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: May 20, 1991 10:02 AM Monday; Rod Welch

Visited Morris to install SDS for him on his computers.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Installation Completed on Morris' Office Computer at Chips
3...Booting SDS - c: sd 01
4...Function Template to Explain Which Keys Do What Like Lotus 123
5...Printing
6...Line Numbers Suppression
7...Doc Log Manages External Publications and Correspondence
8...Contacts Support Correspondence, Identify Records, Enable Retrieval
9...Action Items - Schedule Summary F6
10...Planning and Diary Records - F1 & F8
11...Schedule Tasks and Diary Records Open with Enter
12...Highlighting & Follow Up - Alt F10
13...Subject Index Manages Context Organizes Access Controlled Visibility
14...Management Productivity Starting to Improve First Day
15...Planning and Scheduling Amazingly Fast Performing Good Management
16...Writing Everything Down Writing Notes Twice Not Necessary with SDS
17...Intelligence Saves Time Money Without Writing Everything Down
18...Debugging Management Saves More Time Money than Debugging Software


..............
Click here to comment!

CONTACTS 
0201 - Chips & Tech.
020101 - Mr. Morris E. Jones
020102 - Vice President
020103 - New Products Development

SUBJECTS
SDS Installed for Morris at Chips to Learn SDS and Apply for Managin
All Inclusive, Takes a Long Time to Learn
Management Complex Hard to Automate, Everybody has Failed, Wary
Postcript interface, 911009
May 7, 1991
Training
Line Number fields
Printing, fonts
SDS Installed on Morris' Computers at Chips

1211 -
1211 -    ..
1212 - Summary/Objective
1213 -
121301 - Follow up ref SDS 3 0001, ref SDS 2 2073.
121302 -
121303 - Installed SDS to improve Morris' management practice, and so he can
121304 - gain experience to refine the program, per telecon on 910518.
121305 - ref SDS 3 1111
121307 -  ..
121308 - Learning SDS will enable Morris to begin evolving the design toward a
121309 - mainstream rendering of SDS.
121311 -  ..
121312 - The question is whether Morris will invest the time to acquire the
121313 - power of integrated management.  Since SDS is a big improvement, it
121314 - cannot be acquired without study of concepts and procedures.
121316 -  ..
121317 - Better management requires integrating functions.  Since management is
121318 - a highly complex craft learned on the job over many years, people have
121319 - a lot of knowledge that they are not aware they have, nor of having
121320 - learned it.  Therefore, learning about these tasks and learning to do
121321 - them with the aid of technology to get things done faster and better
121322 - is complex and awkward in the beginning, especially for a successful
121323 - young executive like Morris.
121325 -  ..
121326 - Hopefully, we are into this step, and a big step it is.
121327 -
121328 -     [On 910523 Morris reports SDS "well designed." ref SDS 5 3001
121329 -
121330 -     [On 910810 Morris explains SDS breakthrough design combining
121331 -     relational and hierarchial methods. ref SDS 6 7793
121333 -      ..
121334 -     [On 950803 planning next version of SDS. ref SDS 12 M4DY
121335 -
121336 -
121337 -
121338 -
121340 -  ..
1214 -
1215 - Progress
121601 -  ..
121602 - Installation Completed on Morris' Office Computer at Chips
121603 -
121604 - Initially had a problem with the tape drive.  Morris had some of the
121605 - conflicts I have had getting the thing to run.  He just experimented
121606 - until it worked.  Finally got SDS running after Morris removed his
121607 - network card in his computer.  He said he doesn't need the network
121608 - card in the machine where we installed SDS, because the other two
121609 - computers in his office are networked.
121611 -  ..
121612 - Installed the standard user program from g:, that runs on C:.  He
121613 - cleared c: so there are about 23 MB available, 18 MB after SDS
121614 - installation.
121615 -
121616 -
121618 -  ..
