THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
rodwelch@pacbell.net


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: November 7, 2003 00:13 AM Friday; Rod Welch

SDS new function to maintain Reference field.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Automatic Maintenance of References Fast Easy Save Keystrokes
3...Maintenance Makes Good Management Saving Time and Money Fast and Easy
4...Automatic Alignment of References Makes Maintenance Fast and Easy

ACTION ITEMS.................. Click here to comment!

1...Consider adding 04301 to maintain References to 04702 in a few months.

CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Reference Field Maintain by Deleting Entries That Do Not Have Citatio
References Create Open Automatically Using Enter and Double Clicking
Maintain Reference Field by Deleting Entries That Do Not Have Citatio
References Alpha Nums for More than 100
Planning for Linking Citations References
A08 Delete Line

0908 -
0908 -    ..
0909 - Summary/Objective
0910 -
091001 - Follow up ref SDS 8 0000.
091002 -
091003 - Finally got around to creating a function to automtically maintain SDS
091004 - so that irrelevant references that are not cited in the record are not
091005 - retained and replicated when a record is used to create a new task in
091006 - the Schedule.  We need to work with this new system called through the
091007 - menu to monitor results, before considering an expansion of the 04702
091008 - program launch system.
091009 -
091010 -
091012 -  ..
0911 -
0912 -
0913 - Evaluation
0914 -
091401 - Automatic Maintenance of References Fast Easy Save Keystrokes
091402 -
091403 - The new feature executes almost instantly and so reduces a 10 minute
091404 - task to 1 or 2 seconds.  For example, the record on 010725 has over
091405 - 300 citations.  Depending on the the procedure, maintaining references
091406 - takes 10 keystrokes per citation, or 3,000 keystrokes on this record,
091407 - Checking these manually would take about 2 hours.  The new function
091408 - takes less than 2 seconds for the record on 010725.  Most records,
091409 - have fewer than 100 links, so maintenance takes less than 1 second.
091410 - If a user works on 20 records a day, the time saved is considerable,
091411 - adding to the list of improvements on 000824 that make knowledge work
091412 - fast and easy. ref SDS 5 3X3G  The fact that maintenance can be done
091413 - quickly reduces discentive to avoid it, and so increases usefulness of
091414 - the record, based on criteria noted below, ref SDS 0 IP5I, by ensuring
091415 - routine performance of good management, implementing Drucker's call on
091416 - 991025. ref SDS 4 0785
091418 -  ..
091419 - Initially, considered placing this in 04702 as part of the SDS launch
091420 - operation to maintain all new records.  Decided for the time being to
091421 - work with this as a function in the Diary menu to study application
091422 - and avoid unintended consequences.  For example, format variations
091423 - might cause problems.  We want to know this in advance of saving the
091424 - record.  As a result after maintenance is performed, the record is not
091425 - saved until F2 is used.
091427 -  ..
091428 - Consider adding 04301 to maintain References to 04702 in a few months.
091429 -
091430 -
091431 -
091432 -
091433 -
091435 -  ..
0915 -
0916 -
0917 - Planning and Purpose
0918 -
091801 - Maintenance Makes Good Management Saving Time and Money Fast and Easy
091802 - Automatic Alignment of References Makes Maintenance Fast and Easy
091803 -
091804 - Follow up ref SDS 8 TE7I.
091805 -
091806 - Collateral sources listed in the Reference field typically support
091807 - specific links into the record.  Rarely is there an occassion when a
091808 - source is intentionally listed without a link, however, unintended
091809 - references proliforate under the SDS design.  On 030525 there is an
091810 - action item to develop a new function to maintain References in sync
091811 - with citations, ref SDS 8 TE7I, motivated in part by the work on
091812 - 030429 to automatically list SDS foundational documents, which
091813 - increases the number of references that are not cited in the record.
091814 - ref SDS 7 0001
091816 -  ..
091817 - Untended references proliforate because when a new task is planned in
091818 - the Schedule using an existing record for traceability to original
091819 - sources, called out in management standards reviewed on 950721,
091820 - ref SDS 3 1740, many, and often most, references are not needed in the
091821 - new record.  Sometimes this is not known until the record is nearly
091822 - completed.  At that point, an additional "maintenance" step is needed
091823 - to delete references that are used for citations.  As noted above, Alt
091824 - F8 can do this which can take 20 to 100 plus keystrokes, plus deleting
091825 - empty Doc Log fields.  This adds to the time required to perform the
091826 - eight (8) steps for Communication Metrics, as shown on 001219.
091827 - ref SDS 6 4W4L
091829 -  ..
091830 - As a result, the Reference field can grow well beyond the requirements
091831 - of the record, and this impacts Communication Metrics adversley.
091833 -  ..
091834 - Motivation for this new function is....
091835 -
091836 -    1.  References are stored to find information.  Storing references
