THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: August 17, 1992 10:00 AM Monday;
Rod Welch
Jim Ellis here to demonstrate SDS.
1...Summary/Objective
2...Follow Up
....SDS Automates Common Practices
....Integration
3...Identify the Customer
.......Comment
4...Making Money
5...Marketing Focus
.....Comment
6...Conventional Calendar
7...Manual
..............
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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
Making more money
Pricing Lists
0808 - ..
0809 - Summary/Objective
0810 -
081001 - Jim explained general ideas he as formulated to market SDS. I demoed
081002 - the program. Explained our need to develop marketing expertise. Jim
081003 - offered some helpful observations on marketing, and expressed interest
081004 - in working with us to prepare a preliminary business plan.
081005 -
081006 - Follow Up
081007 -
081008 - Discuss with Morris funding and scheduling to hire Jim for the prelim
081009 - marketing plan.
081010 -
081011 - Confirm understandings with Jim and request additional comments.
081012 -
0811 -
0812 -
0813 - Background
0814 -
081401 - From our discussion at the wedding, I expected Jim could help develop
081402 - avenues into major institutions like AT&T for marketing SDS, ref SDS 1
081403 - line 072003.
081404 -
081405 - He may also be able to assist in devloping strategies for selling SDS
081406 - such as the pilot testing plan he advanced at the wedding, ref SDS 1
081407 - line 072015.
081408 -
081409 -
0815 -
0816 -
0817 - Product Liturature
0818 -
081801 - Today, Jim initially commented on the adequacy of the SDS brochure and
081802 - the detailed statement of POIMS theory, ref OF 1, submitted to him at
081803 - ref DIP 1.
081804 -
081805 - My general impression is that he feels the brochure covers too
081806 - much territory and the technical statement sounds too technical.
081807 -
081808 - His approach seems to be that xxecutives need to be told in
081809 - summary form about the main benefits they will derive from a
081810 - product or service. Then they will follow up and you can fill
081811 - them in on the details.
081812 -
081813 -
081814 -
0819 -
0820 -
0821 - SDS Explanation
0822 -
082201 - Initially, I gave some personal background that led to creating SDS
082202 - (e.g. military, general contracting, litigation, appellate work and
082203 - arbitration). I explained an overview of the main components, and
082204 - showed how the pieces fit together by drawing some diagrams. Tried to
082205 - present the concept of integrated scheduling and reporting.
082206 -
082207 - Jim seemed to follow this pretty well, based on a summary explanation
082208 - he made of his understanding after I finished, along the following
082209 - lines:
082210 -
082211 - SDS Automates Common Practices
082212 -
082213 - He observed that SDS automates well recognized business practices
082214 - that most seasoned managers are trying to implement with manual
082215 - procedures, and that this provides an avenue for presenting SDS as
082216 - a way to improve personal and organizational productivity which is
082217 - the objective of POIMS technology.
082218 -
082219 - Integration
082220 -
082221 - I noted that SDS also integrates previously distinct tasks, such as
082222 - personal scheduling, reporting, filing, correspondence, Document
082223 - Control, Contacts management, Flow Chart Planning (e.g. CPM, PERT),
082224 - Cost Accounting, and Payroll. This comprises POIMS technology:
082225 -
082226 - personal and organizatinal integrated management
082227 -
082228 - It also makes writing an effective instrument for critical analysis
082229 - and discovery through self dialog, rather than solely a means to
082230 - communicate with others, as it is in the main, presently applied.
082231 -
082232 -
082233 -
0823 -
0824 -
0825 - Marketing Strategy
0826 -
082601 - Identify the Customer
082602 -
082603 - Today, Jim expressed strong views on marketing SDS, based on his
082604 - consideration of product information so far.
082605 -
082606 - He indicated it is not a good idea to approach executives and
082607 - senior managers who do not already use computers, with a
082608 - proposition that they to learn and use SDS to increase their
082609 - productivity and income. [see also "Product Improvements, Manual,"
082610 - below]
082611 -
082612 - Jim advocated that management consultants whose business is to
082613 - present methodologies for improving management productivity and
082614 - provide support for implementation, would not be a good avenue to
082615 - market and support SDS.
082616 -
082617 - Comment
082618 -
082619 - This seems to conflict with the thrust of the discussion at
082620 - Pam's wedding where considerable attention was given to the idea
082621 - of winning the committment of senior management for using SDS on
082622 - particular projects, as a core marketing strategy, ref SDS 2
082623 - line 81,
082624 -
082625 - I guess this needs further consideration, if we get a chance to
082626 - visit again under suitable arrangements.
082627 -
082628 -
082629 - Jim recommends selling to existing computer users for under $100,
082630 - rather than making a major attempt to expand the market by appeal-
082631 - ing to people who want to improve management and by extension their
082632 - income.
