| Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 23:30:38 -0800 | 03 00050 61 02022302 |
Mr. Garold L. Johnson
dynalt@dynalt.com
Dynamic Alternatives
http://www.dynalt.com/
City, St Zip
| Subject: | SDS promotion and 10% Rule |
Dear Gary,
Don't know you if you glance at the OHS/DKR stuff, but a recent letter attributed Andy Grove with arguing that new methods have to be 10 times better to get adopted. Andy got that idea from Drucker, who likely got it from Adam Smith, who got it from..., but, in any case I agree with that formulation.
There are some things SDS helps by a factor of 10+, e.g., creating a connected record, and what might be loosely called "memory." The trouble is that people are wired to get by with remembering only about 5% of the gist of things. (see 2 para in POIMS).
So, paying for intelligence, which otherwise seems free, is not an obvious thing to do until enabling forces begin to grow, as stock prices fall, you lose your job and the house, and planes knock down office buildings.
Disruptions bring incentive to work intelligently, as you say to "improve."
In any event, experience shows, that if Com Metrics is launched by some miracle, then folks are very happy with savings and the sense of relief that things get done on time and within budget. The dilemma on this point is evident from the record on January 10, 1997 after SDS had been terminated at USACE, but I was still hanging around, because I was told a new contract was being prepared that never got done; but, this record is instructive.
One of the things that makes people happy with SDS is alluded to in your letter today discussing the "10% rule."
The record is always created in a way that shows the client is effective, and that staff comments in meetings are aligned with objectives, requirements and commitments. SDS provides context that is out of sight and so out of mind. Continual reminders in SDS expand span of attention. Don't want to leave the impression that people are misquoted. People are almost never quoted at all, but rather the record of the meeting is constructed in a way that is useful for getting things done, and people grasp this fairly quickly. Once people begin relying on the record, which is otherwise never done in common practice, then the work starts improving.
If time permits, take a look at the record on October 17, 1996.
To make a long story short, this record is a meeting shortly after SDS was started at the Corps, so the methodology was new and encountered initial resistance. It took courage for Max to keep it going. But, compare a few months later, when even the contractor, who opposed SDS in meetings and every which way, finally recognized that intelligence is the contractor's best friend.
Notice you never see Welch's name in the record. The Com Manager's name never appears because all of the credit for figuring things out, solving problems and formulating initiatives, goes to others. This has proven to be an effective method for garnering support for SDS, once on the job. Of course, if SDS is not put to work, people cannot discover the benefits of intelligence. You bring out the fact that you cannot oversell, so its tricky to get started.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net