091837 -        where there is no actual relevance to a record, simply because
091838 -        there was relevance in a prior record, creates false positives
091839 -        that reduce productivity by creating clutter, complexity and
091840 -        confusion that prevent finding information quickly.
091842 -         ..
091843 -        For example, one way of finding information to is to find where
091844 -        a document was cited in the record, because that suggests
091845 -        relevance to what was in the document and to the people
091846 -        associated with the document.  If a document is listed in a
091847 -        record where there is no relevance, then time is wasted opening
091848 -        and examining record to discover this "false positive."
091850 -         ..
091851 -    2.  Storing unneeded references increases disk storage that quickly
091852 -        compounds when irrelevant references are repeated in subsequent
091853 -        records for continuing work.  A best estimate is that about 60%
091854 -        of References stored on the disk are unnecessary.  Currently
091855 -        there are about 12MB for one user.  That number could be 5 to
091856 -        10 times greater in an organization where many people are
091857 -        sharing a network drive.
091859 -         ..
091860 -    3.  Accumulating unnecessary references increases the size of an
091861 -        SDS record, which has limited main memory, and so increases the
091862 -        frequency that the program will exceed memory limits and crash
091863 -        under a number of scenarios.
091865 -         ..
091866 -    4.  Program processing is slowed by handling unnecessary lines in a
091867 -        record.  F2 save processes every line in the record several
091868 -        different ways, per "background" below, ref SDS 0 6H6K so if
091869 -        there are 20 to 100 extra lines, this takes more time and may
091870 -        fragment memory which reduces stability of the program.
091871 -        Storing irrelevant references on the disk increases the time
091872 -        required to find relevant information.
091874 -  ..
091875 - There is motivation to maintain References without taking more time
091876 - and attention of people.
091878 -  ..
091879 - References can be helpful even when not expressly cited in the
091880 - record.
091881 -
091882 -    1.  Maintaining a chronology in a record is a fast and easy to get
091883 -        an impression or clue about relevance.
091884 -
091885 -    2.  Documents listed in References provide more clues about
091886 -        relevant context.  In otherwords, the import of a document may
091887 -        not be evident from the context of the moment, but seeing the
091888 -        document listed in a record creates a mental reminder to
091889 -        investigate.
091891 -  ..
091892 - This analysis indicates reasons to delete references that are not
091893 - needed, and also lists some circumstances where maintaining references
091894 - are helpful, even when they are not expressly cited in the record.
091896 -  ..
091897 - This new function could be assigned to F2 and executed with the save
091898 - operations.  This assigment would eliminate the benefits of being
091899 - reminded and "clued" about context and alignment in creating a new
091900 - planning record, in performing the work and in reporting on results,
091901 - per above. ref SDS 0 CV5R
091902 -
091903 -
091905 -  ..
091906 - Considered
091908 -  ..
091909 - As a result, decided not to make the new feature to maintain
091910 - references part of the
091912 -  ..
091913 - Will make this one a macro file....
091914 -
091915 -                         c: 01 04 043010
091917 -  ..
091918 - This code will check all references in a record and verify there is a
091919 - citation.  Lines in the Reference field that are not cited in the
091920 - record are deleted.  Empty Reference fields are removed.
091921 -
091922 -
091923 -
091925 -  ..
0920 -
0921 -
0922 - Background
0923 -
092301 - SDS maintenance has many steps that are mostly performed by F2 to save
092302 - a record.........
092303 -
092304 -    Save the record, F2..................... macro 142, ref OF 5 4240
092306 -     ..
092307 -    Line numbers and fields updated......... macro 0, ref OF 4 1H5L,
092309 -     ..
092310 -    Set and verify outlining................ macro 207, ref OF 4 F27I
092312 -     ..
092313 -    Maintain SAA for action items........... 0702051, ref OF 3 EZ7F
092315 -     ..
092316 -    Verify Doc Log formats in record........ 0702051, ref OF 3 3S8K
092318 -     ..
092319 -    Maintain Summary/Objective format....... 0702051, ref OF 3 3504
092321 -     ..
092322 -    Anchors added to headlins, para......... 0702051, ref OF 3 P45J
092324 -     ..
092325 -    Verify anchors are unique............... 0702051, ref OF 3 OX5K
092327 -     ..
092328 -    Maintain headline flags................. 0702051, ref OF 3 UZ4M
092330 -     ..
092331 -    Ensure blank line below Follow Up
092332 -    lines................................... 0702051, ref OF 3 R44K
092334 -     ..
092335 -    Verify references are sorted and
092336 -    citations are linked to actual
092337 -    references.............................. macro 145, ref OF 5 2988
092339 -     ..
092340 -    Archive control fields to ensure
092341 -    accurate correlation between
092342 -    subjects, functions, contacts
