The troubled maker of expensive printer Ink, HP is having to shrug off another indicator that things are not well.

The outfits chief strategy and technology officer Shane Robison has said sod this for a game of soldiers and retired at the tender age of 57. He has been working with HP for 11-years.

It is not he sort of news the outfit wants. HP is pondering a sale or spinoff of its core personal computing division and trying to assure skeptical investors it can restructure to return to growth.

Robison, who was an important figure in crafting long-term strategy for the largest U.S. technology company through mergers and acquisitions and research and development, will not be replaced. Whitman said that in an effort to drive strategy, research and development closer to the company's businesses, it will not be replacing the role of chief strategy and technology officer.