By Roberto Di Cosmo on Sunday, October 9 2016, 16:15 - Informatique et Société

It is sometimes important to stop for a second what we are doing, and ask ourselves some basic questions. Why are we here? What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What do we want to achieve?

In order to find the answers that best fit us, it is useful to look back at what were the answers given by other people that we respect.

In one of my cherished fields, Computer Science, a few examples shed some light, and I would like to share a few pointers, starting from an excerpt of a speech to HP managers, given in March 8, 1960, by Dave Packard.

He said:

I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company's existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively which they could not accomplish separately.

Yes, the sense of accomplishment is one strong feeling, and it can be more rewarding than the feeling of owning something like a hefty bank account.