CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
SDS Sales, Contacts with Customers
Demonstration, Difficult to Explain SDS/POIMS
Communication Metrics
Automated Integration of Management Tasks

0806 -    ..
0807 - Summary/Objective
0808 -
080801 - Follow up ref SDS 14 0000.
080802 -
080803 - Demonstrated how SDS applies POIMS, and idea of communication metrics
080804 - to supplement cost and schedule control, per my letter ref DIP 1 0000
080805 -
080806 - Explained the SDS program costs $550, plus training and on-site
080807 - transition support which can cost upwards from $15,000 over a minimum
080808 - of several months.
080809 -
080810 - John plans to submit a report to the City on applying SDS.
080811 -
080812 -
0809 -
0810 -
0811 - Discussion
0812 -   ..
081201 - "Automated management" has two parts:
081202 - 
081203 -     1.  Automate traditional manual tasks so managers can work faster,
081204 -         more accurately and consistently, e.g., tracking action items,
081205 -         notes, correspondence and appointments.
081206 -
081207 -     2.  Integrate manual tasks to further increase productivity,
081208 -         creating "new" tasks which have not previously been done by
081209 -         managers because they require automation. Examples are:
081210 -
081211 -                •  Automating the "management cycle"
081212 -                •  Combining scheduling and reporting
081213 -                •  Linking information and objectives to create a
081214 -                   web of "knowledge"
081215 -
081216 -     The paper on POIMS explains these tasks are performed innately by
081217 -     the human mind (see p. 6 "Management is Complex, ref OF 1 line
081218 -     608); so, they are not really "new."  But people are not aware
081219 -     they are doing them because there are no manual analogs. This
081220 -     makes SDS powerful, but also difficult to explain because saying
081221 -     that SDS lifts the capacity to...
081222 -
081223 -                   think, remember and communicate
081224 -
081225 -         ...either seems redundant or incredible, even though this is
081226 -         the only way to improve management, since in fact each day
081227 -         there is more to think, remember and communicate about (see
081228 -         "Information Revolution" ref SDS 5 line 188, and paper on "New
081229 -         World Order...", ref OF 2 line 39.
081230 -
081231 - So we need a starting point to explain SDS with common terms.
081232 -
081233 - "Communication" is a well recognized function which managers seek to
081234 - improve.  POIMS says people are striving for more information, but
081235 - really need more knowledge, ref SDS 11 line 165.
081236 -
081237 - SDS converts information into knowledge, ref SDS 4 line 204, and ref
081238 - SDS 17 line 64.
081239 -
081240 -
081241 -  ..
081242 - Communication Metrics
081243 -
081244 - In simplest terms "Communication Metrics" means using SDS.
081245 -
081246 -     SDS provides a fast, efficient way to capture and test under-
081247 -     standings from work (what did we do, see, hear, say; what does it
081248 -     mean?)  This "testing" (or "linking") discloses subtle errors
081249 -     that are otherwise overlooked by traditional business practice of
081250 -     cursory consideration and summarizing details, made necessary by
081251 -     a hectic schedule, as explained in the POIMS paper (see p. 4
081252 -     "Communication Metrics, ref OF 1 line 339, and ref SDS 11 line
081253 -     192).
081254 -
081255 -     Managers try to "expedite" by using meetings, phone calls, and
081256 -     notes and reports, but as the volume increases, more mistakes
081257 -     occur which are overlooked.  These mistakes cause lost time and
081258 -     dollars that show up in schedule and cost reports.  Some people
081259 -     summarize the cause of these mistakes and loses, as reflecting:
081260 -
081261 -                           Murphy's Law
081262 -
081263 -     POIMS solves this using principals of cost and schedule control.
081264 -     Communication metrics lets people discover mistakes in under-
081265 -     standings before they impact cost and schedule (see report on
081266 -     Kerzner lecture on Project Management, ref SDS 11 line 241).
081267 -
081268 -     SDS is "quality control" for the management process.
081269 -
081270 -
081271 - SDS Records and Organization
081272 -
081273 - Initially we looked at several printed documents illustrating a new
081274 - form of knowledge called:  "SDS Records."
081275 -
081276 -     SDS records are flexible electronic forms to organize information
081277 -     and analysis (i.e., our thoughts) from daily tasks like placing a
081278 -     call, attend a meeting, prepare a CPM, design a bridge, install a
081279 -     generator, file a claim, prepare for trial, bake a cake.  These
081280 -     records form a web of interrelated information about specific
081281 -     objectives, that show causation and the evolution of ideas, i.e.,
081282 -     knowledge, ref SDS 4 line 204.
081283 -
081284 -     A simple example was the extract from my SDS "diary" of John's
081285 -     directions for finding his office for our meeting today, which he
081286 -     gave in our discussion on Mar 3, ref SDS 14 line 63.
081287 -
081288 -     [This record is a more complex example of using SDS.]
081289 -
081290 -
081291 - John asked about various "categories" in the SDS record?
081292 -
081293 -     The listings under each heading are like ordinary references in