121619 - Booting SDS - c: sd 01
121620 -
121621 - Explained that if he puts c: sd 01 in the path statement called by
121622 - autoexec.bat, he can start SDS with "sds" at the prompt. Otherwise, he
121623 - has to start it initially from the c: sd 01 dir, after which it sets
121624 - his path to include c: sd 01, and so he can then start SDS from
121625 - anywhere until he turns the cpu off and on again.
121626 -
121628 -  ..
121629 - Function Template to Explain Which Keys Do What Like Lotus 123
121630 -
121631 - Morris wants a card across the top of the keyboard to show the
121632 - functions. This is difficult because the integrated design of SDS has
121633 - many different screens with different sets of functions.  Uniformity
121634 - of function key assignments is an objective that is only partially
121635 - realizable because every screen does not have the same functions.
121637 -  ..
121638 - Explained how to open a function key list which can be printed from
121639 - the Menu under "Other."
121640 -
121642 -  ..
121643 - Printing
121644 -
121645 - Morris does not have an HP printer connected to his computer.  He is
121646 - on a network connected to a postcript printer.  Morris feels he can
121647 - rig the postcript configuration to print SDS stuff, including the
121648 - epxlanation of function key assignments.
121650 -  ..
121651 - I configured the necessary macros to use Chips letterheads.
121653 -  ..
121654 - Morris will have to experiment a little to center the lines correctly
121655 - on the page.  Created a record in Morris's SDS program for this
121656 - activity and entered instructions on printing.
121658 -  ..
121659 - Showed how to create memos from SDS records (using "Reports" in the
121660 - Menu) ready to print, and with ascii only, but in memo format that can
121661 - be sent via electronic mail (e.g. Profs, AT&T Mail), or LAN.  He can
121662 - also import them into any wordprocessor to further format.
121663 -
121665 -  ..
121666 - Line Numbers Suppression
121667 -
121668 - Showed how the "Print" menu available after creating a memo has an
121669 - option to suppress line numbers, which Morris has asked about.
121670 -
121672 -  ..
121673 - Doc Log Manages External Publications and Correspondence
121674 -
121675 - Morris was in a hurry, so we did not have time to go into the Doc Log
121676 - environment for managing documents issued and received, and other
121677 - files, e.g., a spreadsheet, report, etc.
121679 -  ..
121680 - Creating documents, e.g., to send correspondence, requires about 15
121681 - seconds to initially identify the document to the system so there is
121682 - management hooks to maintain the record.  This has two steps.
121684 -  ..
121685 - The first part of Doc Log data entry is shown above under DIT for
121686 - Documents Issued Today.
121688 -  ..
121689 - The second part is off screen in columns 110 to 300.
121691 -  ..
121692 - Data entry for identifying a document to the system is done almost
121693 - entirely by point and click in order to avoid mistakes and speed up
121694 - the work.
121696 -  ..
121697 - See Help - Writing a Letter.
121698 -
121700 -  ..
121701 - Contacts Support Correspondence, Identify Records, Enable Retrieval
121702 -
121703 - Morris created a personal record for Amet, to send him a memo.
121704 -
121705 - I created a personal record for Morris as a template to see another
121706 - example, and to define him in Schedule Coordination.
121708 -  ..
121709 - Created an organizational record for Chips, and Welch Co.
121711 -  ..
121712 - Morris did not have much time to experiment with this, but hopefully
121713 - it will progress.
121715 -  ..
121716 - Main purpose of Contacts are to list people and organizations in SDS
121717 - records for doing reports; and to address correspondence through the
121718 - Doc Log system.
121719 -
121721 -  ..
121722 - Action Items - Schedule Summary F6
121723 -
121724 - Reviewed procedures for creating action items as scheduled tasks, and
121725 - then convert them to Diary records, so there is an automatic link
121726 - between planning, doing things, and reporting, per POIMS.
121727 -
121729 -  ..
