Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 18Shipment judgment while bearing pain (January 2000)
These contents translated a serialization article carried by ITPro IP telephony ONLINE published by Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. Jump to the original (Japanese).
Shinji Usuba
General Manager
eSound Venture Unit
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd
After months of suffering during the development of the line unit (LU), we finally reached the point of shipment judgment. But two days prior to the meeting, I was awakened by a sharp pain running through my back.
The pain was out of this world. But what could it be? Appendicitis? I had never experienced such pain. Early that morning, I headed to the hospital in a cab. When I arrived at the hospital, I was first given a shot of painkiller as an emergency treatment. Although the pain had quickly disappeared, I made a determination to undergo a complete physical. And a relatively small stone was found stuck inside the urinary duct.
As a matter of fact, I experienced pain in my back during the middle of night about five months back. I had also visited the hospital then and was diagnosed with a possible urethral stone. I was prescribed with painkillers and had not bothered with it since the pain had gone away. I should have had tests performed on the size of the stone, but I avoided complete examinations since the development of LU was just starting to get interesting. In all honesty, I avoided the test since I felt that maybe I wouldn't be able to go back to work depending on the result.
I was relieved to hear that the pain was not life-threatening. The pain I felt was completely gone thanks to the painkiller. I decided to head to work. Fortunately, the hospital was only five minutes from work on foot, and I was told that I could go back to the hospital in the case of an emergency. However, the pain came back a number of times before the shipment judgment. But the painkillers failed to work and I was administered with IV for the pain.
Shipment judgment at last
Photo 1 IP telephone developed for IP stage
Time passed ruthlessly as I spent the days in agony and the day of shipment judgment for the IP-PBX "IP stage" had finally come. Shipment judgment was to be conducted for the three structural elements of LU that we were in charge of, IP telephone (photo 1) and CCU (Communication Control Unit, photo 2). The IP telephone and CCU had no major issues left and were at the level capable of shipment. To be honest, our LU had the most severe problems among the three.
Photo 2 Communication Control Unit of IP stage
The development of IP stage-to become the first IP-PBX in the industry-was a project drawing major attention even within the company and various departments were involved.
Department Manager Yoichi Kawashima was the person responsible for the overall development of this major project. I was required to explain the condition of the LU quality to Department Manager Kawashima for the application of shipment judgment. Including the measures concerning the capacity problem of the LSI signal processing introduced previously, we had troubles all the way to the end. Members of the development team had very little rest since January and sometimes worked overnight toward shipment. Although verification was not 100%, giving up the shipment application was something I could not do when considering all the efforts made by the members.
Department Manager Kawashima must have honestly thought that we weren't ready for shipment after viewing my report. However, he agreed to the application for the shipment judgment. Maybe he was sympathetic as he watched me desperately going to work while administrating IV to kill the pain. And shipment judgment was held as scheduled.
Uncomfortable atmosphere
The shipment judgment meeting was held on January 28th. About 30 persons related to the project attended. It was a large meeting. Although my health was nowhere near cured, I luckily did not feel any pain during the meeting.
Explanations were given concerning the IP telephone and CCU that they were on time and that there were no problems that would cause a delay in shipment. The efforts of the members involved had been commendable. Now it was my turn. As the person in charge of LU development, I had to explain the contents of errors and the measures taken. I felt extremely pressured trying to explain about the LU still with an outstanding issue, especially after IP telephone development and those in charge of CCU proceeded with their explanations smoothly.
Indeed, it was a shipment judgment meeting that I requested upon taking measures for the remaining problem. I also had accurate awareness of the remaining issue and had absolute confidence that the measure taken was appropriate. However, I could not sufficiently verify the effectiveness of the measure due to lack of time. I was frustrated that I could not objectively prove that the problem was fixed, regardless of my confidence. While I started the explanation, the atmosphere of the room slowly became uncomfortable.
Due to the efforts of the Sales Department, the first user of IP stage was already decided. And the deadline was closing in. Since this shipment judgment meeting was held after numerous shipment schedule changes, there was no way that shipment could be delayed further when considering the delivery.
Obviously, such matters concerning the Sales Department and our efforts are irrelevant in a shipment judgment. Such factors are taken out of the picture without mercy and judgment is made in an extremely calm and business-like manner on whether technical aspects meet the level required for shipment as a product. I knew this, but I was reminded again the difficulties of this judgment.
After completion of my explanation, I listened to the shipment result without defiance. I felt like a lawyer fresh out of law school who had just made an unconvincing plead to the jury despite the solid proof at hand, and was waiting restlessly for the verdict.
... To be continued
