David Heinemeier Hansson

A critical analysis of how major tech companies like Boeing, Intel, and Apple have declined after appointing CEOs without engineering or product backgrounds. The author argues that it takes approximately ten years for company culture to deteriorate under non-technical leadership, citing specific examples of failed products and strategic missteps at each company. The piece advocates for technical leaders who understand the products they oversee rather than purely business-focused executives.

The great falls of Boeing, Intel, and Apple

Same with IT departments not lead by Engineers !

In essence, there always needs to be a balance. If you only have engineers there, without any business thinking at all, then it will fail, just a well.

Another random unsolicited Apple rant yawn . Your 10 year curse about Apple makes no sense because it’s been 14 years and Apple are still going strong. They’re one of the richest companies in the world with VAST cash reserves.
They may not have nailed sticking an LLM in their OS, but I tell you what, the AI they use elsewhere is outstanding. Things like your phone learning what apps to suggest at certain times that you regularly use.
Meanwhile they transitioned their entire Mac family to Apple Silicone which has netted huge performance benefits and power efficiency that is basically unrivalled. Their Airpods Pro 3 prove how on it they are in the peripherals sector.
Comparing them to Intel and Boeing who are basically failing to function as a company is honestly laughable.

I do agree a lot with DHH here. But he is overlooking the CPU/GPU, the whole SoC (system on a chip) that Apple has, headphones, phones and the iPad. Sure they seem to have the worlds most expensive memory and storage, but the hardware is excellent. At the end of the day, it is software that sets Apple apart from the industry and Tim Cook doesn’t seem to see that, neither did Jobs up to a point. Scott Forestall would have been an excellent CEO.
But you can’t compare Apple with Boeing and Intel, that is just insane

I absolutely agree with this, especially in IT. You cannot expect someone with only a handful of power skills to effectively run a corporation. Companies who lead by example, integrity-forward people, and common sense are all a thing of memory. You can’t take a Little Caesar’s ceo and expect him to make Apple a great company with forward-thinking capabilites. He won’t have the same instincts.