082633 -
082634 - I pointed out that most computer users are not senior enough to
082635 - have the experience to know why SDS improves their chances of
082636 - success. They do not know that short cuts to save time, usually
082637 - take more time and expense. Senior management is better able to
082638 - appreciate the value of SDS, and thereon can mandate its use,
082639 - even if not for themselves, as we discussed the other day, ref
082640 - SDS 2 line 81.
082641 -
082642 - My experience shows that the level of computer expertise is
082643 - irrelevant to learning and using SDS. The main difficulty new
082644 - users have is understanding the methodology of integrated
082645 - scheduling and reporting, ref SDS 1 line 351. The critical
082646 - factor is transitioning people who have a heavy schedule so they
082647 - can continue to turn out their regular duties, while learning
082648 - new skills.
082649 -
082650 - This can include creating a Subject Index, Contacts data
082651 - base and getting them started creating a diary so they have
082652 - some intellectual capital invested to meet the high
082653 - emotional cost of learning a new skill.
082654 -
082655 -
082656 -
082657 - ..
082658 - Making Money
082659 -
082660 - Jim indicated he does not see how SDS helps people improve their
082661 - income, and recommended against presenting it in that way.
082662 -
082663 - I noted that SDS improves the speed and accuracy of performing
082664 - the primary management tasks: to think, plan, remember and
082665 - communicate. It creates a direct link between what needs to be
082666 - done today, and why; and it makes those links readily accessible
082667 - to the User through succeeding levels of detail. This augments
082668 - an otherwise unique faculty of human intelligence to generate
082669 - and apply knowledge and ideas.
082670 -
082671 - Since "time is money" and "knowledge is power," a manager can
082672 - earn more money by using SDS. [Not to be confused with being
082673 - paid more money, which is driven by a variety of factors besides
082674 - productivity].
082675 -
082676 -
082677 -
082678 -
082679 - Marketing Focus
082680 -
082681 - Jim recommends against investing heavily in explaining how people can
082682 - improve their productivity and income using new capabilities avail-
082683 - able only in SDS. He feels the major effort should be to show how SDS
082684 - helps managers fulfill their vision of management, rather than trying
082685 - to expand that vision.
082686 -
082687 - Our primary concern should be to get the product into the hands of
082688 - users, and then let them decide what to do with it.
082689 -
082690 - Comment
082691 -
082692 - My sense is that some combination of the two is needed. If we
082693 - cannot hold out the promise of advancing the state of the art,
082694 - then our ability to deliver on improving performance is very
082695 - limited. There is no free lunch. We cannot tell people they can
082696 - get a better result without changing their conduct or without any
082697 - effort. The good news is that with a little of extra effort
082698 - applied in particular ways, we can get a significant improvement
082699 - in achieving our goals. That is the truth of it.
082700 -
082701 - The best example is writing. It is accepted even though it is
082702 - hard to learn because it is a very powerful tool by which we can
082703 - capture, develope and recycle our knowledge and ideas, which in
082704 - POIMS parlance is "investing intellectual capital."
082705 -
082706 -
082707 -
082708 -
0828 -
0829 -
0830 - Product Improvements
0831 -
083101 - Conventional Calendar
083102 -
083103 - Jim feels it would be nice to have a calendar showing things to do in
083104 - "summary" format. He initially indicated this would be helpful to
083105 - carry, but realized the importance of having a connection with the
083106 - computer. He ultimately seemed to feel the existing format is
083107 - adequate as a summary list of things to do.
083108 -
083109 -
083110 -
083111 - Manual
083112 -
083113 - Jim made a strong case that a manual is needed to support those who
083114 - have resisted using computers, but decide to try in order to gain the
083115 - benefits of SDS. They do not want learn to use a computer from a
083116 - computer (i.e. using on-line Help).
083117 -
083118 - This proposition defines the market as encompassing the non-computer
083119 - using managers and executives we want to reach. They need a familiar
083120 - medium to transition them into using computers. My experience shows
083121 - this group often needs personal support to accomplish the transition.
083122 -
083123 - In any event some level of manual support is needed.
083124 -
083125 -
083126 -
083127 -
0832 -
0833 -
0834 - Business Plan
0835 -
083501 - At lunch, I asked Jim how he feels he could contribute in helping us
083502 - apply his ideas and objectives for SDS.
083503 -
083504 - Jim thinks we need a business plan to launch SDS. He proposes we do a
083505 - preliminary plan to cover the process of finalizing the product and
083506 - settle on primary target markets. He charges $1K per day, with no
083507 - minimum.
083508 -
083509 -
083510 -
083511 -
0836 -
SUBJECTS
Personal, Millie,
Family - Pam
0905 - Summary
0906 -
090601 - Joyce's wedding ceremony remarks.
090602 -
090603 - Jim forgot to ask Joyce about this -- he will follow up when he
090604 - gets home today.
090605 -
090606 -
0907 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"