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 23, 1991 10:00 AM Thursday; Rod Welch

Morris called re SDS support; visited him at Chips to install corrected

1...Summary/Objective
2...Morris' Initial Evaluation of SDS is Positive
3...Problems Using SDS Plan Perform Report Design
4...SDS Design Counterintuitive Convert Schedule to Diary to Schedule
5...Managing from Schedule Rather than the Diary


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CONTACTS 
0201 - Chips & Tech.                                                                                                                                                      O-00000039 0201
020101 - Mr. Morris E. Jones
020102 - Vice President
020103 - New Products Development

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing, Sales,
Morris Speaking Engagement at PMI
Monthly Meetings

0505 -
0505 -    ..
0506 - Summary/Objective
0507 -
050701 - Follow up ref SDS 4 0000.
050702 -
050703 - Morris said he has not heard from Gavin that Rodger Bush has
050704 - contacted him about being a speaker for PMI.
050706 -  ..
050707 - Explained I have drafted a follow up to Rodger Bush on this, and would
050708 - like Morris to approve before sending to PMI.  This is an extract
050709 - from my letter to Morris, ref DIP 1 0000.
050710 -
050711 -
050712 -
050713 -
0508 -

SUBJECTS
Chips, Using SDS for Management Support
Program updates, May 23, 1991
Support, Schedule Summary, Add a Month;
Subject Index; Diary Summary
Learning time, Create SI, Contacts DB
SDS being Used by Morris Breakthrough in Design Make a Good Windows P
Morris Using SDS at Chips

1509 -
151001 -  ..
151002 - Morris' Initial Evaluation of SDS is Positive
151003 -
151004 - Today we made a huge step, following up installing SDS on 910520.
151005 - ref SDS 4 8222.  Morris is working with SDS.  He said that it is well
151006 - designed and would make a good Windows application because it provides
151007 - a breakthrough in program design that seems very useful.
151008 -
151009 -      [On 910525 installed SDS on Morris' home computer and laptop.
151010 -      ref SDS 7 8845
151012 -       ..
151013 -      [On 910716 Morris using SDS very little; having difficulty
151014 -      understanding the design, ref SDS 9 3335, similar to today, per
151015 -      below. ref SDS 0 2736
151017 -       ..
151018 -      [On 910810 Morris explains SDS breakthrough design combining
151019 -      relational and hierarchial methods. ref SDS 11 7793
151021 -  ..
151022 - Turns out his SDS program is the demo, and he has already run out of
151023 - tasks.  I took an updated version to his office.
151025 -  ..
151026 - He has been using Help and the Menu, but having trouble getting the
151027 - editing functions.  One reason for this is that most editing is done
151028 - in SDS records and separate Editor files which uses slightly different
151029 - editing functions from the Schedule Summary which is learned first.
151031 -  ..
151032 - This meeting contained elements of Training in SDS concepts and use,
151033 - and discussion of improvements in SDS.
151034 -
151035 -
151036 -
151037 -
151039 -  ..
1511 -
1512 -
1513 - Discussion
1514 -
151401 - We encountered problem with adding months, when the eof line is
151402 - visible.
151404 -  ..
151405 - Gave assistance on
151406 -
151407 -   Adding months to Schedule Summary
151408 -   Diary Summary
151409 -   Linking Records
151410 -   Using Diary records to make new scheduled tasks
151411 -   Subject Index
151412 -   Schedule Summary Editing, moving tasks
151413 -
151415 -  ..
151416 - He has been using Help, that is how he discovered how to update line
151417 - numbers.  He feels though that the editing functions are not well
151418 - enough presented in Help and the Menus.  I will follow up on this.
151419 -
151420 -
151421 -
151422 -
151423 -
151424 -
1515 -

SUBJECTS
Chips, Using SDS for Management Support
Subject Index; Diary Summary
Learning time, Create SI, Contacts DB
Convert Schedule to Diary
Conflict with Existing Methods
Difficult to Understand
Counterintutive Design Difficult Morris Not Converting Schedule Tasks