121730 - Planning and Diary Records - F1 & F8
121731 - Schedule Tasks and Diary Records Open with Enter
121732 -
121733 - Showed how to create new tasks in the Schedule with F1.  Pressing
121734 - Enter on a Scheduled task opens a record to plan performance of the
121735 - work, as explained in POIMS. ref OF 5 8535
121737 -  ..
121738 - Diary records are converted from Scheduled tasks by pressing F8, which
121739 - enters the time, and a dot.  The time for a current diary record can
121740 - also be manually set.  Pressing Enter on a current diary record opens
121741 - the same SDS record created for planning the Scheduled task, but now
121742 - identified as a Diary record that is uniquely identified based on the
121743 - date time and user ID.
121745 -  ..
121746 - Converting scheduled tasks into diary records is complemented by using
121747 - diary records to schedule follow up tasks, explained in POIMS.
121748 - ref OF 6 G15N
121750 -  ..
121751 - Explained that 99.9% of tasks in SDS are created from prior related
121752 - events, because it is extremely rare for any task to come along that
121753 - has no prior history from some subject.
121755 -  ..
121756 - However, in the beginning, new users have no history, so F1 is used
121757 - for a few days to make most all new tasks.
121758 -
121760 -  ..
121761 - Highlighting & Follow Up - Alt F10
121762 -
121763 - Alt F10 is strictly a highlight function in the Schedule Summary.
121765 -  ..
121766 - In an SDS record, it scrolls through 3 colors that set priority and
121767 - action status for activity in a record.
121769 -  ..
121770 - The first one, is solid red and comprises an automatic follow up
121771 - action item that shows in the Schedule Analysis and Adjustments record
121772 - the next day, and remains there with a link to its original record,
121773 - until converted to a scheduled task or deleted.
121775 -  ..
121776 - The other highlight choices in SDS records, simply let User give color
121777 - to certain text to find it quickly.  The colors go away when you close
121778 - a record, or scroll through the profile (hit F1 three times), but are
121779 - restored each time the line numbers are updated, F1 F5.  This very
121780 - handy for finding stuff in archived records.  Just hit F1 F5 when you
121781 - open an archived record and scroll through it to find the highlighted
121782 - stuff.
121783 -
121785 -  ..
121786 - Subject Index Manages Context Organizes Access Controlled Visibility
121787 -
121788 - This is opened with F1 F9 from a Schedule or Diary record, and with F3
121789 - from the Schedule Summary.  The Menu in each environment explains how
121790 - to open it without having to remember which function key does it.
121791 -
121792 -
121793 -
121794 -
1218 -

SUBJECTS
Productivity Improved 1st Day Morris Used SDS on the Job at Chips
Writing Everything Down Not Enough Time Overkill
SDS Fast Amazing Because Morris Wrote Medit Did Not Intend for Use t
Intel Interview Byte Magazine Future of Technology Dave Vannier Bill
Conflict Improves Productivity Early Notice Problems
Using SDS According to the Design Plan Perform Report Enables Good M
SDS Amazingly Fast Because Morris Wrote Medit Did Not Intend for Use

4409 -
441001 -  ..
441002 - Management Productivity Starting to Improve First Day
441003 - Planning and Scheduling Amazingly Fast Performing Good Management
441004 -
441005 - Just before I left, Morris created a diary record of meeting with his
441006 - group this morning.
441007 -
441008 -    1.  Pressed F1 in the Schedule and entered a description for a new
441009 -        task on the current date.
441011 -         ..
441012 -    2.  Pressed F8 to change the status from Schedule to a current
441013 -        Diary record with the current time.
441015 -         ..
441016 -    3.  Pressed Enter to enter the current diary record and explain
441017 -        work performed on the new task.
441019 -  ..
441020 - Morris types very fast, and did about two paragraphs in the diary
441021 - report for the meeting this morning, then suddenly paused, because
441022 - there was a gap in his memory about what had transpired.  He noticed
441023 - the 2nd paragraph did not align with the first paragraph, and further
441024 - commented that both paragraphs seem to conflict with his memory of a
441025 - different matter.
