( ESNUG 295 Item 10 ) ---------------------------------------------- [7/8/98]
Subject: ( ESNUG 291 #5 292 #4) Boba Fett's View Of The Synopsys Hotline
> But in that same ESNUG 292, an anonymous Synopsys contractor (using the
> pseudonym "Boba Fett of the Evil Empire"), cyncically told the rest of the
> story with: "You guys can't imagine what a chore it is, fighting my way in
> to work at Synopsys every day through the ravening hoards of experienced
> design engineers who are vying for the very few prized openings in Synopsys
> Tech. Support, just desperate to get that choice job listening to whining,
> insulting and obnoxious engineers like the above calling them on the
> telephone all day, each caller taking the attitude that their project is
> the only one in the world that's late, that they are Synopsys' number one
> priority, and that Synopsys should send them a patch for their particular
> problem yesterday, even if it can't be reproduced. How many experienced
> design engineers do YOU know who would be willing to take on a helpline
> job, full-time? And how much would we have to pay you?"
From: [ Call Me (HP's) Ishmael ]
John,
Pleez anonomyze me... Boba Fett's comment got to me: "If you think Design
Compiler license is expensive NOW...."
Yes, I *do* think DC is expensive. For what we pay for our site license,
which serves less than 10 engineers, we could pay the salaries and bennies
of 5 more engineers. Do you know what we could do with 5 more engineers
on a project? A lot! So for Synopsys to survive in the next few years
they must do at least some of the following:
1) lower the price of the tools
2) increase the value of the tools
3) improve the technical support of the tools (thus increasing the
value)
They tend to put their efforts on 2) in the areas of feature creep and
new gadgets, while ignoring 1) and 3), or making them worse. This is tough
stuff to swallow for any company, let me tell you. Synopsys, if they want
to simply survive, will work on 1) and 3).
I suspect the reason engineers call the hotline with an attitude is that
because they realize they are understaffed and overworked *because* of
the tool, not *in spite* of it.
- [ Call Me (HP's) Ishmael ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: landmh@taec.toshiba.com (Howard Landman)
John, you've unconsciously bought into Boba Fett's assumption that helpline
answering *should* be a full-time job. But why? That guarantees that, on
average, it falls to the less competent, and bores even *them* to tears.
When Robert Townsend was president of Avis (the "We Try Harder" campaign was
one product of his tenure there), he instituted a policy that *every*
*single* *employee* in the company had to work a reservation desk at least
2 weeks per year. Some people had trouble with this at first. The VP of
Finance fainted dead away at the approach of his first real customer.
But consider the benefits. The people who wrote the software system for
entering the rentals, had to actually spend 2 weeks *using* the system
they wrote. The people who designed the forms had to spend 2 weeks
filling them out. And so did their bosses, and their bosses' bosses.
Needless to say, a lot of small stupid annoying problems got identified *and*
*fixed* rather quickly. Because everyone up and down the management chain
knew exactly, from personal experience, how annoying they were.
Now, imagine that *every* Synopsys employee, from Aart and Harvey on down,
was required to spend 2 weeks per year in some form of customer contact;
either answering the hotline, or helping the AEs, or assisting sales calls.
Imagine the possibilities!
By the way, I heartily recommend Townsend's book "Up The Organization".
Good advice has seldom been funnier.
- Howard A. Landman
Toshiba
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Tim Davis <timdavis@tdcon.com>
In answer to the questions, "How many experienced design engineers do YOU
know who would be willing to take on a helpline job, full-time? And how
much would we have to pay you?", posed by Boba Fett (of the Evil Empire)
my response is, "I would take the job full time and for only $150/hr."
- Tim Davis
Timothy Davis Consulting
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: dchapman@goldmountain.com (Dave Chapman)
Dear John,
I was on a support desk at my first job out of college: IBM mainframes.
After about 20 phone calls in a row "When will the system be back up?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know.", you develop a burning need to get another job.
I would be willing to consider a job at the help desk, but it would cost
them $200/hour, and I'd work 2 days a week MAX. Most people wouldn't do
it at any price. Go figure.
- Dave Chapman
Goldmountain
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