081294 -     printed documents.
081295 -
081296 -
081297 - John asked if the "ref ..." entries in the narrative of SDS records
081298 - are related to the "References" at the top of the record?
081299 -
081300 -     To answer this questions, we looked at the SDS program using my
081301 -     notebook computer.
081302 -
081303 -
081304 -
081305 -  ..
081306 - Electronic Citations - Growing New Knowledge Intelligently
081307 -
081308 - "References" in SDS point to other information. Viewed on-line within
081309 - the program, SDS References can be accessed instantly, when needed.
081310 - For example a reference to a letter, or to notes of a prior meeting or
081311 - phone call, enable the User to click or press Enter to open the
081312 - referenced information at will.
081313 -
081314 - This reflects the SDS program design of presenting information at the
081315 - level of detail required by the User, called:
081316 -
081317 -                      Controlled Visibility
081318 -
081319 -     ...discussed in the POIMS paper on p. 2 under Convert Plans into
081320 -     Action, ref OF 1 line 174.
081321 -
081322 - SDS lets the User create these electronic references within a few
081323 - seconds so they can capture and apply understandings quickly, before
081324 - time and interceding events cause memory to fade.  Managers can
081325 - quickly test whether what they are doing and thinking about today is
081326 - consistent with:
081327 -
081328 -        •  Prior actions
081329 -        •  Prior commitments
081330 -        •  Contract provisions
081331 -        •  Cost and Schedule objectives
081332 -        •  Prior understandings (has our perspective changed??)
081333 -        •  Project documents (e.g., correspondence, submittals)
081334 -
081335 -    This comprises an automated "experience" machine, or like what
081336 -    might be called an "Operating System" for people and organizations.
081337 -
081338 -
081339 -
081340 - POIMS Technology
081341 -
081342 - John felt the POIMS paper submitted by the Welch letter of Jan 19,
081343 - ref DIP 1 line 30, was interesting but too general to understand what
081344 - SDS actually does.  He said the demonstration makes more clear the
081345 - concept set out in the paper, ref OF 1 line 12.
081346 -
081347 -     PMI Vancouver Conference
081348 -
081349 -     John said he attended the PMI conference in Vancouver, and asked
081350 -     if I had attended.  I explained that the POIMS paper was present-
081351 -     ed at the Vancouver conference.  It is in the proceedings begin-
081352 -     ning at page 493.
081353 -
081354 -     New World Order...
081355 -
081356 -     I gave John a copy of this paper ref OF 2 line 13, for additional
081357 -     foundation on the rational and need for POIMS and SDS.
081358 -
081359 -
081360 -
081361 - Expedition
081362 -
081363 - John asked how SDS correlates to Expedition?  He said the City has
081364 - made a considerable investment in Expedition for document management.
081365 -
081366 -     Subject Index
081367 -
081368 -     We used SDS to look up prior analysis to illustrate the answer to
081369 -     this question.  We used the SDS subject index to find:
081370 -
081371 -                  Projects
081372 -                     SDS Development
081373 -                         Marketing
081374 -                            Competitive Products
081375 -               ---------------> Expedition
081376 -
081377 -     We did a report on "Expedition" for the past 5 years, and found
081378 -     the following records:
081379 -
081380 -       Sep 30, 1989 - Meeting to review Expedition used by Swinerton & Walberg.
081381 -       Sep 14, 1991 - Experiment with Expedition document program.
081382 -
081383 -     Fast & Easy Retrieval
081384 -
081385 -     This took about 10 seconds. The speed and ease of getting this
081386 -     information is the key difference between SDS and traditional
081387 -     document management programs.
081388 -
081389 -     In sum, SDS is aimed at helping the management team integrate
081390 -     time, information, people and document management into a single
081391 -     automated work environment.  Document management is an important
081392 -     part of SDS capability.
081393 -
081394 - I can submit upon request the analysis of Expedition for detailed
081395 - consideration, plus samples of Doc Log and other SDS reports.
081396 -
081397 -
081398 -
081399 - SDS Document Log
081400 -
081401 - We examined notes of a meeting with Sue Hoffman at PG&E where this
081402 - same issue was discussed on Tuesday, Mar 7, ref SDS 16 line 70.  It
081403 - shows by pressing a button, SDS produces:
081404 -
081405 -     •  Documents, not just a "report" of where they are.
081406 -     •  Document context, why, related docs and follow up.
081407 -
081408 - John commented about the report in the SDS record that Sue's desk is
081409 - well organized, and thereby reflects the SDS aim:
081410 -
081411 -        A place for everything and everything in its place!
081412 -
081413 - Sue is not a project manager.  The documents and issues that arise in
081414 - her job as administrator of PG&E's Legal Department, are far less
081415 - than occur in managing public works contracts.  SDS gives managers
081416 - command and control of large volumes of information, so there is less
081417 - paper created and less to handle.  This leaves more time for
081418 - knowledge and ideas.
081419 -
081420 -
081421 -
081422 -
0815 -