092343 -    and references.......................... 0702051, ref OF 3 XQ4O
092344 -
092346 -  ..
092347 - On 030525 there is an action item to develop capbility to
092348 - automatically maintain the SDS Reference field to corrleate with
092349 - citations in the record. ref SDS 8 TE7I
092351 -  ..
092352 - On 030429 a new function to list "foundational documents" was
092353 - developed that makes connecting daily work and analysis to ideas,
092354 - methods and objectives of Communicaition Metrics fast and easy.
092355 - ref SDS 7 0001  This adds about 20 documents into an SDS Reference
092356 - field.  Often only one or two of these are actually used in the
092357 - record.  Deleting the ones that are not needed requires remembering
092358 - and then a lot of keystrokes.
092360 -  ..
092361 - Alt F8 is assigned to call macro 146 to delete lines. ref OF 5 FE4K
092362 - When used in the Reference field macro 146 maintains citations in the
092363 - record. ref OF 5 3818
092365 -  ..
092366 - Work on macro 146 has been done on...
092367 -
092368 -         Alt F8 delete References.............. 931105, ref SDS 1 E55L
092369 -
092370 -         Alt F5 split, F6 repeat References.... 940320, ref SDS 2 0001
092372 -  ..
092373 - F1 Shift F8 deletes a file from the Reference field, and so calls
092374 - macro 146 to delete the line for the file in the Reference field and
092375 - then adjust all citations to account for the deleting the line.
092377 -  ..
092378 - Computing the change to the reference number is part of macro 146 in
092379 - 000008. ref OF 5 5140
092380 -
092381 -
092382 -
092384 -  ..
0924 -
0925 -
0926 - Progress
0927 -
092701 - Initially built a test file to see if this can be done quickly enough
092702 - to be part of the F2 save command.
092704 -  ..
092705 - Testing seems to indicate this task can be done very quickly despite
092706 - processing several hundred links in a record.
092707 -
092709 -  ..
092710 - Line 30, ref OF 1 NF5H, in 04301
092711 -
092712 -    Developed this new capability to automatically maintain all
092713 -    Reference fields so that only lines that are cited in the record
092714 -    remain in the Reference Field.
092715 -
092717 -  ..
092718 - Line 270, ref OF 1 QD8J, -label clnt in 04301
092719 -
092720 -    -label clnt
092721 -    chrcnt 1 0
092722 -    -if @1 > 32 -if @2 = 1 -goto rSDe
092723 -    setcnt 2 0
092724 -    -if @1 = 32 -goto lpup2
092725 -    -if @1 = 58 -goto rSDe
092726 -    -if @1 != 196 -goto rSDS
092727 -
092728 -        Code has gone through the first lift and is processing doc log
092729 -        fields.
092730 -
092732 -  ..
092733 - Line 400, ref OF 1 IN5K, -label rSDS in 04301
092734 -
092735 -    -label rSDS
092736 -    -if @66 < @69 -goto m23
092737 -
092738 -        If the cursor line started above the 1st line to be deleted,
092739 -        then restore with macro 23, -goto m23,
092741 -     ..
092742 -    setcnt 70 @69
092743 -    subcnt 70 @66
092744 -
092745 -        Save the initial line deleted and get the difference between
092746 -        that line and where the cursor started for restoring the
092747 -        initial file position relative to the screen.
092749 -     ..
092750 -    addcnt 69 @103
092751 -
092752 -        69 is the first line deleted, ref OF 1 6V3G, and counter 103
092753 -        has the total number of lines deleted, ref OF 1 6X3N,
092754 -        therefore, adding total number of lines deleted to first line
092755 -        number yields a line number to compare with the original line
092756 -        number for restoring the initial condition.
092757 -
092758 -    -if @66 < @69 -goto nM23
092759 -
092760 -        If the original line number is less than the bottom of the
092761 -        lines deleted, then cannot use macro 23 to restore the initial
092762 -        condition. -goto nM23, ref SDS 0 IN4H
092764 -     ..
092765 -    subcnt 65 @103
092767 -      ..
092768 -
092769 -    -label m23
092770 -    macro 23
092771 -
092772 -    -goto end4
092773 -
092774 -
092776 -  ..
092777 - Line 420, ref OF 1 M43L -label nM23 in 04301
092778 -
092779 -    -label nM23
092780 -    subcnt 103 @70
092781 -    subcnt 66 @103
092782 -
092783 -        Code has determined that the cursor started within the group of
092784 -        lines to be deleted.  The 1st line to be deleted was moved to
092785 -        counter 70, per above. ref SDS 0 SS7M
092787 -     ..
092788 -    addcnt 66 2
092789 -    line @66
092790 -    down @68
092791 -    addcnt 68 1
092792 -    addcnt 67 1
092793 -    loc_cur @68 @67
092794 -
092795 -    -label end4
092796 -    macro 0
092798 -     ..
092799 -    tl 4
092801 -     ..
092802 -    purge c:\sd\03\04301
092803 -
092804 -
092805 -
092806 -
092807 -
092808 -
092809 -
092810 -
092811 -
092812 -
092814 -  ..
092815 - Line 330, ref OF 2 XM3O, -label diary in 050405 about 70 lines below
092816 -
092817 -    ins_text /º Reference Fields Maintain                  º/
092818 -    loc_cur 0 80
092819 -    ins_text " @c:\sd\03\04301  "
092820 -    rel_cur 1 -58
092821 -
092822 -        Add this call to the new macro file 04301 to maintain the
092823 -        Reference field.
092825 -         ..
092826 -        We may later add this to the 04702 archive operation that
092827 -        occurs once a day on all new records.
092828 -
092829 -
092830 -
092831 -
092832 -
092833 -
092834 -
092835 -
092836 -
092837 -
0929 -