The story of the graphing calculator

A mainstay of high school math classes, it almost didn't make it.  Here's how the story starts:

I used to be a contractor for Apple, working on a secret project. Unfortunately, the computer we were building never saw the light of day. The project was so plagued by politics and ego that when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead. In August 1993, the project was canceled. A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed.

I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up.

It is yet another illustration of how technical breakthroughs are sometimes accomplished inspite of management theory, managers, staff managers, facilitators, focus groups, ... , not because of them.

It's a great story -- read the whole article.