THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: August 8, 1992 12:01 PM Saturday; Rod Welch

Met Jim Ellis and explained SDS for potential marketing agent.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Access
3...Selling Concept
4...Application Ideas
....Comment
....Technology is an Ally of Leadership when Properly Deployed
....A.key skill of managers and executives is judgement: deciding what
5...Automatic Remembering
6...Accurate Remembering Aided by Writing, Improved by POIMS
7...Concurrent Discovery Aids "Remembering"
.....Record Segmentation
8...Confusion is Revealed and Solved by Writing
9...Paradigm Shift: Writing Discovers knowledge, Not Convey Information
.....Editing Is Building Understanding
.....SDS Adds Value to Writing by Adding Intelligence to Informtion


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

CONTACTS 
0201 - J. C. Ellis Management Consultants 510 254 5229
020101 - Mr. James C. Ellis

SUBJECTS
Sales force, develop
Regional sales managers
Organization structure
Research Application to market, Internal management
Correlation to accepted practice and concepts

0807 -    ..
0808 - Summary/Objective
0809 -
080901 - Follow up ref SDS 2 0000.
080902 -
080903 - Discussed SDS with Jim and found him receptive to the ideas. Decided
080904 - to meet for a demonstration next week.
080905 -
080906 - I will call to set it up.
080907 -
080908 -
0810 -
0811 -
0812 - Background
0813 -
081301 - Jim and his wife Janice were here on 920806 for the dinner Millie gave
081302 - following the rehersal of Pam's wedding (held today).  Janice turned
081303 - out to be the minister who presided over the ceremony.
081304 -
081305 -
0814 -
0815 -
0816 - ë0Y67 SDS Explanation
0817 -
081701 - Prior to the wedding we visited for about 20 minutes or so, and when
081702 - Jim mentioned he is a management consultant, I delved into SDS.
081703 -
081704 - Jim said he does a lot of written outline anlaysis, and so seemed to
081705 - readily grasp SDS theory.  He did not accept my proposition that
081706 - written analysis is essential for people to "understand" what takes
081707 - place, but seemed open to the possibility that understanding the
081708 - correlation and implications of events can be improved by written
081709 - analysis.  He also seemed to appreciate the value of linking scheduled
081710 - tasks and work in progress, to their predecessor events.
081711 -
081712 -
0818 -
0819 -
0820 - ëCY83 Marketing Support
0821 -
0822 -    ..
0823 -
082301 - Access
082302 -
082303 - Jim is formerly with AT&T and is now in private practice as a manage-
082304 - ment consultant.  We need to build associations with people like Jim
082305 - who have contacts within large institutions to facilitate making
082306 - presentations to executives in a credible setting.
082307 -
082308 -
082309 -
082310 -  ..
082311 -
082312 -  ..
082313 - Selling Concept
082314 -
082315 - We had an interesting discussion before the wedding today about how to
082316 - present SDS to large organizations.
082317 -
082318 - Jim stressed the importance of testing SDS in groups within an organ-
082319 - ization.  He feels it is vital to gain the support of an executive for
082320 - sponsorship of new technology.  He feels many executives would be able
082321 - to recognize the inherent value of POIMS technology, and would agree
082322 - to test the ability of SDS to apply it on particular projects.
082323 -
082324 -
082325 -
082326 -  ..
082327 -
082328 -  ..
082329 - Application Ideas
082330 -
082331 - Jim suggested that Users should be given clear "guidelines" about what
082332 - to enter into the record.  It seemed he was concerned about time and
082333 - perhaps security of sensitive information, perhaps that irrelevant
082334 - data would mask or make difficult to filter out critical information.
082335 -
082336 -    Comment
082337 -
082338 -    I did not make a detailed explanation of why it is generally better
082339 -    to err on the side of entering the full record in order to avoid
082340 -    the common misperception where events that seem inocuous today,
082341 -    become critical tomorrow or six months later.
082342 -
082343 -
082344 -
082345 -
0824 -