441027 -  ..
441028 - He called someone for clarification.
441030 -  ..
441031 - They talked for several minutes, reconstructing prior understandings
441032 - and reviewing alignment on several issues with prior events and
441033 - sources.  Morris hung up and resumed writing up the record.
441034 -
441035 -     [On 910911 Julia feels executives do not have time to use SDS for
441036 -     discovering gaps in understanding. ref SDS 7 5567
441038 -  ..
441039 - About two (2) minutes later, Morris stopped writing again and called
441040 - the same person back to ask for further clarification.  Morris
441041 - appoligized and asked something about did you say "x" or not "x"?
441043 -  ..
441044 - Morris said, "Oh, that makes a big difference.  Thanks."
441046 -  ..
441047 - With this clarification, Morris completed notes for his first SDS
441048 - record in about 2 minutes.
441050 -  ..
441051 - Morris said his analysis shows that several tasks need to be done that
441052 - he had forgotten were discussed during a meeting a day or so ago.
441053 - Writing out the record disclosed gaps in understanding that he
441054 - corrected before effected work is performed incorrectly.  He said this
441055 - little investment saved a lot of time by avoiding having to make
441056 - corrections later.
441057 -
441058 -      [On 950204 the SDS process of correcting understandings from
441059 -      communication through alignment and feedback was described as
441060 -      "Communication Metrics."
441062 -       ..
441063 -      [On 020504 study shows communication requirements for good
441064 -      management specified in FAR, ISO, Health Care, Covey, Drucker,
441065 -      law, contract notice provisions, and 2,000 years of literacy for
441066 -      contemporaneous documentation of alignment and feedback to work
441067 -      intelligently, quickly, and accurately are ignored in government,
441068 -      business, health care, every sector. ref SDS 16 NS6F
441070 -       ..
441071 -      [On 050520 doctor at Kaiser tried "thinking through writing" to
441072 -      reduce mistakes by capturing and correcting understands from
441073 -      medical communications. ref SDS 20 HX6X
441075 -  ..
441076 - This benefit is commonly called "proactive problem handling," or more
441077 - simply "proactive management," "good management," "working
441078 - intelligently," etc.
441079 -
441080 -      [On 950204 Morris asked about getting a report on the number of
441081 -      mistakes avoided to fit the conventional model for business
441082 -      metrics applied to communications. ref SDS 11 SR9M
441084 -  ..
441085 - We then used the SDS record he just created to enter several new tasks
441086 - in the Schedule that need to be done over the next month or so.
441087 - Morris saw how to position the cursor on the date where he wants a
441088 - task, then switch back to the Diary record and press F1 Shift F1.
441090 -  ..
441091 - This closed the diary and created a task in the Schedule with the same
441092 - description as the diary.  Morris edited the description for the new
441093 - task, and then pressed Enter to open the Schedule task.
441095 -  ..
441096 - We looked at the new scheduled tasks, and Morris saw the links created
441097 - by SDS back to the original source he just created.
441099 -  ..
441100 - Morris pressed Enter on the link to see that he can get prior related
441101 - history instantly, because the ergonomic design of SDS automatically
441102 - creates an audit trail that enables instant access for traceability to
441103 - original sources.  This exercise enabled Morris to discover that...
441104 -
441105 -         Using SDS according to the design of plan, perform, report,
441106 -         enables good management, as explained in POIMS. ref OF 3 NB9O
441107 -         and ref OF 6 6649
441109 -      ..
441110 -     [On 910523 Morris has not caught on how to link. ref SDS 5 2736
441112 -      ..
441113 -     [On 911123 Morris seems to understand a good deal of theory that
441114 -     is implemented by SDS. ref SDS 8 0477
441116 -      ..
