THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: August 31, 1994 02:30 PM Wednesday;
Rod Welch
Visited Sandia in Albuquerque NM to demo SDS.
1...Summary/Objective
2...Extending the Research Paradigm Beyond the Lab
.....Communications Metrics - TQM
.....Investing Intellectual Capital
3...Empowerment
4...Avoiding Mistakes
.....How Much Time
5...Sharing Information & Networks
6...Implementation
7...Other Users
..............
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CONTACTS
SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing, Sales Developing Leads
Industry Contacts
Demonstrations
Sandi Labs Los Alamos
0706 - ..
0707 - Summary/Objective
0708 -
070801 - Follow up ref SDS 6 0000.
070802 -
070803 - Presented POIMS technology to about 15 managers and support staff.
070804 - Chuck Oien did not make it, as he had indicated he might at
070805 - ref SDS 8 9077.
070806 -
070807 -
070808 - Objective is to show that SDS implements POIMS technology, performing
070809 - a range of critical tasks quickly. SDS can seem overwhelming because
070810 - people learn "management" over a long time which masks the integration
070811 - that occurs in mind. Observing innate mental tasks at first appears
070812 - complex, but only "automated integration" can meet the TQM objective
070813 - of doing things faster and more accurately than by relying solely on
070814 - personal recall and intuition.
070815 -
070816 - Carol Yarnal introduced me and mentioned the demonstration at Sandia
070817 - in Livermore. She asked for the names of attendees at the presentation
070818 - to Sandai Labs in Livermore.
070819 -
070820 - We got them from the record at ref SDS 1 line 51.
070821 -
070822 -
070823 - ..
0709 -
0710 -
0711 - Presentation
0712 -
071201 - Extending the Research Paradigm Beyond the Lab
071202 -
071203 - Reviewed concept of automated integration to make it possible to
071204 - combine skills from different professions, including research, as
071205 - explained in the POIMS paper. ref OF 1 2688
071206 -
071207 - Used outline for presentation to IBM on 940725, ref SDS 3 0699, and
071208 - for presentation at Sandia Lab in Livermore on 940721. ref SDS 1 0844
071209 - (I will submit the record of the presentation at Sandia, Livermore for
071210 - support).
071211 -
071212 -
071213 - Communications Metrics - TQM
071214 - Investing Intellectual Capital
071215 -
071216 - I asked that attendees to prepare written analysis of POIMS based
071217 - on the documents submitted to Sandia, and how those ideas relate
071218 - to the SDS demonstration today. Do they feel that SDS implements
071219 - POIMS, and can this improve their work?
071220 -
071221 - Following the demonstration, Carol said she uses "thinking through
071222 - writing" in her work, explained in the POIMS paper, see page 4
071223 - under "Report," ref OF 1 line 280.
071224 -
071225 -
071226 - Empowerment
071227 -
071228 - Even if SDS is not adopted at Sandia, POIMS can still empower mangers.
071229 -
071230 - When an important matter is discussed in a phone call or meeting,
071231 - before taking action, invest some "intellectual capital" by writ-
071232 - ing up the problem, what was said and proposed action, cite the
071233 - support for alleged facts and expectations. This will greatly
071234 - improve performance, but it takes time. SDS increases the ability
071235 - to do this by a factor of 10, and so "empowers" managers to deal
071236 - with the accelerating pace of modern business life, under the
071237 - standard proposed by Peter Drucker.
071238 -
071239 -
071240 -
071241 - Avoiding Mistakes
071242 -
071243 - Reviewed concept of "Murphy's Law" and "debugging" management. SDS
071244 - lets managers discover the mistakes that are masked by the pace of
071245 - modern business life, called the "Information Highway, per ref SDS 9
071246 - line 113.
071247 -
071248 - How Much Time
071249 -
071250 - Mary Coco asked how much writing is required to use SDS and how
071251 - much time it takes?
