509: Swarmed by Engineers

Embedded.fm · 5 Sept 2025 · 1h 13m · Episode 509

What this episode covers

Steve Hinch, a former executive at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies, discusses his book 'Winning through Innovation' and his 35-year career in high-tech. He contrasts the long-term, employee-centric culture of early HP under Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard with the short-term investor focus of modern public companies. Hinch outlines four types of innovation (incremental, disruptive, product, process) and argues that process innovation often yields greater value than product innovation, citing Amazon's marketplace expansion. He also provides advice on management transitions, defining the distinct roles of CTO, engineering manager, and team lead based on their strategic time horizons.

Mentioned

Companies
Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, Keysight Technology, TeamLogic IT, Dell, Amazon, BMW, Microsoft, Apple, Mouser Electronics
Products
Winning through Innovation: Lessons from the Front Lines of Business, The HP Way, Kindle
Also
Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard

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