To: Jack, Rich, Mike Ben Franklin supported the Patent system even though he personally thought all ideas should be in the open domain. To have incentives or not to have incentives, is the question. NCR provides both internal and external writing incentives. For the internal technical journal, the award system is about $200.00, and for external papers, there is a two tier system of $600.00 and $1,000.00. Incentives will motivate some people, but before the NCR program was initiated, I published eight papers for trade journal without any incentive from the company. Occasionally, I feel the yen to do that again, but not because of the incentives. So like Franklin, I believe that a person should be self-motivated, but I would vote with those who support incentives, from whatever source. The purpose of the incentives is to extend the boundaries of knowledge. The patent system is to do the same thing, but Companies in general, stifle incentives by having you sign away all rights. To off-set de-incentives, NCR has a three tier monetary program for patents, 1) the disclosure, 2) adoption by the NCR review committee, 3) the issuance of the patent. Besides the monetary awards, there is also the annual technology awards affair with free transportation for spouses, with presentations of plaques and other peer recognition programs.
So let the boundaries of knowledge expand, by any means. Manning Rose, [email protected] > ---------- > From: [email protected][SMTP:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, June 22, 1998 2:00 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Company rewards for publishing > Jack: > The comments by Rich Nute are right on the money. I would like to throw > in > another two cents worth. > The pursuit of publishing has many direct benefits to the creating > individual, > although some may take time to surface. > 1. The process of generating a written communication that will be read > (and > judged) by your technical peers forces you to be sure of your facts and/or > state any reasonable limits on their applicability. This implied > requirement > sharpens your thought process, makes you double-check your information > sources > or research, and builds your confidence in your interpretation of > technical data. > 2. The same process improves your communication skills by the sheer > practice > of ferretting out the main points you wish to make, and by testing your > grammatical skills. > 3. If you take the "conference paper" route, you will gain experience in > presenting to a technical audience. This experience will help you to > prepare > for and present your future ideas to corporate managers. > > All of these factors benefit your professional growth, which should > ultimately > be recognized in many ways, including financially. > Hope this makes sense to you, > Mike Conn; Owner/Principal Consultant; Mikon Consulting >
