Subject: Galapagos Times, Vol 1 Ren 26
From: Laura Kusumoto
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 11:43:30 +0200
To: all@digi.lego.com

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         The Galapagos Times
         an email newsletter

  SPU-Darwin, LEGO A/S, Planet Earth
   Dateline Thursday, May 14, 1998

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Stories this week
-----------------
* LEGO Digital on the TV tonight!
* Status meeting today!
* Flood tally
* July holiday planning
* Keeping cool at LMX
* Financial health at Darwin 
* Shhhh-Cybermaster's secret prize


LEGO Digital on TV tonight!
============================
Digital play at LEGO takes a giant leap forward as Kjeld Kirk
Kristiansen, Director of The LEGO Group, appears on television tonight
as a LEGO minifigure in a virtual world called DYNASTY. On April 27,
Kjeld donned a motion-tracking outfit at the WiZard Group facility in
Billund. Wearing this high-tech suit he walked around in a 3-D, computer
graphics castle, appearing as a knight in LEGO's digital play world. The
event was taped for later broadcast on television. 

The national broadcast is happening tonight, on TV Channel DR1's program
'Penge Magasinet' (Money Magazine). Tune in at 21:25 to see our knight
in digital armor!

Few financial TV programs have been so thrilling! After an interview on
financial matters at LEGO, Kjeld takes the stage and enters DYNASTY.
With the help of some high-tech wizardry he's transported into the LEGO
Batlord's Castle. After a brief walk around the fortress, he beams up
into the tower where he reads a magic scroll and gazes into a crystal
ball. The message he sees from the top management is clear: Digital LEGO
is a part of the LEGO Group's future! 


Status meeting
==============
Our next all-Darwin staff meeting is at 2 pm today in the LMX building.
It is at these meetings where Lars Bo is keeping Darwin informed as to
the status of the LEGO reorganization.


Flood tally
===========
We're putting together the final tally of our losses from the flood last
week. Please send to mailto:reception a report of any hours that you
spent recovering from the flood as well as property damage, by the end
of today.

In other disaster news, we've recovered quickly from the general strike,
but everyone should understand that some deliveries and repairs still
are delayed as a result of that conflict.


Keeping cool at LMX
====================
LEGO Facilities is working on "cool" solutions for summer 1998, but if
you're feeling hot-headed already, you can record your complaint, or
place an order for a personal table fan, with our Facilities
coordinator, mailto:karina@digi.lego.com.

Devise an effective cooling system for this building is a real
head-scratcher. After all no one wants to invest in this building
anymore. The cost of cooling the entire LMX building would be DKK
2,000,000. We don't want to buy that--we'd rather spend that money on
moving out of the building. The preferred solution is to move all
humanoids out of it. But that cannot happen in time to escape summer
temperatures. So, what can we do?

Here's the plan, still undergoing quotation and refinement:
* Repair the air conditioning unit that is above the Admin/multimedia
area (repair was completed yesterday).
* Cool the DOGs area. This is very expensive in itself, but the
combination of machines and people in that small room make it the most
uncomfortable area in the building.
* Add ventilation to the upstairs, and ventilation and air circulation
to the other hot spots in the project areas.


July holiday planning
=====================
One way that many Darwinians will avoid the summer heat at work will be
to take the standard LEGO holiday in July. 

However, not all of our project plans allow for this holiday. In
particular, the Burning Rubber project will be in the final throes of
its testing cycles. The Burning Rubber, quality assurance, and parts of
the DOGs team will be here in July.

How about you and your team? Are you planning to be here? Do you need
specific support services? Although our computer systems will be
supported, we will not have other administrative services unless you
specifically ask for them. Please let us know at
mailto:reception@digi.lego.com.


Financial health at Darwin
==========================
Early in 1998 it became obvious that Darwin needed to pay more attention
to our finances. There were two clues: 
1. Our 1997 financial results did not match expectations for 1997. 
2. The LEGO Group was asking all departments to cut costs.

>From March to the present day, we have been working quietly yet
furiously to clean up the financial records and systems. This overhaul
is taking a long time, because Darwin has outgrown its financial systems
from the early days. Lots of labor goes into just keeping things going
now. 

However, progress is being made. Things really started moving when we
hired a full-time, professional accountant in late March: Soeren
Petersen from Ernst and Young. Soeren has been working with Jeanett
Baecksted and providing operational support for managers (budgeting,
follow-up). Together with Darwin management, Jeanett, and LEGO Finance,
he is designing refinements to our systems and policies. Moreover, Hans
Knudsen of LEGO Finance is helping, too. He is doing some Microsoft
Excel hacking for us, converting our awkward budgeting tools (requiring
lots of interpretation, Danish language understanding, and manual data
entry) into organized, programmed, linked spreadsheets.

These efforts will pay off-- in greater predictability, greater
efficiency - over time. Already we have a clearer and more timely
picture of our expenditures in 1998.

The support of all Darwinians is appreciated in efforts like these. Your
time sheets, for example, are essential to bringing in the income, the
"life blood," of our operations. Stay tuned for upcoming new financial
gadgets (including time registration on-line) and published procedures.


Shhhh-- Cybermaster's secret prize 
==================================
Remember that announcement from Bo Nielsen, about how Cybermaster has
won a "Best Toy" prize in Holland? Everyone wanted to know more. So our
Galapagos Times investigative reporter, Gytte Noergaard, dug for the
details.

It turns out that Bo got a "pre-announcement" of a prize that will not
be awarded until September. The winners are being told, but we are also
asked to keep it quiet until September. So-shhhh-Cybermaster won some
kind of prize but we shouldn't talk about it yet. Save those champagne
bottles until September.


Tak for Talk
============
Thanks to Dandi for his press release about the TV show tonight! Please
mail your suggestions and contributions for future issues of the
Galapagos Times to the editor, Laura Kusumoto at
mailto:laura@digi.lego.com

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  Laura Kusumoto, Director of Operations
  LEGO A/S SPU-Darwin, Kloevermarken 120, DK-7190 Billund, Denmark
  Phone:  (+45) 75-33-11-88 x 5187, Fax: (+45) 75-35-47-19
  Email:  laura@digi.lego.com                 http://www.LEGO.com
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