Intro Chapter 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
All through 1988 the political situation at Novell grew more important to those at Novell. The success was bringing new money to the table, the acquisitions were bringing new players into the organization. The company goals were transforming from just interconnecting PCs to connecting PCs to many kinds of networks. These, and the growth of Novell's importance to it's customers, all conspired to make what happened at Novell "important". These changes attracted ambitious people, made the corporate vision more complex, and made defector behavior more rewarding. "Politics", in the pejorative sense, is defector behavior that isn't seen as contributing to the company good, and Novell was becoming political.
Ray did little or nothing to stop this politicizing trend in Novell management -- his management style was such that he did not see this as a problem except where it lead to his fourth "E": euphoria.
From 1983 on there had been continuing changes in personnel at Novell, but the three constants at the top had been Ray, Craig and Judith. Ray had provided the vision unifying, business acumen, cost control and credibility. Craig proved an exceptionally good planner and articulate spokesman for the open systems marketing and technology approach. He spread the gospel within and without Novell. Judith implemented a "style" and education communications campaign that not only made Novell a place to turn for information on the emerging LAN industry, it helped analysts and other opinion makers believe there was an industry.
The other major role Craig and Judith jointly assumed was apologists or "spin controllers" for Ray. There were times, such as when Novell acquired Santa Clara Systems or when the Netware Centers execution soured, that things were happening that just didn't fit into the company vision. Craig and Judith took on the task of making it fit. They would issue press releases referring to statements made in older press releases and talk to analysts explaining how what had happened fit. It required a lot of creativity and fast footwork, and Craig and Judith did it well. Analysts left feeling warm and fuzzy about what Novell was up to, even when as soon as their backs were turned Craig and Judith were scratching their heads and shrugging still trying to figure out what had really happened.
But in 1988 the triumvirate cracked and in 1989 it shattered, leaving Novell with a palace revolt, layoffs, and the end of Novell's Legendary Period.
Craig and Judith both liked being on the forefront of communications technology. They were among the first to get car phones in Utah valley (this is the pre-cell phone era when portable phones were still expensive and exotic.). But they were not the only enjoyers of high-tech communications. A Utah valley ham hobbyist had a radio scanner and a tape recorder, and this person tape recorded a conversation between Craig and Judith in which disparaging remarks were made about Ray. Utah valley, being the tight-knit community that it is, this tape found it's way to Ray's ear in December 87. There was no immediate effect but the stage was being set.
Later through this same tight-knit community Craig and Judith found out that Ray had overheard something. They didn't know what, but they assumed that Ray had got whatever it was by bugging their phones, so yet another veil of suspicion was drawn between the triumvirate.
By April 88 people in the community were starting to take sides. Two new management hires into communications were told that part of their work was to suppress any nasty rumors they heard about senior managers.
On one side were Craig Burton and Judith Clarke -- young, aggressive, hard-working superstars of the LAN industry. They were also evolving into a nouveau-rich lifestyle that was raising eyebrows. On the other was Ray Noorda -- old, hardworking, pinch-penny "Uncle Ray" the savior of Novell and the person who finally made the computer industry happen for Utah valley.
It was painful to choose, but not a hard choice to make for the Utah valley community. As each was called, all but a handful sided with Ray.
Within the company and within the industry the split was just as painful but more evenly divided.
By October the stress of the politics and the pace of the ever larger Novell were wearing Craig and Judith thin. At NetWorld Dallas their fast-and-loose style stumbled and lead to some severe unraveling of that image that Craig and Judith had been working so hard to build. This is what Tom Vitelli saw:
"The height of the crisis came at the Reseller dinner. First problem: Craig and Judith were there, but Ray hadn't been invited. Second, there had been bad news for the resellers announced earlier in the show and they were out for blood. Third, there was a noisy party with a band playing below on the atrium floor [of the InfoMart] and the noise level at the dinner was high. Fourth, Craig was tired. As was often the case he had been up until 2am the night before and had already put in a full day. But this time he couldn't pull it off. By the time he was making his presentation at the dinner he was distracted, belligerent and his speech was slurred. If I hadn't known he wasn't a drinker I'd have pronounced him drunk. The audience didn't appreciate him either. They wanted Ray and when they found out he wasn't going to show, many walked out."
