TIL: IBM labs had a small group of seven "inventors" who were the…

TIL: IBM labs had a small group of seven “inventors” who were the lifeblood of the organization. From Thomas Watson Jr.’s biography:

“IBM’s main laboratory, on North Street in Endicott, was a very peculiar place. Between three hundred and four hundred people worked there, but the whole thing was built around seven senior engineers whom Dad called his “inventors”… When Dad had an idea for a product, he’d call in one or two of these old birds and describe what he wanted it to do. Then the inventors would go back and try to ‘put it in metal’ as they used to say.”

The first connection that came to my mind was Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men’ who were responsible for almost all the classic movies we know today.

A further stretch down the connection rabbit hole, would be Bezos’s two-pizza rule.

My point being even big, hairy teams often still run forward on the genius of a small group of people.

IBM info from: https://lnkd.in/eTGSh4rj More about Disney’s Nine Old Men: https://lnkd.in/eKhuWG4k Two-pizza rule: https://lnkd.in/eu6tAdsC