D R A F T #2

CEMP-EC

December 18, 1998



Memorandum For The Record

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Subject:

Com Metrics Supports USACE Strategic Vision

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The San Francisco District reports initial success using Communication Metrics, and recommends consideration for wider study and pilot testing by the Corps. ref 1 - 4. We concur and request comment from the Information Management Directorate and others. (see Questions for Implementation Planning, below)
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Communication Metrics is a generic intelligence role that supports daily management, like the CIA's function to organize, align, analyse and summarize daily information for the President. New skills and technology may comprise a new management science that makes this role cost effective on a broader scale, down to the District level. USACE's conversion to all electronic media makes Communication Metrics a next logical step to achieve cost savings of a paperless office.
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New science necessarily requires new terms and using familiar phrases in new ways that require experience to grasp meaning and implications. (see Question #3)
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Intelligence in this context means information from meetings, calls, email and documents that is linked by chronology into patterns of cause and effect to reveal alignment with requirements and commitments so that planning and decisions are adequately supported, as set out in the CESPN report on Mar 28, 1997, ref 1. The Communication Metrics web site defines terminology, benefits and implementation.
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The Chief Engineer's Strategic Vision charges the Corps to prepare for new realities of the 21st century. A critical new reality is the increase in the flow of information from meetings, calls, email and documents. Everyday, documents and email pile up causing mistakes and missed opportunities due to information overload.
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Large organizations and projects require a lot of meetings, memos, email and reports that spawn information overload. There is not enough time to obtain feedback and produce analysis that yields shared meaning for coordinated and complementary action. The result is diverse meaning and conflicting actions that cause rework, lost time and extra expense, as explained in NWO. A study by US Air Force Institute of Technology reviewed on July 7, 1977 found that DOD procurement fails to meet time and cost targets because management degrades to entropy when traditional information management systems are overwhelmed, Leadership requires focused understanding and clear direction aligned with organizational vision, goals, objectives, policies, regulations, law, contracts, correspondence and memos. Getting things done requires clear Action Items that can be systematically followed up. This is a big job due to new realities of information overload in the 21st century.
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Experience in the San Francisco District shows the scope of services for Communication Metrics provides the tools, skills and allocation of time for a new work role to deliver intelligence that solves this problem.
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On Oct 7, 1997 CESPN reported savings of 6:1 relative to the cost of Communication Metrics. In a test evaluation over three months, the district estimated direct savings of $317K at a cost of less than $50K, based on analysis of avoiding rework due to mistakes arising from limited span of attention. More recently district counsel reported with "certainty" that Communication Metrics saved the government an additional $190K by avoiding liability for a regulatory fine. This savings in the range of 10:1 warrants further investigation to determine sustainable cost/benefits.
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USACE problem areas that can be helped by Communication Metrics include staff meetings, inter-agency meetings, projects, regulatory and environmental management. Issues in the latter areas often stretch out over years. Linking chronology of disparate events to maintain continuity, and to obtain context of rulings, is vital to avoid misapplication, extra cost and delay. Communication Metrics tools and methods provide a solution.
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Intelligence work requires a combination of technology and good communication skills for preparing analysis and obtaining feedback. Skill sets are identified by the prototype scope of services in the CESPN report issued on Mar 28, 1997. Training would be provided to use technology that automates in substantial degree tasks to organize, align and summarize information, so that a few people can produce useful intelligence to build and maintain shared meaning for a lot of people, such as a project or command group, e.g., Division, District, Branch, etc.
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Support technology, called the Schedule Diary System (SDS), integrates time and information management by building webs of related chronologies based on subject content. SDS manages documents, contacts and action items using a unique environment that connects what is planned and actually done, with its predicate or history. Linking cause and effect in this way meets established management standards that require traceability to original sources. (see ISO criteria for PM) CEMP-EC has not worked directly with this software. We have used work product prepared by SDS, i.e., intelligence, delivered via Internet that makes available, more or less instantly, decision support chronologies using hypertext links.
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The links in this report illustrate the methodology. Correspondence in ref 6, below, further demonstrates using Communication Metrics on the Internet.
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The developer, Rod Welch, explains that SDS integrates planning and scheduling tasks as daily action items based on regular analysis of management decisions and work activity. This is a broader effort than traditional "information management." One unique feature is the ability to link backward and forward in time to show patterns of cause and effect that impact decisions, results and costs. Since pattern recognition is a powerful part of human intelligence, this capability might be said to leverage human acuity in a new and powerful way that can help the Corps.
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Like "Project Management" that has evolved over the past 20 years as a new professional discipline, Communication Metrics is a process to improve management effectiveness. One way management is improved is through continual analysis of daily details for issues that require action. A key part of "analysis" is linking new information with law, regulations, policy, procedures, requirements and commitments. The SDS program automates this process in substantial degree, and it enables custom linking more or less instantly, as a matter of volition using "point and click" technology available in most PC operating systems. The ability to maintain chronology based on subject content, and to link between diverse instruments, such as a book, a regulation, a meeting, a phone call, a letter, memo, magazine, and so on, that emulates human mental thought, is unique to the SDS program. This capability can be experienced by following links in this report, and in the correspondence under ref 6, below.
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For example, the Corps uses Lotus Notes. It cannot do any of these integrated management support tasks that link cause and effect to produce intelligence.
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Cost savings in the range of 10:1 reported by CESPN resulted from using Communication Metrics for daily "intelligence" and support for proactive risk management. Work product was provided by email and conventional printed media.
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Over the past year, SDS has been enhanced to automate creation of linked web pages so that intelligence can be delivered and accessed via Internet using ordinary web browsers. This adds value to the Internet by providing timely content that is needed for daily management, and it adds value to our managers and commanders by providing instant, world-wide access to intelligence for effective decisions, without having to carry, distribute, retrieve and maintain mountains of paper nor wade through email directories. Summaries save time by enabling people to quickly and accurately assess large amounts of information, then drill down into details when needed. It is a major step toward the cost and time advantages of a paperless office work environment.
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Additionally, SDS converts diverse information materials into professionally formatted web pages for delivery via Internet, more or less instantly, which can then be accessed for decision support.
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CESPN staff who were supported by Communication Metrics have tried the new Internet support, and report this added capability adds significant value. ref 3 and 4.
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Traditional use of the Internet requires a dedicated "web master" or even a team of people to create and maintain useful Internet content for daily management. Posting information to a web page requires lengthy preparation and submission to the web master, tying up management and administrative resources. The SDS program eliminates this cost and the time lag that is entailed in posting useful content to web pages.
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On Dec 2, 1997, Dr. Moonja Kim, Chief of CERL-PL-B, observed in a meeting at HQ USACE, the process of creating links in the SDS program, and found that it is much faster than other products.
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The Chief Engineer's recent order to convert all USACE information to electronic media positions the Corps to use Communication Metrics. This new paperless office environment should increase cost savings by providing instant access to relevant information, so that managers can improve the timeliness and accuracy of their work. Communication Metrics can help make this happen. Since the 21st century is just 12 months away, now is the time to start preparing.
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BACKGROUND

