Susan and I worked together for a few years. I came up with an idea for a compression algorithm in silicon: first thing I knew she grabbed it and exhaustively iterated it until it might be real. You know how that was with her, tremendous energy and stubborn on details. It was draining, hours at a whiteboard each time. That was how I got to know her. I tended to fix flaws when she found them: then she would find the next problem. Until eventually it looked good. So we got agreement to make the chip, our manager negotiated it on a shoestring budget (which became the bane of our next 3 years – never cede the budget control to the contractors), and Susan captained it. Brought together a crew, dealt with Broadcom, got it done. I did very little of that – no prior experience, learned ASIC making from Susan. My main contribution remained finding solutions to the algorithm problems that came up, or finding ways to adapt the project to changes in reality as the silicon progressed.
Apart from the technical stuff we discovered we were comfortable talking through issues with the team, with the management, and had some compatible views on politics. Talking late at the office. I regret never inviting her home for dinner, my wife would have liked her. But I learned a lot about work from Susan too. She was never mean about people but did not sugar coat either, and was insightful about what was happening. I hope I helped her navigate the Microsoft environment too.
I will miss her. I’ve been working for 50 years and can count on fingers the people as real as her. I am truly sorry for your loss, she would have meant the world to you.
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