Dynamic Alternatives
http://www.dynalt.com/
City, St Zip
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 08:04:15 -0700
Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
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Subject:
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SDS Needs Time to Learn
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Rod,
[Responding to your letter last night... ]
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I understand all to well the problem of trying to learn any new tool or
process when there is pressure to "get something done". I experience it with
every new editor, computer language, design tool - everything new. Practice
must be done on non-critical tasks were it doesn't matter if it takes too
long or I make mistakes.
One advantage to not being deluged with information is that I can afford to
"play" with tools.
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I have no problem with starting to learn SDS as soon as we can make that
happen. I cannot likely provide a good test of SDS, but by tracking the
sorts of questions and issues that I run into, perhaps we can get some idea
of how best to present SDS features to people who have never used it before.
Every new user has only one shot at being totally new to a tool, and that
one shot can provide valuable information about the problems experienced in
learning.
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Thanks,
Garold (Gary) L. Johnson
Sincerely,
Garold L. Johnson
dynalt@dynalt.com
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Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
..
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 9:43 PM
Dynamic Alternatives
http://www.dynalt.com/
City, St Zip
..
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Subject:
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SDS Needs Time to Learn
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Gary,
In our recent discussions you have commented that the current interim period
between assignments with Boeing would not provide enough activity for pilot
testing the SDS program.
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In my experience, this time between assignments with Boeing is ideal for
starting to learn SDS, similar to taking a class to learn another software
program, learn a new engineering discipline, or get an MBA degree.
If you were on the job, there would be no time to learn, because you need to be
using what you already know in order to get things done. The pressure to find
time for learning SDS would be very frustrating, as occurred with Morris,
indicated, for example, by the report on February 15, 1992. These days it is a
little easier to provide support from a distance, which was not available in
1992, but there is much to learn in SDS and so it takes a block of time to
become acclimated, as Morris noted earlier on August 9, 1989.
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How do we write a letter in SDS? How do we get a letter received from
someone into SDS so it can be managed? How do we schedule a task? How
do we use SDS flexible record structures? How do we create subjects?
How do we look up a subject to find a record or assemble a report?
What about contacts? How are publications managed? How do we create a
"dynamic knowledge repository" (DKR) on the Internet to distribute
anytime, anywhere intel? These things take time to learn.
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So, this is another chicken and egg issue. My feeling is that having
a block of time to experiment, get frustrated, make mistakes that
don't matter, don't hold anyone up, when you have time to call for
help -- is all ideal for starting to work with SDS.
Bill DeHart and Wayne Wetzel are good sources for information on the
learning curve. They can be reached at the address shown above.
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I am not a good source on the learning curve, because having created
the stuff, it has grown with me as the need arises.
It would be great to have another person who can see new needs and
develop new solutions.
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Sincerely,
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net