The history of Communication Metrics, including recent innovations applying the Internet, is available on the Welch Company web site at www.welchco.com
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Background on hiring Welch to evaluate Communication Metrics is in the report issued by the San Francisco District on Mar 28, 1997, ref 1.
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HQ USACE learned about Communication Metrics in a telecon between Chuck Shoer and Rod Welch on Mar 3, 1997. At that time we requested a copy of the District's report that was in preparation. On Aug 18, 1997 CEMP received the report, and on Sep 4, we requested an estimate of cost savings which was issued on Oct 7, 1997, ref b.
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Rod Welch, who developed Communication Metrics, and Tom Keesling who sponsored the evaluation contract and issued District reports, were invited to HQ USACE to demonstrate the methodology. The demonstration occurred Dec 2, 1997. Ed East, who has since retired, but formerly provided management training for our engineers, and worked on our Quality Management program, strongly endorsed the need for the Communication Metrics solution. He asked Rod to review our management training film, and show it with the presentation on Communication Metrics in order to help attendees recognize the need for this new solution.
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This film that is shown to COE managers to improve communication illustrates common scenarios in daily management. They are strikingly similar to the problem solved by Communication Metrics, as set out by Tom Keesling in comments to HQ on December 23, 1998.
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There was not enough time to show the film at the Dec 2, 1997 meeting; however, on Dec 29, 1997 Welch reviewed a series of films on management training which show the need for better communication, as urged by Ed East. At the meeting on Dec 2, USACE managers expressed concern about the cost and benefits of improving communications, which confirmed Ed East's idea that showing a film to illustrate the problem is helpful. Generally, managers feel they are good communicators and are intelligent. Andy Grove, Chairman of Intel Corporation writes in his book Only the paranoid survive, that often successful managers are in denial that they need help, and may fear change to new methods. Helping good people see a better way requires the light of leadership with a broader vision.
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During the meeting, USACE managers raised important questions about the viability of a new work role, and how to apply a lot of "intelligence." Welch reviewed advantages of Communication Metrics relative to conventional management practice of taking notes at meetings, as follows...