IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Summer 2019 - 6

A SSOC IATE EDITOR'S VIE W

Marcel Pelgrom

Let Me Know Before Lunch!

Pretending that he was surprised to
see me at work so early one morning, my boss walked into my office.
My life in an industrial research lab
was rosy. Our team had managed to
develop the key component for entering the digital television era: the first
(cheap) image storage. This was the
early 1980s, and our 300-kb memory
was ahead of Moore's predictions. It
had been a bumpy road, but the team
had overcome every issue it faced,
from technology to system architecture. The product was running in
quantities. We received more invitations to speak at conferences than
we could handle, our chip was on the
covers of electronics magazines, and
we had to set up a schedule to host
the various top managers and VIPs at
the demos we held.
"You are working now for five years
in research, and this project went
really well," my boss said. "What is next
for you: transfer with this project to the
product division, or let your baby go,
and start a new research topic? Let me
know before lunch!" And off he went.
In a state of shock, I began to realize that my scientific zeal had been
replaced by pursuing questions,
such as how to modify a device for
customer X, Y, or Z. To wake me up,
my boss had taken the necessary
step of confronting me with a choice
I needed to make. After all, I had so
many interesting observations and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2019.2922887
Date of publication: 27 August 2019

SU M M E R 2 0 19

ideas floating around in my notebooks, and there were new projects
lined up: an analog delay line, a digital image correlator, reference circuits, analog-to-digital converters,
and investigations into mismatch,
substrate noise, and so on.
Just as relationships are said to
face a "seven-year itch," scientific
and technical subjects encounter a
five-year itch. Five years is roughly
the period during which you can
master and contribute significantly
to a subject. Beyond that, there are
still many things to investigate, but
the point is that you won't discover
them. After five years, some degree
of tunnel vision is almost guaranteed. A fresh topic, with a different set of challenges and boundary
conditions, allows you to contribute to a new field and broaden your
skills. An engineer or scientist with
expertise in different corners of
microelectronic design is able to
bring more value to a company or
a research team. Moreover, a regular change of topic keeps your mind
fresh and eager for challenges.
Too often, companies squeeze
their engineers into a single topic.
Once, I was invited to lecture at a
large firm. The engineers in the
audience had years of experience
dealing with most of the subjects I
presented for discussion. During a
break, I asked one of them why he
was attending. He replied that he
had been working on one specific
product for the 19 years since he had

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

been hired. He was not interested in
what I had to say about his field but,
rather, all the neighboring subjects
he was not allowed to tackle. Obviously, it takes quite some management courage to move (or even force)
a specialist from a profitable product line into a new technical field.
Yet, in the long run, a company that
has top engineers with overlapping
expertise is better equipped to deal
with ever-changing circumstances
in the market.
Managers face a similar time span.
During the first year in a management role, everything is new and
exciting. You explore procedures,
meet people in various roles, and
waste a lot of energy trying to bend
the unbendable. The second year
comes with unexpected surprises
and the realization that you are
operating in a world full of prejudice, self-interests, power plays, and
pure obstruction. The following year
brings either collapse or stabilization. And when, as a seasoned manager, you reach the fourth year, you
are able to bully the system to serve
your own needs. In the process, the
abyss of intellectual boredom opens
up, and you must move on for your
own and the department's interest.
I still vividly remember that morning when my boss entered my office.
Transferring a pet project to other
people feels like saying farewell to
a good friend. Don't mourn. Go out
and make new ones!

IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Summer 2019

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