July 27, 1999 | 03 00050 61 99072701 |
Ms. Deidra-Ann Parrish
Contributing Editor
Micro Times
1300 Clay Street #820
Oakland, CA 94612
Subject: | Project Management: It Ain't Just the Software |
Micro Times July 21, 1999, Page 41 Communication Main Factor of Success |
Dear Ms. Parrish:
Thanks for an excellent article on the need for balance between tools and skills to manage projects. One quibble is that more emphasis might be given to communication support in the face of limited time and span of attention. An article in Fortune on June 21 reports that CEOs at GM, IBM, AT&T..., everywhere, fail because they don't grab a pen and write up understandings and assigments at the conclusion of meetings.
Andy Grove, says in his book, Only the Paranoid Survive, that he writes copious notes to discover and fix ambiguity in conversation, email and voicemail. Few people realize that discovering critical secrets, what might be called business intelligence, begins with your craft: writing to analyse the record. Fortune says most CEOs expect subordinates to write things up; but, nobody has time, and not everyone has the skill to prepare a useful record.
Solving information overload might make a good article that explores the blend of skills and tools to tackle this new challenge?
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
Post Script