SUBJECTS
Writing, Reading, Expedited by SDS
Leadership & Technology - Needs Power of
Writing, Connecting Letters into Meaning
Understanding aided by Technology
Writing in SDS Different from

1508 -
150801 -     ..
150802 -    Technology is an Ally of Leadership when Properly Deployed
150803 -
150804 -    Writing in SDS is faster than writing by hand or using conventional
150805 -    wordprocessing, because SDS provides immediate access to related
150806 -    information and organizational objectives that spur understanding
150807 -    of implications and corellations to related events and documents
150808 -    (i.e. context).  Therefore users can capture much of the record
150809 -    with SDS, without spending more time than is already being invested
150810 -    to write conventional notes.
150811 -
150812 -  ..
150813 -
150814 -    A key skill of managers and executives is judgement: deciding what
150815 -    knowledge and ideas are important to organizational success.  SDS
150816 -    is a tool that permits them to exercise this expertise to greater
150817 -    advantage than present methods.
150818 -
150819 -        [See support that the availability of a large body of organized
150820 -        writing speeds future writing, per ref SDS 11 line 443 and at
150821 -        ref SDS 14 line 312.]
150822 -
150823 -
150824 -
150825 -
1509 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Theory
Marketing; Customer Perceived Value
Human Memory, SDS Emulates; Notepad, replace
Memory Improved by Writing Without Seeing Text

1907 -
190701 - Explained POIMS technology that underlies SDS.
190702 -
190703 -
190704 -  ..
190705 -
190706 -  ..
190707 - Automatic Remembering
190708 -
190709 - Since SDS automates the human faculty of structuring our knowledge and
190710 - ideas derived from daily experience, it is generally inclusive rather
190711 - than exclusive, in that the human mind retains all that it encounters.
190712 - This tends to augur against rigid rules about what to enter into the
190713 - record.
190714 -
190715 - However, as new stuff is absorded the mind pushes existing stuff to
190716 - the back so that, with the exception of traumatic events, we can
190717 - summon near term events, better than those that occurred last week,
190718 - last month, or last year.  SDS summons everything instantly.
190719 -
190720 -
190721 -  ..
190722 - Accurate Remembering Aided by Writing, Improved by POIMS
190723 -
190724 - Writing by itself improves human memory because the mental effort to
190725 - craft language strengthens the clarity and breadth of connections in
190726 - the mind that support recall, as explained in POIMS. ref OF 2 3742
190727 -
190728 -      [On 990121 research on the evolution of the hand explains added
190729 -      cognitive resources applied by writing. ref SDS 15 3245]
190730 -
190731 - Second, it appears that the mind "remembers" by commingling parts of
190732 - disparate events, rather than assembling all elements of each event.
190733 - Its only rule is to assemble a consistent "story."  Thus, we may feel
190734 - "confused" when the mental story we conjur up seems inconsistent, i.e.
190735 - all the parts don't fit.
190736 -
190737 -      [On 940609 explianed weaknesses of reliance on sight and sound,
190738 -      and strengths of alphabet technology. ref SDS 7 4671 and
190739 -
190740 -      [On 991101 confusion is a metric of understanding which helps
190741 -      avoid meaning drift. ref SDS 16 2800]
190742 -
190743 - "Confusion" is a funtion of time.  If there is enough time for
190744 - reflection, the mind can recognize confusion so we can act cautiously
190745 - to avoid the harm of error.
190746 - ..
190747 - However, the mind is equiped to function without complete
190748 - accuracy. When time is short, it finds a best fit "understanding" so
190749 - the body can react immediately.  This is crucial at times of personal
190750 - peril, but causes mistakes in mangement when we act with conviction on
190751 - incorrect understanding arising from a hectic schedule.  When there is
190752 - a lot going, the mind can overlook mistakes rather than recognize
190753 - confusion to alert us of danger.
190754 -
190755 - SDS helps the mind discover overlooked "confusion" and thereon greatly
190756 - reduces the errors that otherwise result in damaging ourselves and
190757 - others.
190758 -
190759 - This side of SDS is called: "command of the record," explained in
190760 - POIMS. ref OF 2 1113
190761 -
190762 -
190763 -
190764 -
190765 -
190766 -
190767 -
190768 -
1908 -

