Decisions were made

Monday, 20 February 2012

So the axe has fallen. Eight members of the Engineering Services department were laid off, and two more have yet to know because of a vacation day or short-term disability. I wish the very best to those who make this sudden change from employment with Eastman Kodak: Kathy B, Mike D, Tom N, Ted R, Tony S, Greg S, and Linh V. Our department manager, Bruce B, has yet to know whether he himself remains at Kodak.

I met with Bruce at 10:00, and after a bit of small talk, Bruce read from a script that Kodak had prepared for him. I interrupted a couple times to clarify a point, but his script was short—and well performed, though Bruce avoided much eye contact. I covered each point I needed to with full composure. I was especially careful not to let out a whoop of joy that I would now have full 8-hour days to pursue another position.

I returned to my desk, took my nameplate off my cube wall, wrote an email to my friends outside of work, and sent out a prepared good-by to many colleagues at work. I looked for several close colleagues to say good-by in person, and closed up the last box of personal belongings that I needed to remove from the office. I was out the door by 11:15, and heading to the gym for an upper-body workout.

On my way home, I stopped at Fricker's just in case some people from Kodak were there for lunch. Only four were, and they suggested meeting at The Pub around 4:30. That doesn't seem now to be a great plan—it's time instead to follow up on search results I had found from Indeed.com.

I don't believe that Eastman Kodak is at the point of thriving. Too much dead wood weighs down the very top of the company, and that includes Antonio Perez, Phil Faraci, and others who share leadership positions and board of director positions. The highest levels of Kodak are incestuous and self-perpetuating in their delusions. Kodak hasn't the nimbleness to find a logical and inventive way out of its backwardness, and Kodak may be now overly downsizing that small component that was to be the company's white knight.

I predict that Kodak will stop making film stock for cinema, that the photo kiosks will become part of history, and that the Kodak Gallery will steadily lose what market share it has now. Kodak's frenzied litigation to uphold its intellectual property rights will dwindle after several rulings against its asserted pain, and the portfolio of 1100 patents will largely not be sold, as their aging complexion loses to the beauty of new ideas  As for the Dayton division that designs and builds inkjet, digital-data printing presses, it might have done well on its own, but now the Kodak modus has overtaken what innovation was there.

Day of decision

Monnday, 20 February 2012

Yesterday's exercise was a visit to the gym for a leg workout. Though I had aimed to bike to the workout, our friends Russ and Kim called a bit after noon to invite me to join them for dinner. So I cut back my plans: drive to Cardinal Fitness for a workout and use the showers there to prepare for the evening. The leg workout was a careful one, to pay close attention to my right knee that had got injured sometime between last weekend and Saturday's ride at Lagonda Trail. I went through most sets with a 10% reduction in weight and careful attention to alignment of the knees and ankles to hips. After an hour, I knew that any more exercise would be beyond what the knee should be put through.

I returned home to feed Howard and brew a large latte for my drive to Cincinnati. On the drive, I visualized my workday tomorrow, as much as possible. For one thing, I have little control over my meeting with Bruce, my direct supervisor. Bruce emailed his staff Friday that he had a conference room reserved from 7:00 to 11:30 a.m., and that he would call us in alphabetic order for a short meeting. Each of us will be told then whether we are to remain for now with Kodak and participate in the company reorganization or to be laid off. His plan leaves 15 to 20 minutes for each person, and I am near the middle of the list, with seven meetings before mine and eleven after.

Bruce had guessed that the workday would continue for 84% of us, and that the others would process out today. Bruce planned to advising that they should leave to compose themselves and return a day or two later to pack up and say goodby to colleagues. The percentage implies that Bruce will tell three of us that the layoff affects us.

If I'm laid off, I want to say, "Of course I feel bad about the news, but I appreciate that the news comes directly from you. I do have a favor to ask you for—that I can receive a good recommendation from you. Especially carefully say I hope that the last year of conflict with Vic can be put aside when you prepare the recommendation. Also be sure to ask Are there any internal jobs that you think are available I can apply for? and ask details on What does Kodak provide for the promised outplacement counseling? and in closing say I hope that you still have your job... and depending on his answer, continue If you are not remaining with the company, what is the best contact information for you? and ask discretely Can you tell me how many in the writing area are being let go? How many are being let go in the engineering services department?"

If I'm not laid off, I want to seem not too disappointed, and say, "So where do we go from here? Do you know which product lines will continue, and whether I'll be shifting from sustaining work on the VL products to development work on the Prosper line?"

I've been taking pragmatic steps for a while—packing up boxes and taking them home, archiving documents I produced over the past 20 years, cleaning out the accumulated source material and historical files—since I really expect to be laid off. The last year, or even two years, have been very stressful, and I'll be glad they are history. On my drive home after Kim's wonderful meal, I thought several times, Please, please let me be laid off. How unfortunate it would be to stay! And any later lay-off might have a poorer severance package, since Kodak's problems would have worsened.