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S U M M A R Y


DIARY: April 8, 2006 11:12 AM Saturday; Rod Welch

Information density clogs communication drives management to entropy.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Email Unread Piling Up Drives Error, Conflict, Crisis, Calamity
3...Information Technology Makes Knowledge Management a Lot of Hard Work


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SUBJECTS
Information Density Clogs Communication Complexity Chaos Command Con

2703 -
2703 -    ..
2704 - Summary/Objective
2705 -
270501 - Follow up ref SDS 20 NT6J, ref SDS 18 RP54.
270502 -
270503 - Excellent analysis by Gary on email piling up in computers that
270504 - shrinks. awareness of history.  He presents a lucid explanation of why
270505 - management degrades to entropy (found in prior studies).  Management
270506 - quickly degrades due to reliance on personal memory, because, as Gary
270507 - notes in part... "The more things needed to be remembered in a unit of
270508 - time, the smaller the unit of time has to be before memory capacity is
270509 - reached."
270510 -
270511 -        [On 060412 outlining software supports requirement for
270512 -        structure to use alphabet technology for working intelligently
270513 -        that complements wordprocessing that makes writing attractive.
270514 -        ref SDS 25 3H5G
270515 -
270516 -
270517 -
270518 -
270520 -  ..
2706 -
2707 -
2708 - Progress
2709 -
270901 - Email Unread Piling Up Drives Error, Conflict, Crisis, Calamity
270902 - Information Technology Makes Knowledge Management a Lot of Hard Work
270903 -
270904 - Gary reports on 060222 ad hoc research showing unread email piles up
270905 - on computers, reducing productivity of daily work. ref SDS 21 0001
270906 - Without precision access, command and control fails.  People forget
270907 - history and mistakes mount because people ignore requirements for good
270908 - management, reported on 020504. ref SDS 11 NS6F  Fear of
270909 - accountability drives fear of discussing history as "nitpicking the
270910 - past." e.g., on 950517. ref SDS 2 8599
270912 -  ..
270913 - Gary's analysis supports work on 040620 showing people are giving up
270914 - on good management to save lives, time, and money, because "in the
270915 - moment" there is not enough time" for accuracy. ref SDS 17 RF6O  More
270916 - recently, on 051113 work updating NWO presents challenges of
270917 - transformation to a culture of knowledge. ref SDS 19 C45J  Gary's
270918 - research further demonstrates biological drives to work spontaneously
270919 - "in-the-moment," rather than invest time for cognitive overhead to
270920 - read and analyse.  This complements research reported on 970707 by
270921 - USAFIT, ref SDS 5 0108, and more recently on 040312 where locality
270922 - principle requires adding enery to "connect the dots" of cause and
270923 - effect that converts information into the power of knowledge that
270924 - predicts the future; failure to make connections devolves management
270925 - to entropy, ref SDS 5 0611, using ad hoc "feel good" work practices
270926 - cited by Morris on 911123. ref SDS 1 1331  The basic problem is that
270927 - complexity hides and suppresses problems until a critical mass of
270928 - bumbling explodes into chaos. ref SDS 16 D85M  Gary notes that work
270929 - becomes a frenzy of moment-to-moment decisions when accuracy cannot be
270930 - authenticated, and so history ceases to be meaningful.
270932 -  ..
270933 - This ad hoc study illustrates how work product relies primarily on
270934 - personal memory, ref SDS 21 KV9P, without support of technology to
270935 - expand span of attention by integrating personal and organiztional
270936 - memory...
270937 -
270938 -    1.  Nobody using technology to manage
270939 -        daily working information; mentoring
270940 -        best technology for knowledge
270941 -        management........................... 060317, ref SDS 24 IT5R
270943 -         ..
270944 -    2.  Ad hoc study found managers and
270945 -        engineers giving up on good management;
270946 -        hundreds of unread email; nobody
270947 -        can manage daily communications;
270948 -        command and control of work limited
270949 -        by personal memory and span of
270950 -        attention; drives productivity
270951 -        toward entropy....................... 060222, ref SDS 21 0001
270953 -         ..
270954 -    3.  When command and control of the
270955 -        record fails, people are forced
270956 -        to rely on personal memory, and
270957 -        as project time increases the share
270958 -        of critical details people remember
270959 -        for a unit of time decreases
270960 -        driving management toward
270961 -        entropy.............................. 060222, ref SDS 21 KV9P
270963 -         ..
270964 -    4.  VA clinic manager months behind
270965 -        reading email; cannot find
270966 -        notice of action items and cannot
270967 -        find organizational memory for
270968 -        performing work quickly and
270969 -        accurately, because unable to
270970 -        perform requirements on