SUBJECTS
Discovery, Subject Index
Notepad, replace, 910425
Information Management
Human memory limitations and theory
Writing "everything" down
Human Memory, Sales Presentation Ideas, Legal Metrics
Organic Subject Structure
Concurrent Discovery Feedback Metrics Debug

3511 -
351101 -  ..
351102 - Concurrent Discovery Aids "Remembering"
351103 -
351104 - For the most part, documents and other records filed in cabinets,
351105 - desks, even computers require physical effort and time to retrieve, so
351106 - people just "wing it."
351107 -
351108 - Only expensive lawyers dig into the record, but by then a lot of
351109 - downsizing has occurred.  Lawyers call this "discovery." SDS lets us
351110 - discover for ourselves what happened and take corrective action or
351111 - otherwise use our knowledge and ideas to achieve our aims.
351112 -
351113 -        [On 960212 adopted Concurrent Discovery for presentation at
351114 -        PMI's Asilomar Conference on technology to support leadership,
351115 -        ref SDS 10 0929]
351116 -
351117 -        [On 960620 developed concept of Concurrent Discover as part of
351118 -        Communiation Metrics. ref SDS 12 1101]
351119 -
351120 -      ..
351121 -     Record Segmentation
351122 -
351123 -     Effective use of the record requires retrieving only the portion
351124 -     that is of immediate interest.  Most of the time when we remember
351125 -     something, we are only interested in a part of an event that
351126 -     pertains to a current subject.  SDS builds "subject chronologies,"
351127 -     emulating the primary meathod by which the mind maintains stuff,
351128 -     i.e. by time and subject.
351129 -
351130 -     SDS lets users differentiate a long record like this into subsets
351131 -     of logical subjects, so we can later quickly find all of the
351132 -     events where a particular subject was addressed, and then assemble
351133 -     only the portions of each such event that pertain to our current
351134 -     "subject," into a perfect chronology.
351135 -        ..
351136 -     Like the human mind, multiple SDS record segments can have
351137 -     multiple and common subjects because events have varying degrees
351138 -     of relatedness.
351139 -
351140 -     This is a significant advance relative to present human capacity
351141 -     and other technologies.  There are no other products that can do
351142 -     this.  Artificial intelligence technology tries to REPLACE human
351143 -     thinking.  SDS empowers and leverages human potential.
351144 -
351145 - The key is automating the process of creating and applying subject
351146 - identification.  The mind does it automatically, but recalls
351147 - imperperfectly.  SDS automates the whole process so with minimal time
351148 - and effort we can create, identify and retrieve the record.  It then
351149 - becomes a useful resource for people, rather than a source of income
351150 - for lawyers.
351151 -
351152 -
351153 -
3512 -

SUBJECTS
Diary record to increase understanding
Notepad, replace, 910425
Discovery, Strategic Resource
Writing & Subject Indexing, 910418, 930118
Paradigm Shifts
Writing is Primary Knowledge Tool
Technology Improves Understanding by