071252 -
071253 - This depends on the importance and complexity of issues. Simple
071254 - matters require no, or minimal writing. Writing about important
071255 - issues discloses subtle complexities that may otherwise be over-
071256 - looked. Writing about complex issues that seem unimportant, tests
071257 - initial impressions and is a resource to keep up with new events
071258 - and avoid being overwhelmed by complexity. Without SDS linking
071259 - and instant access, things that seem clear today, often turn out
071260 - to be quite complex when it is too late to capture the record.
071261 -
071262 - SDS provides an automated environment to capture the record
071263 - quickly, test it against prior understandings, and link it up to
071264 - organizational objectives and related knowledge. The more it is
071265 - used, the more valuable it becomes. This reduces the time needed
071266 - to enter the record, because as shown by THIS record, related in-
071267 - formation can merely be cited, rather than created over and over
071268 - again. So the more we invest, the less time is needed to capture
071269 - the record, as explained in the POIMS paper on page 5 under
071270 - "Productivity," ref OF 1 line 422.
071271 -
071272 - Half an hour typing stuff on the plane ride home this afternoon,
071273 - creates and preserves understanding that would otherwise slip away
071274 - with the passage of time. But having created it, the record can
071275 - be used as a resource over and over again, as shown at the demon-
071276 - stration today.
071277 -
071278 -
071279 -
071280 - Sharing Information & Networks
071281 -
071282 - Carol asked how information created by one person can be used by
071283 - another person without specifically sending it them?
071284 -
071285 - I showed how my records are linked to Bill DeHart's SDS records at
071286 - PG&E, so he can use my work through the network, rather than me
071287 - printing a report, meeting or taking up time with a phone call.
071288 -
071289 - Bill's schedule had a task for reviewing a project meeting. That
071290 - task was linked to my records, so he could simply click on the
071291 - citation, to open my analysis. Background on issues is always
071292 - instantly available whether events occurred yesterday, last month,
071293 - or two years ago. In SDS time is a powerful new ally of manage-
071294 - ment rather than an enemy.
071295 -
071296 -
071297 -
071298 - Implementation
071299 -
071300 - There was a question about business settings where SDS is most useful?
071301 -
071302 - This was answered by another attendee noting that since SDS is a
071303 - tool to create, organize and retrieve knowledge and ideas, it
071304 - applies to management, admin support, research, engineering, law,
071305 - actually all "knowledge work."
071306 -
071307 - Wherever writing is used, SDS improves that work, because it
071308 - converts information into knowledge that is integrated with time,
071309 - people and documents.
071310 -
071311 - I gave Carol a few pages of the contract with PG&E to illustrate a
071312 - means of introducing SDS at Sandia. Welch management support costs
071313 - $75 per hour or approximately $10,000 per month. We usually bring a
071314 - computer which costs another $500 or so. With per diem expenses to
071315 - New Mexico, expenses might run $2,000 per month (including the com-
071316 - puter).
071317 -
071318 - Emphasized introducing SDS requires a few months of Welch being on-
071319 - site to help accomplish the manager's work, to transition new users.
071320 - Initially only Welch uses SDS. The organization is shielded from
071321 - doing data entry; they only use the work product of the SDS program
071322 - and Welch. This is because it takes some time to get used to how SDS
071323 - is applied to create a new class of information, called "automated
071324 - knowledge." Right now all of the world's knowledge resides in human
071325 - minds. Information is in books, notebooks, computer files and docu-
071326 - ments. People have to get used to creating and using knowledge rather
071327 - than merely assuming they have it.
071328 -
071329 -
071330 - Other Users
071331 -
071332 - Carol asked if there are SDS Users Sandia can consult about
071333 - implementing SDS? Here are some who have gone through the
071334 - experience.
071335 -
071336 -
071337 - Wayne Wetzel Jeff Ghilardi
071338 - Deputy Director Vice President
071339 - Dep Natural Resources & Convrstn Seawest Company
071340 - State of Montana 619 293 3340
071341 - 406 444 6722
071342 -
071343 - Bill DeHart Morri Smyth
071344 - Project Manager Frank Russell Company
071345 - Transmissions Systems 506 596 3189
071346 - Pacific Gas & Electric
071347 - 415 973 5655
071348 -
071349 -
0714 -