270971 -        documentation for good
270972 -        management........................... 060221, ref SDS 20 NT6J
270974 -         ..
270975 -    5.  Assignment to document meetings
270976 -        and brief management difficult to
270977 -        perform because manager has 300
270978 -        unread email and no time for
270979 -        briefings............................ 050722. ref SDS 18 RP54
270981 -         ..
270982 -    6.  Good management practices using
270983 -        information technology proved very
270984 -        difficult............................ 040227, ref SDS 14 RH77
270986 -         ..
270987 -    7.  Order, structure, pattern critical
270988 -        elements of rational analysis
270989 -        to accurately understand cause
270990 -        and effect for working
270991 -        intelligently........................ 040312, ref SDS 15 RP6K
270993 -         ..
270994 -    8.  Locality principle requires adding
270995 -        energy to connect cause and effect,
270996 -        and without this effort, 2nd law of
270997 -        thermodynamics drives understanding
270998 -        toward entropy....................... 040312, ref SDS 15 YH4G
271000 -         ..
271001 -    9.  History button occassionally seen
271002 -        as useful technology for managing
271003 -        growing volume of communications
271004 -        from email, calls, and
271005 -        meetings............................. 030821, ref SDS 13 NH5N
271007 -         ..
271008 -   10.  Bill Gates reported a lot of useless
271009 -        information piling up on computers
271010 -        because people cannot find critical
271011 -        details on email, calls and
271012 -        meetings when needed................. 021108, ref SDS 12 EF5I
271014 -         ..
271015 -   11.  Email paralyzes productivity
271016 -        because not enough time to add
271017 -        "intelligence" that organizes
271018 -        communications for accurate
271019 -        understanding timely follow
271020 -        up................................... 011003, ref SDS 10 EC5N
271022 -         ..
271023 -   12.  Study shows information density
271024 -        overwhelms span of attention
271025 -        causing economy to implode into
271026 -        recession when too many people
271027 -        have too many problems............... 011003, ref SDS 10 O76L
271029 -         ..
271030 -   13.  People give up on good management
271031 -        practices; despair not enough time
271032 -        using familiar tools that are
271033 -        popular and approved for daily
271034 -        work................................. 011003, ref SDS 10 SP6G
271036 -         ..
271037 -   14.  Email "killer application" that
271038 -        kills productivity with continual
271039 -        bumbling; stream of conscious
271040 -        construction in email produces
271041 -        high rate of errors comparable to
271042 -        verbal communications, because
271043 -        laziness produces "fools gold"
271044 -        creating illusion of progress
271045 -        reacting on impulse that ignores
271046 -        analysis and accuracy................ 010908, ref SDS 9 YF5O
271048 -         ..
271049 -   15.  Documentation practices using
271050 -        popular information technology,
271051 -        like email, that is easy to learn
271052 -        and use, and so commonly approved
271053 -        for use on the job takes a lot of
271054 -        hard work to perform knowledge
271055 -        management and so people just
271056 -        give up on accuracy to save lives
271057 -        time, and money...................... 000307, ref SDS 8 767G
271059 -         ..
271060 -   16.  Tsunami storm information density
271061 -        email, calls, meetings overwhelming
271062 -        nobody has time to think............. 980613. ref SDS 7 3499
271064 -         ..
271065 -   17.  Information overload pandemic;
271066 -        nobody has time to absorb volume
271067 -        of email, calls, and meetings with
271068 -        popular information technologies -
271069 -        CBS News study........................980412, ref SDS 6 8956
271071 -         ..
271072 -   18.  Management degrades to entropy on
271073 -        all large projects because people
271074 -        are overwhelmed using popular
271075 -        information technologies that are
271076 -        fast and easy to learn and use -
271077 -        DOD USAFIT report.....................970707, ref SDS 5 0611
271079 -         ..
271080 -   19.  70% day wasted unproductive meetings
271081 -        because people unprepared do not
271082 -        have command and control for access
271083 -        to details in work history........... 960205, ref SDS 4 5902
271085 -         ..
271086 -   20.  She reads email - shock, surprise
271087 -        director of academic department at
271088 -        MIT...................................951214, ref SDS 3 I741
271089 -
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271091 -
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271093 -
271094 -
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271096 -
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2711 -