THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 00:30:56 -0700
03 00050 61 03050801
Mr. Garold L. Johnson
Modeling and Simulation
Boeing
3370 Mira Loma Avenue
PO Box 3105
Anaheim, CA 92803
..
Subject:
CS Staff Meeting Notes Shows Good Com Metrics Practice
SDS Records Facilitate Meetings -- Before and After
Dear Gary,
Your record today on the CS staff meeting has a solid tone that shows new
information tied to objectives, requirements and commitments. This produces
useful
organizational memory,
as explained in POIMS, and so is excellent Com
Metrics practice. Somehow this same tone and comprehension of meaning does not
come through in the TEM records. As we discussed, the TEM records have
been a good learning exercise that is paying off in subsequent work, like the
meeting today.
..
Good to see more action items identified today. Before long the team will be
needing action item review meetings. An
example
is the record on November 26,
1996.
..
A few months ago on
January 8, Morris mentioned frustrations and worry when people
game the action item system.
Tasks are reported complete in order to avoid accountability for delay,
then a new action is opened
under a different name for the same thing. This piles
up a record showing stellar performance, when in fact things are not getting
done;
soon the job is a mess,
as you related on October 6, 2001. Assume Boeing
will have action item management programs similar to those available from
Microsoft, Oracle, Primavera, et al.
..
The character of your record today on the CS Staff meeting illustrates
advantage of providing links to original context that makes people effective
for getting things done. Merely describing an action to be taken soon becomes
useless verbiage. Without context, over time, people forget the scope and then
the meaning, and so fail to perform, until a problem occurs, then cover mode
gears up. However, when the original sources has explanation of what is
needed, why, where the resources are to do the work, and links to controlling
authority, as you have done today, this becomes a powerful asset for helping
people get things done. Empowering people to get things done quickly and
accurately brings satisfaction and credit for accomplishment that reduces fear
and worry about being held accountability for failure to perform. Consequently
less time is invested "gaming" the system to avoid accountability, which in
turn increases the time available for doing the work. As discussed on October
6, 2001, this why a
little intelligence
changes the dynamic on the job from a
spiral of defeat and entropy where people are overwhelmed by information, into
into an engine of cascading productivity and confidence.
..
SDS records applied through Communication Metrics enable people to
be prepared before a meeting, and then after the meeting people are empowered
to get things done correctly and on time through accurate
understanding and timely follow up. This idea is summarized by the notion of
listening, reviewed on August 9, 1989, and yields a
new and more comprehensive way of
facilitating
a meeting.
..
SDS is not designed to provide a verbatim transcript of what was said, as with
traditional meeting minutes. SDS enables a new way of working for a Com
Manager to provide guidance and resources to get the right things done on time
and within budget by adding
analysis
that adds value to what is actually said.
..
In the meantime, you might consider visiting with your boss about whether you
should be following up action items, or how he wants to handle it?
..
Your record on the CS Staff Meeting today shows a link at
line 091060
concerning Steve and Bruce; recall that links need dates. Entering the date
for every link as a discipline does lots of good things for the writer and the
reader, and it only takes a second or two.
..
We also need some headlines and record segments -- but, again,
the narrative is excellent.
..
For example, a lot of problems are identified in the CS Staff Meeting record,
but are not attributed to anyone. This raises issues without raising
temperatures. You do attribute interesting questions and comments to a wide
range of attendees. That is another task for the Com Manager -- get everybody
involved and contributing "intelligent" comments. This encourages constructive
feedback to clarify the record, rather than emotional attacks and retribution.
..
Your record today provides the kind of common story of daily work that people
hunger for; they become curious about what good things they will be saying at
the next meeting, and are pleased that there is record of their good work for
everyone to see. Soon they will want to come and talk to you, because they
will have discovered that talking to Gary gets in the record, and the record
adds value to whatever is said by triangulation with organizational memory, so
that there is an ongoing comprehensive story that empowers everyone to take
complementary action. Distributing SDS records enables people to, in turn,
be prepared for doing the work and attending the next meeting, where they can
spread "intelligence" rather than spread guess and gossip. This is a powerful
new way of working to "facilitate" a meeting.
..
I guess you can see I liked these notes.