On Monday I got an email from an EDA vendor asking me what I thought of this
recent quote by Peggy Aycinena about my DVcon Troublemakers Panel.

  "The EDA industry wants/needs to wrap itself in dignity, wisdom, and a
   sense of visionary technology that will help, not hinder, the globalized
   and highly profitable/complex semiconductor industry.  Everything that
   the Troublemaker's Panel highlights is counter to that.  Hence, the joke
   is over and the jig is up.  Going forward, the industry can no longer
   afford to laugh at itself in this way.  It can no longer hold up its
   internecine struggles as the norm that defines the industry.  Real Men
   make money and lead the way.  Period."

       - EDAcafe.com (2/26/07)

I laughed.  I am sooooooo busted!  Dignity...  Jig is up...  Real Men make
money...  Dignity...

From here on in, I'm changing my DVcon event to be the "EDA Yes Men Panel".
All we'll do is talk about how great EDA is, and how there are no conflicts
in EDA whatsoever ("Oh my! No!") and we'll share our favorite recipes for
chocolate chip cookies, and we'll only be extra nicey-nice, PC, and we'll say
only good things about everyone and everything.  (Yawn...)

"Real Men make money"...  Oh, yea.  And we'll also ask Mike, Aart, Wally, and
Rajeev how much money they made each year, too!  (Double yawn...)

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All joking aside, I don't know where Peggy's prudish Church Lady mindset is
coming from, but last I knew the earmarks of a healthy, growing industry
*is* that it has conflicts and that there are open, frank discussions about
those conflicts.  A vibrant industry is NOT all nicey-nice by its nature.

It's called growning pains.

In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it's only through open conflict
and unpleasant exchanges is where you learn and grow.  That's when you're
forced to adapt to change; otherwise you actually start dangerously
believing your own bullshit.

In high tech, it's new tools coming up, old tools going obsolete, R&D people
moving around, management staffs changing, start-ups threatening your flank,
real world physics problems, global business issues, Wall Street whining,
and endless marketing battles of you vs. your rivals to woo the customers
over to your side.  Conflict, change, and growth all go hand-in-hand.  And
frank, uncontrolled open discussion is integral to the process.  It's this
unfiltered customer feedback that keeps the EDA companies on course to
reinvent themselves.  (Basically, if a plan can't stand up to even some of
the most basic "edgy" public questioning, maybe it's not such a good idea
in the first place.)

  "Hence, the joke is over and the jig is up.  Going forward, the industry
   can no longer afford to laugh at itself in this way."

Who wants to work in an industry that's so damned serious, so censored, so
fearful that we're not allowed laugh at ourselves?  Some of the greatest
leaders and speakers I've known in EDA (like Joe Costello, Wally Rhines,
and Aart de Geus) continually use humor and "inappropriate" images in their
talks to connect with the audience and to get their points across.

What a dull, grey world it would be if all we were allowed to talk about
were "dignified" topics and only in a politically correct "dignified" way.
And who the hell wants a job where you constantly have to self-censor and
watch your back for fear "offending" some busybody?  Is that any way to live?