Ray heard about this the next morning.
Novell's ambitious people weren't all imported by acquisition. Judith had plans of her own. She talked with Tom Vittelli one evening in about how it was time to position Craig as Ray's successor.
As Tom was putting together the annual report for 1988 she directed him to put Craig's picture next to Ray's on the report to the stockholder's page, and he did as he was told.
But it turned out that Judith's timing for these positioning ploys was poor -- and she had a hard choice to make. When Ray saw the draft and questioned the positioning, she ducked responsibility. This cost her staff credibility as well as Ray's.
The decisive crisis for Craig and Judith came in December 89. Craig tried to solve the nagging Action Technologies/MHS problem by terminating their contract with Novell. He signed an agreement terminating their association without consulting either Ray or the legal department. It turned out that terminating the way he did was going to cost the company millions of dollars in termination fees. Craig wasn't Ray, and this wasn't an acquisition: losing this kind of money this way was considered a big mistake.
Craig was the technology-enthusiast-made-good at Novell. Unlike Ray, who's office rarely contained even a single personal computer, Craig's was rarely equipped with less than a Mac and a PC and a laser printer. As the latest in personal computer accessories became available, there would be one in his office. Scanners and big screen color displays for the Macintosh were some of the items first seen at Novell by looking in Craig's office.
Craig had his pulse on the products of the industry and this was his passion. His staff reflected this as well. It was just three people and they were techno-junkies as well.
Craig used them as troubleshooters to help him introduce new technological ideas. Steve Pelfrey, for instance, was "Mr. MHS" within Novell and his mission was to proselyte it's use within Novell and to make it an industry standard. Craig saw his staff's role as one of initiating vital projects and then handing them off to the proper rank and file department to carry through with. ELS Netware (Entry Level System) got it's start this way.
When the newcomers turned on Craig, one of their strategies was to use these people against him. In the eyes of the newcomers these people weren't initiators, they were loose cannon -- bumbling loose cannon at that, and they made pains to discretely portray them as such to outsiders, to Ray and even to Craig.
In 1988 Ray announced that it was time for a management review. This one had a different twist. One of the review items was that each manager was to name his or her successor in the event of sudden departure. In a stable environment this would have been just another bit of paperwork, but in the superheated political situation of Novell in 1988 this was to become a major signal of who was "in" and "out." Ray set the example: he named Jim Bills as his successor.
When Craig and Judith found this out they realized that their positioning efforts of the last few months were about to be nullified. In response they took a risky step: they tried to end run Ray by appealing directly to the board that Jim Bills wasn't the proper replacement for Ray.
It was a step of hubris. They felt they had done just as much as Ray to grow Novell and grow the industry. They felt they knew the industry as well as he. If Ray was leaving, why should "newcomer" Bills be favored over "founder" Burton?
The board listened, but took no action. This was still Ray's company and in spite of the political hysterics that had brought about this strange appeal, Novell was still growing profitably and Ray was showing no signs of leaving.
In making this effort Craig and Judith may have also forgotten Ray's roots. At Novell Ray was finally part of a company where he was the founder -- the guy that had the weight of organization tradition behind him. After having worked at four other companies where as the "newcomer" he was forced to leave as part of a management struggle, he was not about to loose Novell in this management struggle -- ill-timed and launched by a couple of people who were still amateurs to this phase of company evolution.
Finally in October 88 Craig took a six week vacation and Judith followed suit two days later. As they were leaving someone asked Ray if they would be coming back, "I just don't know." was his reply.
Michelle Swaner remembers that time.
It was so sad. Craig and Judith's leaving happened just before the Novell New Year's celebration in October. The party was at the Red Lion Inn and the theme that year was a Mardi Gras Costume Ball. The uncertainty about what their leaving meant and the sadness made the party seem more like something out of Poe's Masque of Red Death.
Intro Chapter 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30