441117 -     [On 030416 Gary reports signs of transformation in
441118 -     aerospace industry. ref SDS 19 424O
441120 -  ..
441121 - He used Ctrl F6 to scroll through the edit chain between the Scheduled
441122 - task, the Schedule and the diary record created earlier. ref SDS 0
441123 - 655O
441125 -  ..
441126 - Used ESC to close the diary and this left him in the Schedule task.
441128 -  ..
441129 - He edited this by deleting everything except relevant explanation of
441130 - the new task.  Since it is linked to the original source, it will be
441131 - easy enought to get more context if needed when the matter comes up in
441132 - a few weeks.
441133 -
441134 -     [On 911123 Morris commented again that SDS enables a new way of
441135 -     working. ref SDS 8 4930
441137 -      ..
441138 -     [On 990121 review of "The Hand" explains synergy from using both
441139 -     hands applies a greater share of left and right brain power to
441140 -     execute command in SDS, like playing a piano. ref SDS 13 FM4M
441142 -      ..
441143 -     [On 010924 Morris commented again that nobody uses software to
441144 -     support daily management like SDS does.
441146 -      ..
441147 -     [On 050520 doctor at Kaiser reports new ergonomic work stations
441148 -     will be deployed to make using computers easier; this would
441149 -     complement the ergonomic design of SDS. ref SDS 20 6L53
441151 -      ..
441152 -     [On 071113 meeting Morris discuss SDS design for
441153 -     responsiveness to optimize productivity. ref SDS 21 446N
441154 -
441155 -
441156 -
441157 -
441158 -
441159 -
4412 -

SUBJECTS
Debugging Finds Mistakes Psychologically Demanding, Need Communicatio
Debug Management Morris Gets Idea of Thinking Through Writing to Disc
Write Everything Down Unnecessary Capture Information Important to Ob
Writing Notes Twice Not Enough Time to Understand Follow Up Culture P
Writing Everything Down Not Enough Time Overkill

5507 -
550801 -  ..
550802 - Writing Everything Down Writing Notes Twice Not Necessary with SDS
550803 - Intelligence Saves Time Money Without Writing Everything Down
550804 - Debugging Management Saves More Time Money than Debugging Software
550805 -
550806 - Morris thinks he gets the idea of using SDS to quickly write up the
550807 - record that "debugs" management, like he debugs software programs, in
550808 - order to discover and correct mistakes, as explained in POIMS,
550809 - ref OF 2 5795, and then use that resource for planning follow up that
550810 - is linked to original sources, which can be accessed quickly to verify
550811 - scope, as he saw today per above. ref SDS 0 655O  Capturing a greater
550812 - share of daily work with links and subject indexing provide fast
550813 - access that leverages remembering the gist of the story to improve
550814 - understanding cause and effect.  Better knowledge reduces reliance on
550815 - assumption.
550816 -
550817 -     [On 000425 SDS secret of Knowledge Management because nobody works
550818 -     with technology that supports the natural plan, perform, report
550819 -     mental process for working intelligently long enough to discover
550820 -     productivity and refine practices. ref SDS 14 0480
550822 -      ..
550823 -     [On 020530 case study nobody grasps what we are trying to
550824 -     accomplish using technology for Knowledge Management that improves
550825 -     information management. ref SDS 17 EF7I
550827 -  ..
550828 - Morris said he is amazed how fast everything happens in SDS, and noted
550829 - that program responsiveness reflects the way he wrote the underlying
550830 - Medit program, but he hadn't expected it could be used for ergonomics
550831 - to integrate routine management practice to think, remember, and
550832 - communicate.  He said that nothing else works the way SDS does.  This
550833 - speed enables doing tasks at the speed people think, so their line of
550834 - reasoning is not lost waiting for the computer to do things.
550835 -
550836 -     [On 910523 Morris has not caught on how to link. ref SDS 5 2736
550838 -      ..