2409 -
241001 -  ..
241002 - Problems Using SDS Plan Perform Report Design
241003 - SDS Design Counterintuitive Convert Schedule to Diary to Schedule
241004 -
241005 - Morris has not caught on to the idea of making diary records, and
241006 - using them to make follow-up tasks, i.e. recycling his knowledge and
241007 - ideas (see also the second record segment below, ref SDS 0 0975).
241008 -
241009 -     [On 911121 Morris complimented SDS unique ability to support
241010 -     alignment through linking, but he was not applying this capability
241011 -     correctly. ref SDS 12 5699]
241013 -  ..
241014 - On 910520 hoped he had the idea based on the initial record we created
241015 - and scheduling two follow up tasks, but that was probably too good to
241016 - be true. ref SDS 4 N98N
241018 -  ..
241019 - He explained today strong feelings that a task in the Schedule should
241020 - not be converted into a Diary record until everything is complete, and
241021 - since there are still pending things to do, the task is not complete,
241022 - so it is ongoing.
241024 -  ..
241025 - I address this in Help, ref OF 2 0000 but not until line 180, and
241026 - there is nothing explicitly stating that Scheduled tasks MUST be
241027 - converted to Diary records, because it never occurred to me that
241028 - anyone would think differently.
241030 -  ..
241031 - Both Morris and Morri at Smyth Frank Reynolds Company in Seattle have
241032 - done this, ref SDS 2 7709, so evidentally it is not an aberation, and
241033 - must be addressed earlier and more directly in Help.
241034 -
241035 -     [On 910529 Morri Smythe explains conceptual hurdle. ref SDS 8 9989
241036 -
241037 -     [On 960208 Tom Keesling at USACE had same concern. ref SDS 15 8908
241039 -  ..
241040 - Also, likely need to provide initial mentoring by doing management
241041 - support for awhile, until people get comfortable that doing things
241042 - differently turns out to work much better.
241043 -
241044 -     [On 951228 idea of Communication Manager was suggested.
241045 -     ref SDS 14 8804
241047 -  ..
241048 - At this time, Morris is just entering follow ups by hand, without
241049 - links to their progenitors.
241051 -  ..
241052 - Morris said he is doing this because with very little background in
241053 - the data base, he does not see the value of linking.
241054 -
241055 -     [On 001027 Doug Engelbart was told in 1975 by executives at
241056 -     McDonald Douglas that the company decided not to support Doug's
241057 -     recommendations and planning to develop technology for linking
241058 -     which Doug had pioneered at SRI in the 60s, because executives at
241059 -     IBM and HP said linking would never be needed for anything.
241060 -     ref SDS 16 GL3W
241062 -  ..
241063 - I think the real reason is that the process is counterintuitive and
241064 - foreign to his work practice learned the past 15 years or so.
241066 -  ..
241067 - He is struggeling to understand though, and that is all we can ask.
241068 -
241069 -     [On 910529 explanation of conceptual disconnect. ref SDS 8 4930
241071 -  ..
241072 - Morris does not realize that in time linked records save a great deal
241073 - of effort and time because they bring automatically all of the
241074 - connections to other control stuff which in turn gives instant access
241075 - to critical details on causation.
241076 -
241077 -     [On 910523 in another record today analyse challenge of concept on
241078 -     integrating time and information. ref SDS 10 8404
241080 -      ..
241081 -     [On 910810 Morris compliments SDS breakthrough design. ref SDS 11
241082 -     7793
241084 -      ..
241085 -     [On 911121 Morris gave up because SDS design is counterintuitive.
241086 -     ref SDS 12 7420
241088 -      ..
241089 -     [On 920215 Morris disappointed he could not learn SDS integrated
241090 -     scheduling and reporting. ref SDS 13 5820
241092 -  ..
241093 - SDS is designed to manage the present and future by drawing on past
241094 - experience, i.e., history.  "Assignments" are such events.  SDS says
241095 - record these "events" as they occur, bit by bit, and SDS will let you
241096 - quickly assemble them to show the patterns that control the present
241097 - and fortell the future.
241099 -  ..
241100 - Scheduled tasks in the Schedule Diary System (SDS) arise from doing
241101 - things, taking action, performing work, living actual events in the
241102 - here-and-now, through meetings, discussions, phone calls, and memos.
241104 -  ..
241105 - Therefore, the first objective in SDS is to capture such events and
241106 - analyse them in a Diary record both as a resource for future research
241107 - and decision support.
241109 -  ..
241110 - Performing the first task, contributes to the second objective in SDS
241111 - of scheduling things to do.
241113 -  ..
241114 - Thus, writing the diary of what happened, is a process of figuring out
241115 - what needs to be done.
241117 -  ..
241118 - First we analyse, then we prescribe.
241120 -  ..
241121 - One objective of a manager like Morris is to have his people creating
241122 - as much of the record as possible, with him merely overseeing it, and
241123 - commenting as necessary.  That way one person is not breaking their
241124 - back trying to do all the writing, and further, management sees the
241125 - "understanding" being conveyed and acquired by each staff person.
241126 -
241127 -      [On 951228 idea of Communication Manager was suggested.
241128 -      ref SDS 14 8804
241129 -
241130 -
241131 -
241132 -
241133 -
2412 -

