020616; Dynamic Alternatives: SDS and market research

Dynamic Alternatives
http://www.dynalt.com/
City, St Zip

Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2002 09:19:07 -0700

Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
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Subject: SDS and market research

Rod,

I agree with the point that market research is not appropriate for determining market size for disruptive technologies.
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http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/99/05/27/094458.HTM#4720
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An approach that I do consider makes sense is to model potential users needs as clearly as we can so that we can demonstrate how features of the program provide benefits that the users can appreciate. That connection hasn't yet been made for people like Jack Park, who thinks it is an "interesting idea" but doesn't provide anything he thinks most people need.
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Both Jack's view and yours on email...

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/01/09/08/093820.HTM#0001

...have merit.
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I don't consider that it is an "or" question.

Consider the scenario - you and I are each running separate instances of SDS each with a sharable portion on the web. Using SDS to construct email and then sending it provides a way to add intelligence to the construction of the content. If SDS can then take that "remote record" and incorporate it directly so that it will be available for reference, I think we can combine some of the immediacy of email with the thought and consideration of content construction needed for good management. This is similar to the approach you take when you reference an HTML letter, except that the letter is HTML rather than an SDS record.
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The market research argument is that market sizes for a disruptive technology cannot be determined from market research. On the other hand, such products are under far much more pressure to provide early adopters with benefits that they can appreciate and brag about.
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This is one reason for wanting to supply connections to some of the tools that are in use now.
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Even more to the point, tools such as email are in widespread use for what many consider good reasons. Whether the reasons they cite are the correct ones is open to debate, but attempting to identify what features of a tool are the real reason for popularity is a perfectly sensible thing to do when developing a disruptive technology.
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Among the useful features of email are:

It is direct to a person (peer-to-peer if you will) rather than general to a newsgroup or something similar.
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It announces itself so that I don't have to perform queries for new information. This makes it useful for announcements of changes to such things as databases or web pages.
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It is fast in the sense that I can use the same tool to respond that I use to read it. I also have the original communication at hand when I do this.

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Among the problems with email are:

It does not result in an organized record without help. The style is familiar rather than documentary, and there is little to no support for organizing the information contained in emails.
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It is too easy to give "off the cuff" responses without looking at the history of the particular "thread", resulting in all of the ills you ascribe to it.

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In order to provide a record from email, it is necessary to extract it and often reword it. It is necessary to connect the content to other information in the same subject to see where it fits in with the entire subject. It would seem that there is value then, in being able to access an email at the same time you are working in SDS. Whether that means that it makes sense to be able to import an email into SDS is an open question.
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The ability to generate an email from an SDS record is clearly valuable. The more seamless these can be the better.
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Consider if emails needing analysis and response could be flagged in some way and then show up in the SDS to do list or inbox for processing. To the extent that this can be done, SDS comes a step closer to being the place where a manager spends the bulk of his time.
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Thanks,

Sincerely,

Dynamic Alternatives

Garold L. Johnson
dynalt@dynalt.com

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-----Original Message-----

The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
415 781 5700

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Sent: Saturday, June 15, 2002 12:31 PM

Mr. Garold L. Johnson
dynalt@dynalt.com
Dynamic Alternatives
http://www.dynalt.com/
City, St Zip
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Subject: SDS more memory, Morris/Brandon on Right Track

Gary,

Thanks for comments on this. We have a good team working on the interim solution now.
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Look forward to progress on SRS for next generation of SDS, per telecon yesterday.

Perhaps when you get to a reasonable level you can ask Morris for comments.
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Morris emphasized on 010720 the importance of getting 500K customers in order to justify investing time for making it faster and easier to work intelligently.

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/01/07/20/202618.HTM#OB8F
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Right now customers for intelligence are latent, struggling to use stream of conscious methods supported by IT that everybody likes, e.g., email, wordprocessing, Powerpoint, meetings, calls, noted by Jack Park on 010908...

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/01/09/08/093820.HTM#0001
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...and later on 011003 by Eric Armstrong...

http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/01/10/03/160603.HTM#EC5N

Since these methods are missing ingredients that integrate time and information for adding intelligence to daily management, noted by Bill DeHart at PG&E on 000709....
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http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/07/09/141622.HTM#2419

...demand is growing for saving time and money by strengthening accountability to improve productivity, earnings and stock prices, reported on 020204....
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http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/02/02/04/170105.HTM#0001

The work you are doing and work Morris is doing with the Microsoft staff to extend the life of the initial version of SDS, make it more possible for a broader base of people to see the light, as explained in NWO....
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http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#7055

Thanks.

Sincerely,

The Welch Company

Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net