THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:43:25 -0800
03 00050 61 03031701
Dr. Jeff Conklin
CogNexus Institute
304 Arbutus Drive
Edgewater, MD 21037
..
Subject:
Transformation to New Role for New Way of Working
New Realities of New World Order Require New Work Role
Facilitator for IBIS Meetings Step Toward Transformation
Dear Jeff,
Responding to
your letter
today on IBIS and dialog mapping, John Deneen and Jack Park both
mentioned recently in a telephone call that the group
collaborating on Eugene Kim's Blueoxen website
made good progress using
IBIS,
and then ran aground for reasons of personality.
..
Today, I took time to investigate and noticed the subject of discussion
was "Connecting the dots..." which sounds in cognitive science and
communication practices. Looking at some of the correspondence showed only
discussion of looming war with Iraq, which is important, but off the path from
the nominal goal to develop tools that help people
"Connect the dots...." for
better understanding and follow up. Of course practical experience can
yield ideas that aid development.
..
In any case I jumped ahead and found
your letter
today and just want to second
two (2) of your points.
..
Your call for a
work role
to make communication effective fits the model for using SDS.
POIMS describes a process of adding
intelligence
to information. We need not quibble about a name so
long as there is a role to complement the accountant, who aligns
daily finances with budgets, by also
aligning daily communication
with objectives, requirements and commitments. Experience shows that
when communications are lined up, the accountant's job is a lot easier.
..
Second, your point #4 saying in part "it is
misguided (and
perhaps dangerous) to think that such complex issues are served
by quantitative schemes, such as putting weights on arguments or
voting." Last August there was further
retreat from accurate communication
arguing that people have voted against linking for alignment to
verify information and expand span of attention. Accuracy of
"informal" communication in email, meetings, etc., was
dismissed as unimportant. ..
I fear a massive
cultural drift
is turning the bedrock of
civilization into mere shifting sand, as reviewed on September 27, 2002.
Evidence is so deep and
pervasive that people overlook, ignore and deny reality that
has become part of the landscape, until tragedy explodes
before our eyes with
loss of the Columbia Space Shuttle and her crew,
reported a few weeks ago
on March 4.
..
More to your point about the
danger of applying conventional
metrics
to communication, this has been a continuing battle
ground, as related on February 4, 1995.
..
So, thanks again for presenting important points with clarity and
purpose that foster advance to a culture of knowledge.