Thinkpad: A Different Shade of Blue

On the plus side: I stuck it out to the end although I read it purely out of interest -- I am a gadgets person but I'm a Business Analyst. If product development or brand-building is your thing, there is plenty of detail here -- from a member of the original team.


Thinkpad owners and business professionals will love this!   April 28, 2002
Being an extremely satisfied owner of an IBM ThinkPad A-series laptop, I came across this book by accident and immediately found myself immersed in the inner workings and coporate culture of the storied IBM corporation. The one thing this book succeeds at detailing are what is actually involved (politically and financially) when large corporations find themselves in the position of creating and branding a new product. Creating something like the Thinkpad notebook computer was a tremendous undertaking and the process in which this was gone about is vastly different than how a small business or startup goes about its business.

Some may be turned off by the technical nature of the book, but I believe that owners of Thinkpad notebooks are a tech and business-savvy group and will thoroughly enjoy this fascinating book. It's the closest you can get to an IBM development team without having to work for Big Blue!

By the way, opt for the hardcover version of the book. This is definitely a title you'll add to your permanent book collection shelf!


An enjoyable must read for anyone trying to sell product   March 19, 2000
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is a great story about an $80+ billion company that could not compete with competitors and consciously decided to do something about it. It's about how having a clear vision, putting great people in place, fostering innovation, developing a strong brand, and listening to the customer DO come together to create success! It's how big companies DO stifle creativity and how you have to stand up to overcome it. It's about cool technology. Most importantly it's about people. You'll read about a jelly donut maker and a typewriter salesman who went on the manage the biggest brand within IBM. It's a blueprint for success!


A blast from the past   February 20, 2000
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Having been involved in this part of the business during the early years of PC and Thinkpad, I found the book an exciting chronicle detailing that period of IBM's history. It's always fun to re-live those times and the book put lots of details in perspective and 'filled in the blanks'.

Being somewhat of a techno-geek, I found the style to be interesting with the mix of technical enumeration of facts interspersed with the prose detailing people and events. There's only been a handful of I/T related products which evoke the brand recognition that Thinkpad has created. The book should be a lesson and guide to product developers and management on 'the right way to do it.'

My copy has already been passed around to a number of folks.


Thinkpad Lessons   February 16, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Rarely, if ever, do we see such a good example of what it takes to break the mold and create a new brand in a large company. This book provides several "object lessons" on how a high-level executive's vision and some talented managers with adequate authority and resources can make something happen that changes everything. While it was slow going in the beginning (both the book and the project), once the key players are in position, the vision takes shape and the team rises to the challenge, I found this to be an absorbing look behind the scenes. Both the technology and the politics were difficult, and there were numerous "moments of truth" which solidified elements critical to the team's ultimate success: clear focus, good people and commitment to deliver.

Thinkpad shows how a small team with a mandate can buck the bureaucracy and shine. It clearly wasn't easy getting the Thinkpad off the ground, but anyone interested in finding a niche for their project should find some insights to adopt as their own. I would assign the chapter on "Influencing the Influencers" to any new manager on an innovative team: it's an excellent case study of building support both inside and outside your group which has paid dividends for years.

Continuing to get it right after the product's initial success seems to be the most difficult challenge of all. Judging from the continuing good reviews of the most recent models, it looks like the Thinkpad team has learned just that.