IBM: Big Blue May Have Some Digital Re-Engineering to Explain
March 4, 2022
Yo, I am a dinobaby, and I am proud of that fact. You want proof. I know what a rotary dial phone is. I know how to use a facsimile machine. Heck, I can still crank out a mimeograph document. I even know how to get a drink from a terracotta jar in rural Brazil. (Love those chemicals and that wonky purple-blue color which reminds me of Big Blue.)
Several years ago, I read a blog by some IBM people which documented the harvesting of old workers. That blog disappeared, of course. It named managers, disclosed snippets of email, and did a fine job to making clear that oldsters had one function. The idea was that before finding their future elsewhere, the old employees would train their replacements. This is a variation on copying data from a DASD to a zippy new storage device, just with humanoids, not silicon.
I have been following the word dinobaby. I entered it into my log of jazzy new terms coined by millennials and GenXers. I put dinobaby between grosso modo memetic learning and vibe shift. This is not alphabetical I know, but I like the rhythm of the words when offered in a dinner conversation about technology.
The word appeared in “IBM Executives Planned to Rid the Company of Older, Dinobaby Employees and Replace Them with Millennials, Lawsuit Alleges.” I thought the lawsuit was an interesting opportunity for legal eagles to generate some money.
Then I read the February 26, 2022, story “IBM Cannot Kill This Age-Discrimination Lawsuit Linked to CEO.” Despite Covid, financial turmoil, and the unfortunate events in Eastern Europe:
The judge overseeing an age-discrimination case against IBM has denied the IT giant’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, citing evidence supporting plaintiff Eugen Schenfeld’s claim that CEO Arvind Krishna, then director of IBM research, made the decision to fire him.
The write up includes a link to a legal document and some snazzy code names; for example, Project Concord, Project Baccarat, and Project Ruby. It appears that each project was intended to get the big, noisy, weird dinobabies out of IBM’s life.
Not happening yet.
The write up asserts that there are more than 10,000 mainframe capable dinobabies vaporized by the “projects” implemented during the scintillating tenure of Ginni Rometty, former president and CEO of Big Blue. (Did you know that Ms. Rometty worked at General Motors, an esteemed automobile company which developed the Chevrolet Bolt, a model which caught on fire? The owner was not Ginni Rometty. The burning GM vehicle was owned by an elected official in Vermont.)
IBM may escape punishment for its alleged conversion of humanoids into dinobabies. But it will be interesting to follow the legal machinations which now seeks to transform dinobabies into hamsters and gerbils with mainframe and other esoteric skills.
Plus the lawyers can consult IBM Watson for inputs!
Stephen E Arnold,March 4, 2022
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