SUBJECTS
Learning time, Create SI, Contacts DB
Convert Schedule to Diary, Conflicts with Present Practice
Chips, Using SDS for Management Support
Support, Schedule Summary; Subject & Contact Reports
Report by Subject/Contact, Training,
Convert Schedule to Diary, 910523
Product Definition, Difficult to Understand
Paperless Office

3510 -
351101 -  ..
351102 - Managing from Schedule Rather than the Diary
351103 -
351104 - Morris wants to draw reports from the Schedule Summary on employees
351105 - who are assigned under departments to work on varying aspects of
351106 - projects.
351107 -
351108 - He explained this in some detail, but I am not sure what the structure
351109 - of the report would be.
351111 -  ..
351112 - The issue seems a bit confused by his practice so far of not applying
351113 - the Diary side of the system, i.e. not converting performed tasks to
351114 - diary records, and not linking related tasks, per above. ref SDS 0
351115 - 2736
351117 -  ..
351118 - Morris indicated he has say 5 departments reporting to him.  He deals
351119 - with managers and staff individually.
351121 -  ..
351122 - Apparently people are given ad hoc assignments to work on "projects"
351123 - not strictly according to department.  So project "a" might have 2
351124 - people from dep 1, 1 person from dep 3, and 2 more from dep 5.
351126 -  ..
351127 - Morris explained.....
351128 -
351129 -  1.  When he goes to a meeting, he wants to be able to draw a schedule
351130 -      report to discuss the assignments of the group, and of each
351131 -      individual.
351132 -
351133 -         I explained this is accomplished through the subject index
351134 -         that enables drawing a history for individual people,
351135 -         projects, objects, like equipment, etc, and any breakdown that
351136 -         is needed. We need to work with the subject index to get him
351137 -         set up with initial accounts and demonstrate how to manipulate
351138 -         the environment.
351140 -          ..
351141 -         Morris said he does not have time for this today.
351143 -       ..
351144 -  2.  If he gives someone an assignment, he wants a way to confirm it
351145 -      to both the assignee and the person's manager.
351147 -       ..
351148 -      I explained this is a routine task in SDS, and is accomplished by
351149 -      sending a memo with the record attached that shows whatever
351150 -      Morris wants to convey.
351151 -
351153 -  ..
351154 - Morris noted that SDS is created as a "claims analysis" tool, rather
351155 - than a Project Management tool.
351156 -
351157 -     Explained I have done "projects" since 1965, and SDS is the best
351158 -     technology available for using good management practices
351159 -     consistently.
351161 -      ..
351162 -     We reviewed the application of SDS for daily management under the
351163 -     POIMS management cycle of "plan, perform, report," ref OF 1 6649,
351164 -     Claims and dispute resolution are a secondary or even tertiary
351165 -     application.  The first step is "claims prevention" by enabling
351166 -     people to do things correctly and on time, so claims are reduced
351167 -     by reducing causation, i.e., mistakes.
351168 -
351169 -
351170 -
351171 -
351172 -
351173 -
3512 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"