4610 -
461001 -  ..
461002 - Confusion is Revealed and Solved by Writing
461003 - Paradigm Shift: Writing Discovers knowledge, Not Convey Information
461004 -
461005 - Ideas of concurrent discovery, record segmentation, linking and
461006 - organic subject structure, ref SDS 0 1869, define writing not as a
461007 - tool to tell others what we know, nor what to do, nor even to remind
461008 - ourselves of what we know; but, rather writing in SDS is a process to
461009 - create, discover and shape our knowledge.
461010 -
461011 - More simply, writing reveals and brings order to the "confusion" that
461012 - clouds a busy mind.
461013 -
461014 -      [On 991108 paradigm shift from orality to lituracy took centuries
461015 -      to overcome traditions. ref SDS 17 4788]
461016 - ..
461017 - Because writing demands more focus and time for deliberation
461018 - than mere observing, hearing and talking, there is a big difference
461019 - between the extent to which something we observe, say or hear can seem
461020 - consistent at the moment, but is actually conflicting.  These
461021 - conflicts can often be discovered by trying to write out what
461022 - occurred.  This means that writing the record not only creates a
461023 - resource for ourselves and others, but it also provides a chance to
461024 - "discover" prospectively, that our story is not as "consistent" as it
461025 - seemed when we saw, said or heard something. This early alert provides
461026 - opportunity to fill in the gaps so reasoning is clear, or change
461027 - course before action is taken that will not work or will cause harm.
461028 -
461029 - Since communication is a predicate to taking action, and comprises
461030 - about 80% of daily life, reported on 890809, ref SDS 1 8812, adding a
461031 - process to "debug" understanding by capturing a greater share of
461032 - communication through writing, as called out in POIMS, ref OF 2 1108,
461033 - significantly strengthens "proactive problem handling" that improves
461034 - productivity.
461035 -
461036 -
461037 -      ..
461038 -     Editing Is Building Understanding
461039 -
461040 -     Critical to making this work, is the ability that computers bring
461041 -     to the writing process of efficient editing tools.
461042 -
461043 -     Skilled writers can often simply knock out their text.  The rest
461044 -     of us struggle in a manual world, and so avoid writing, and
461045 -     thereby suffer misunderstanding.  Computer editing tools enable
461046 -     everyone to assess the formulation of their ideas, change their
461047 -     mind and quickly alter their writing to try out alternative forms
461048 -     to shape their understanding.  Taking a sentence or paragraph
461049 -     apart and re-assembling it, is the mind at work creating a better
461050 -     idea.
461051 -
461052 -      ..
461053 -     SDS Adds Value to Writing by Adding Intelligence to Informtion
461054 -
461055 -     Intelligence adds organization, analysis, alignment, summary and
461056 -     feedback (see POIMS, ref OF 2 0367, to improve traditional
461057 -     literacy for enabling proactive problem handling that improves
461058 -     productivity, per above, ref SDS 0 DW9I, and further explained in
461059 -     POIMS. ref OF 2 3742
461060 -
461061 -
461062 -
461063 - See also discussion with Paul Teicholz at Stanford on 900703.
461064 - ref SDS 2 1716, and on 940609 analysis of reliance on pictures and
461065 - conversation, ref SDS 8 4933; and also the cultural barriars to
461066 - implementing this concept on 940603. ref SDS 6 7500
461067 -
461068 -     [On 930112
461069 -     Prodigy reports ref SDS 4 9405.]
461070 -
461071 -     [On 930112 research writing. ref SDS 3 3443]
461072 -
461073 -     [See later discussion with Anne Bevington ref SDS 5 8988.]
461074 -
461075 -     [On 940609 reviewed value of analysis relative to managers demand
461076 -     for pictures and conversation. ref SDS 8 4933]
461077 -
461078 -     [On 950204 SDS improves writing.
461079 -
461080 -     [On 960609 on power of alphabet. ref SDS 7 8854]
461081 -
461082 -     [On 960624 Landauer cited couterintuitive benefits of alphabet.
461083 -     ref SDS 13 1037]
461084 -
461085 -     [On 950927 discussed with Dave at Intel. ref SDS 9 6461]
461086 -
461087 -     [On 960620 developed concept of Concurrent Discovery as part of
461088 -     Communiation Metrics. ref SDS 12 1101]
461089 -
461090 -
461091 -
461092 -
4611 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"