550839 -     [On 911123 Morris seems to understand a good deal of theory that
550840 -     is implemented by SDS. ref SDS 8 0477
550842 -      ..
550843 -     [On 010916 Eric Armstrong amazed by SDS mechanisms obviously work
550844 -     for finding information. ref SDS 15 0001
550846 -      ..
550847 -     [On 020530 Mike Poremba notes SDS responsiveness optimizes
550848 -     efficient usabilty. ref SDS 18 5M3G
550850 -      ..
550851 -     [On 080529 installed SDS for Morris again to learn Knowledge
550852 -     Management using Communication Metrics for intelligence support;
550853 -     Morris working on a Windows version of SDS. ref SDS 22 U86V
550855 -  ..
550856 - This is one of the ways SDS solves the "listening" problem that
550857 - worried Morris on 890809, because when listening fails, communication
550858 - fails, causing productivity and earnings to fall. ref SDS 1 CJ9J
550860 -  ..
550861 - In this case, investing time to capture organizational memory in a
550862 - comprehensible story disclosed misunderstanding that enabled a simple
550863 - effort at minimal cost to obtain clarification that avoids a future
550864 - mistake, per above. ref SDS 0 655O  On 890809 Morris felt it took too
550865 - much time to convert information into intelligence that avoids
550866 - mistakes for internal management, ref SDS 1 5930, and he thought at
550867 - that time that everybody would object, to saving time and money by
550868 - providing feedback to clarify the record that avoids mistakes.
550869 - ref SDS 1 8850
550871 -  ..
550872 - Today, we saw that better results are achieved without writing
550873 - everything down, which was a big worry on 890809 before he had
550874 - experience using SDS. ref SDS 1 N44I  Today, experience showed that
550875 - using SDS does not require writing notes twice, which was another
550876 - worry on 890809. ref SDS 1 5930  Until just now, Morris hadn't written
550877 - anything on this matter, which shows that SDS provides an environment
550878 - and opportunity to discover important correlations, implicatons and
550879 - nuance that normally escape notice.  He further discovered today that
550880 - people are happy to correct the record, when given the opportunity, as
550881 - his colleague just did today. ref SDS 0 655O
550882 -
550883 -     [On 910523 Morris has not caught on how to link. ref SDS 5 2736
550885 -      ..
550886 -     [On 910911 Julia feels executives do not have time to use SDS for
550887 -     writing their notes twice. ref SDS 7 5567
550889 -      ..
550890 -     [On 911123 Morris had forgotten it is not necessary to write
550891 -     everything down in order to capture organizational memory and add
550892 -     intelligence that saves time and money. ref SDS 8 LZ6M
550894 -  ..
550895 - This is what we are trying to accomplish with SDS.
550896 -
550897 -     [On 921127 Morris discovered that small, inconsequential details
550898 -     that often escape notice later cause major problems that delay the
550899 -     work and increase costs. ref SDS 10 0674
550901 -  ..
550902 - Find out what happened.  Clarify the record and schedule work that is
550903 - linked back to relevant history and authority, so that when we get
550904 - around to doing those tasks, the original context can be reviewed to
550905 - be better prepared for working effectively, with fewer mistakes.
550906 -
550907 -     [On 920215 Morris frustrated cannot learn to link. ref SDS 9 5820
550909 -  ..
550910 - If he keeps this up, we are on our way; but, experience shows Morris
550911 - will need help to mentor him through the process of creating a few
550912 - records like we did today.  He still has to get familiar with Subjects
550913 - and with the Control Field, creating a letter, etc.
550915 -  ..
550916 - So, there is a long way to go, but got a good start today.
550917 -
550918 -     [On 910523 Morris reports SDS is "well designed." ref SDS 5 3001
550919 -
550920 -
550921 -
550922 -
550923 -
550924 -
550925 -
550926 -
550927 -
550928 -
550929 -
550930 -
550931 -
550932 -
550933 -
5510 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"