The story is that the reason Boeing got eaten by McDonnell Douglas is because the MD execs were meaner than the Boeing execs and they used their sharp elbows to take over a company that was objectively doing better than they were. And it started showing signs of unravelling on the first airplane they built under the new regime and has only gotten worse since.

The 787 did something Boeing vowed they would never ever do. They let Mitsubishi build the wings of the 787. They’ve never let a supplier do that. The wings are the heart of the airplane. I am completely amazed that Mitsubishi never progressed past commuter jets after that project (and I believe they shut that division down about 5-10 years ago). Just unfathomably dumb.

I don’t know what we in software need to learn from this. I don’t think being meaner makes anything better, but maybe more assertive is the answer.