the Apple of Steve Jobs because of his spontaneous temper tantrums and habits right to say what he thinks about anything. But Steve was always good to me. I was excited before our meeting.

Jobs has asked me if I'm good enough to do the work on the Macintosh. I felt a little uncomfortable, but replied that fit for this job. In the end, I have several times helped Burrell software for Macintosh.

Steve continued to interrogate me.

"I heard that you were a creative person. You really creative person? "

I replied that I really want to do do any great work for the Mac. On this our conversation ended, and I had to go back to work on DOS 4.0 for the Apple II. Suddenly, a couple of hours later, I saw Jobs in our office.

"I have good news for you. Now you're a member of the Macintosh team. Come with me, I'll show you your new job. "

"Wow! But I just need to finish the work on the current project, to start work on a Mac from Monday, "- I said to Steve.

"What? What are you working now? What could be more important to work on the Macintosh »-? Loudly asked Jobs.

"I just started to write a new operating system for the Apple II, so I want to prepare a draft for a transfer to another programmer."

"No, you're just wasting your time! Who needs the Apple II? In a few years this computer is going to die, and the new operating system will become obsolete even before its release! Macintosh - the future of Apple, and you start a new job right now! "

With these words of the cord abruptly pulled my Apple II power, as a result of which I lost all the written code. He took my computer and walked out of my office and said, "Come with me, I'll show you your new place."

Steve threw my computer in the trunk of his silver Mercedes, and we went to his office near the Texaco station. All the way he told me about how great will be the Macintosh. Arriving at the place, we went up to the second floor in the back of the house, opened the unlocked door. It was there that Jobs put my computer to an empty table and said: "Welcome to Mac team!" And then left quickly.

I began to examine the new office and in the next room found Smith Burrell and Brian Howard, worked on some board. They said that Steve asked them about me and they are happy that I joined their team.

After conducted time with my new colleagues, I returned to my office and looked in the desk drawers. Surprised, I found a lot of other people's things, and the lower compartment was completely clogged by different parts and models of aircraft. As it turned out, Steve put me in the place of the dismissed Jef Raskin, who had not yet had time to collect their belongings.

via Folklore.org