Y2K Sandglass

One of the many computer companies offering products or services to assist with transitioning to the year 2000 was TSR, Inc. They provided “Catch 21” a Y2K software solution for IBM-based computer systems. Although Guardian Life Insurance Company did not use the software, they did use the TSR marketing gift, a three-minute sand timer encased in clear and blue acrylic.

Since the Y2K project had an unchangeable completion date, deadlines had to be met, decisions needed to be made without delay, and the people who could make high level decisions had to attend scheduled meetings. This sand timer was used at several meetings to reinforce these points. If given a response of “we need to get back to you,” the Assistant Project Director would set the timer on the table and give them until the sand ran out for a decision.

The project was completed on time and Guardian encountered no application outages or loss of business with the transition to the new millennium!

References: [last accessed 2019-09-23]

https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/tsr-inc-announces-retirement-of-chairman-ceo-joseph-f-hughes-2017-07-05

https://trsconsulting.com/trs-consulting-about-us/

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