I will happily monopolize the Q&A section if no one else has questions.
One other person I talked to said he would be happy just to hear drtaylor talk about his days/projects at Fluke.
Growing up questions- What sparked your interest in electronics?
- What was the first multimeter you ever used?
Fluke Company questions- How did you get the job at Fluke?
- What was the interview process like? Did John Fluke interview you at all?
- What was the culture and employees like at Fluke when John Fluke was around?
- What was the new Everett campus like ($42 Million, 500,000 square feet in 1981)? Is it anything like the typical Silicon Valley campus of today?
- What were some of John Fluke's values that he instilled into employees?
- Did John Fluke ever talk about the irony of competing against his former room mates (HP) in the T&M field?
- What was the biggest blunder/oops Fluke Corporation made while you were there and how did they deal with it?
- Did the idea of "accidentally" dropping Fluke meters or throwing them out windows in front of prospective customers ever fail as a sales pitch?
8000 related questions- Can you discuss some of the biggest challenges in producing the 8020A and 8060A?
- What did you learn from the 8020A team and how did that help you later with the 8060A?
- Who else in the world, at the time of the 8020A, was making handheld multimeters that were good competitors? For example, was Yokogawa (resold as HP) or Hioki serious contenders or was the competition mainly American like Beckman and Keithley?
- Was the manufacturing process hand made/soldered or automated back then?
- Who were some of the key team members and what did they contribute?
- What technologies were "firsts/leading edge" in the 8000 series at that time?
- How did you select components back when there was no easily accessible datasheets like there is today on the Internet?
- How many 8060A prototypes were built before the final design was approved/manufactured?
- What compromises were made on the 8060A, if any, were made with respect to time, budget and management factors?
- Did you ever do a post-mortem on the dead 8060As that came back for repair to see why they failed? If yes, what was the biggest problem?
- What is the best customer story that you heard about using the 8060A to solve a problem?
Design questions- In the repair department, what did you learn to make products better from a design point of view? For example, did you design/add test points so that they were more easily accessible?
- When the 8020A was designed, what was the expected life expectancy of the meter?
- When the 8060A was designed, what was the expected life expectancy of the meter? Other than the electrolytic caps going bad after 25+ years, did you ever expect the 8060A to last this long?
- How much thought went into the ease of use and user interface into your designs?
70 series related questions- Was the 70 series a catch up product to some of the offerings from Beckman (rotary switch, 1500 hour battery life, rubber holster)?
- Beckman made an ad stating each multimeter was burned in for at least 100 hours and then calibrated. Did Fluke have the same process for the 70 series?
- As an "outsider" and working at Wavetek, were you surprised at the success of the 70 series? Or did the early stages of design, teamwork, look at the competition, etc give indication that it would be a home run?
DMM related questions- What is your favourite non Fluke branded handheld multimeter?
- How do you feel about the 7106 (Fluke/Intersil dispute) being ubiquitous in almost every low cost multimeter today?
PS. I will edit this thread/reorganize for a better flow before the amphour show as I think of more questions.