Most people are lucky to spend part of their career on a team that effectively executes against its goals. Having been in organizations that couldn’t, I consider myself quite fortunate at this point.

So the thought of being in environment without goals—as Alan Kay describes Xerox PARC—kind of boggles my mind. Pursuing research towards a bold vision of the future without prescribed targets would be kind of amazing, but it would be easy to feel adrift. I wonder what it was like to lead/manage in that environment.

I’m glad they pushed through.