| March 7, 2000 | 03 00050 61 00030701 |
Mr. Jon Bondy
jbondy@sover.net
| Subject: | SDS Evaluation |
Dear Jon,
Glad to hear in your letter today that the explanation of SDS was helpful. When Dick was by a week or so ago to observe SDS, he, too, recommended an easy to understand explanation be posted to the web. The language he submitted to the Colloquium at Stanford, and the letter developed for you yesterday, can be incorporated into the Com Metrics home page. Thanks for the feedback, and feel free to offer more suggestions.
SDS is for sale, but I am afraid that if I just sell it, or even give it to you, and you try to experiment, you will be disappointed. What has worked best is for me to do an asisgnment with people, so they have someone to provide training and support, while they get comfortable learning SDS. Think of it like the early scribe. SDS is an advance on the alphabet, and so in the beginning we need to transition people in acquiring the power of a stronger knowledge capability. I know that sounds flowery, but consider Tom Keesling at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report that after a year of explanation and demonstrations, once I was on the job and started using SDS, their team discovered the application was much different from what they had expected. The pressures of daily work prevent people from investing the time to learn SDS, and put up with a few frustrtions that go with complex tools. Whereas, adding a scribe and facilitator, demonstrates SDS capability and reduces the pressures of daily work by helping to get things done.
For the Corps of Engineers I did a few meetings to demonstrate work product, what I call "intelligence." The agreement was that if they decided the work product was not useful, they did not have to pay for it. They liked the sample work product, and so we entered into a contract for Communication Metrics, as set out in the scope of services. After a 3 month pilot test, they made plans to purchase SDS and get training. This was a major opportunity to build a base of experienced users. However, the Commander disapproved. The staff spent the next two years seeking approval, but were unsuccessful. The government likely overpaid by about $15M to indulge a commanders feelings that his staff should have been doing everything SDS does. Incidentally, a good way to describe Knowledge Management, the current darling of the high tech crowd:
It all seems so simple, yet is elusive without the SDS tool. But this case history, that wound up costing people jobs (Tom finally quit the Corps) shows the level of feeling that gets wraped up in this kind of capability. People prefer to buy off mistakes rather than let SDS do its work. That suggests this is not a great business model. It is, however, the best we have at the "beginning of the revolution," so to speak.
As I told Dick, I would be happy to provide the program for you free of charge, and discuss on the phone some of the details on using it, but that has not worked well in the past. You can discuss this directly with Max Blodgett, Chief of Construction at the Corps (415 977 8444), or Wayne Wetzel, Deputy Director of DNRC in Montana (406 444 6722), or Bill DeHart with PG&E (415 973 1014).
I am very grateful that you asked about this, and regret having to offer up a long tale to a simple question. Wish there was a better way to move forward.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net