Bank Of Montreal
Bank Of MontrealThis page is currently just a placeHolder populated initially with some content from the pages for HansWobbe and PaulMorrison.
Others are encouraged to post, especially anything that may influence or guide the evolution of this page.
Prior content removed to BmoMech.
Paul:
Finding the references to BmoMech (page reference since I think it would be fun to see if we could create a worthy page) gave me incredible pleasure. I was one of the beneficiaries of the early work, getting there in 1979 and having a great six years of special projects work that included exploiting the mech architecture to create the first release of Direct Line Banking. Sadly, I arrived after RAM left, but I have enjoyed hearing about the early days from BillHarker?, PaulStarita?, TonyComper?, etc ...
Later, at Royal Trust, Bill tolerated my unsolicited proposal to create a Product Initiatives Laboratory for the Trilon group of companies (Royal Trust, London Life, Royal Lepage, ...) which was the start of the database work I remain interested in and have pursued since 1992 at DataFix?. The original lab work (co-funded by Trilon and IBM) went on to become GTE's System IV, which captured 40% of the American market of Real Estate Board listing systems before the dot.com bubble burst.
One of my tasks in those days was recording 'Secretary' for the Trilon Technology Advisory board which gave me the chance to recruit some great people including PaulLindfors?, who you may have run into in your IBM days.
Regards, -- hwo.
Nice to hear from you, Hans! Yes, BmoMech is one of the things that I take quite a bit of pride in! I'm sorry I missed you there - I had left in 1975. Tony has done pretty well - I tell people that I helped to train him (I did, but only in programming!)! There are very few of the original team still there, or even still working in IT! (Ivan Laycock just retired after 40+ years - maybe you remember him).
(Want to take a stab at a BmoMech page?) -- PaulMorrison
Paul:
Sorry I've been unable to respond more quickly but, occasionally, I still seem to have to process unexpected pre-emptive interrupts on a priority basis, in spite of my best attempts at an effective task schedule.
I have, however, been giving quite a bit of thought to the BmoMech page suggestion. In reviewing what I could add, I became concerned that my favorite stories may only be acceptable to others if they are told in moderation, and then only if accompanied with liberal amounts of beer. This is probably because most of them should be classified as urban legends, given that they were told at the louisiannaPurchase, Bmo's equivalent of the communal firepit, in my day. PremAgrawal? did me the courtesy of introducing the newest Canadian IbmFellow? there last month, since he knows I am a bit of a Groupie in that context, having met KenIverson and RobertCourtney?, as well as CarlCorcoran?.
Who's the latest Canadian IbmFellow??
In any event, I think it might be a better idea to collaborate in a way that might be helpful. Perhaps I am just motivated by the recent problems which I find such an unacceptable failure of basic Change Control as I know it from my days at Bmo. Given what I learned about the time period you were involved, I suspect you may also have valuable views on this.
Comments? Regards, -- hwo.
I have never had the pleasure of working at the Royal, but I have worked on 2 versions of COLT, and I believe that, in hindsight, the RAM was brilliant to have chosen the home-grown route - I believe Mech was, and still is, light-years ahead of the competition! Re the web page cited above, of course a programmer put some characters in the wrong place - the rest looks like memo-post troubles. Many years ago, I and about 4 other programmers spent 3 days chasing a single bit - people don't seem to realize how "brittle" software is (highly malleable when wet, then shatters easily when dry)! BTW If you are suggesting collaborating over a beer, I'm game! -- PaulMorrison
I'm delighted to hear that you worked on COLT too since that will obviously give your comments added perspective.
Throughout the years I've worked, I've frequently heard two individuals cited as 'brilliant' at least in terms of their foresight; RaMcDougall (RAM), and Dr. KenTucker? who was the driving force behind the development of CanadaPost?'s Postal Code system. Sadly, I missed both of them and have only hearsay and the accumulated evidence at my disposal. In the context of the RAM's foresight, I had the opportunity in doing Mech's 'Direct Line Banking' enhancement to see a couple of the business facets of this too. -- HansWobbe
EditText of this page
(last edited April 19, 2006)
or FindPage with title or text search