SUBJECTS
Communication Metrics
Management productivity & Teamwork
Operating System for People & Organizations
Difficult to Explain SDS/POIMS
SDS Experienced to Learn Power of Automated
Experience Needed to Understand SDS
Operating System for People & Organizations

1410 - Summary/Objective
1411 -
141101 - Explaining SDS
141102 -
141103 - John feels "buz words" and jargon are overused in the industry.
141104 -
141105 - I said that many people who see the SDS demonstration and even those
141106 - who use SDS, such as at PG&E, often have difficulty explaining it to
141107 - themselves and to others ref SDS 17 line 75, because there is no base
141108 - of experience to associate SDS functionality.
141109 -
141110 -    Operating System for People
141111 -
141112 -    Microsoft's DOS and Windows, and IBM's OS2 are "operating systems"
141113 -    for computers to control inputs and outputs.  SDS is an operating
141114 -    system for people.  It leverages human intelligence in the same
141115 -    way that using a truck leverages human muscle to carry heavier
141116 -    loads farther and faster.
141117 -
141118 - This is difficult to "know," however, until people acquire direct
141119 - experience with SDS.  They have to use SDS in order to absorb the
141120 - concept of "converting information into knowledge."  To encourage
141121 - using SDS, I have put forward:
141122 -
141123 -                     Communication Metrics
141124 -
141125 -    ...as a simple way to summarize what SDS does.  Starting from the
141126 -    baseline idea, that managing is 90% "communications," first with
141127 -    ourselves and then with others, there is a growing awareness of
141128 -    the importance of measuring work performance and that changing the
141129 -    way work is performed often yields improvements without hiring
141130 -    more people.  This idea underlies efforts to apply Total Quality
141131 -    Management (TQM) in various forms, also called "re-engineering the
141132 -    business", "reinventing this, that and the other."
141133 -
141134 -
1412 -

SUBJECTS
Communication Metrics
Management productivity & Teamwork
Communications, TQM

1806 -
180601 -  ..
180602 - Commuication Metrics Improves Cost and Schedule Metrics
180603 -
180604 - John said he has an MBA in addition to being an engineer.
180605 -
180606 - Many MBA programs cover work measurement concepts like TQM.   What has
180607 - been overlooked is measuring management productivity other than by
180608 - hiring an accountant to see if more money comes in than goes out.
180609 - This is the "bottom line" theory which in construction has been
180610 - supplemented in recent years by hiring cost and schedule engineers to
180611 - report on intermediate deviations from targeted costs and progress,
180612 - ref SDS 11 line 241.
180613 -
180614 - The PMI PMBOK cites cost, schedule and communications as primary
180615 - management concerns, ref SDS 11 line 286.  SDS brings the scrutiny to
180616 - communications which previously was given solely to cost and schedule
180617 - control.  Since management is mainly communications about cost and
180618 - schedule, then:
180619 -
180620 -                    "communication metrics"
180621 -
180622 -      ...has a much greater impact on improving performance than do
180623 -      cost and schedule metrics, as reported by PG&E in the letter
180624 -      submitted to John, ref DRP 1 line 25, and ref SDS 11 line 176.
180625 -
180626 -
180627 -
1807 -

SUBJECTS
Communication Engineer

2004 -
200401 -  ..
200402 - Why Another Buz Word??
200403 -
200404 - Some people ask why Communication Metrics is needed since the role of
200405 - a manager is primarily "communications," ref SDS 11 0333.
200406 - ..
200407 - POIMS holds that "communications" has two parts:
200408 -
200409 -    1.  Conveying and exchanging information.  This requires skills of
200410 -        effective listening and persuasive dialog, commonly called
200411 -        leadership.
200412 -
200413 -    2.  Ensuring mutual, accurate "understanding" and follow up, i.e.,
200414 -        the quality control ("metric") component of management.
200415 -
200416 -        [On 950237 defined 3 parts. ref SDS 18 0000]
200417 -
200418 -        Applied to POIMS paper on managing as comprised of "doing" and
200419 -        "thinking." ref OF 1 2049
200420 -
200421 - There is lots of help in the market place for point one (1) -- see for
200422 - example review of Stephen Covey's ideas at ref SDS 4 5903, but only
200423 - SDS supports point two (2), compare review of Kerzner lecture, see at
200424 - ref SDS 11 8933, with POIMS paper at ref OF 1 line 314.
200425 -
200426 - As the pace of modern business life increases, the amount of time
200427 - devoted to leadership increases (more meetings, calls, documents), so
200428 - there is less time for analysis and follow up explained in the paper
200429 - on the New World Order..., ref OF 2 line 39.
200430 -
200431 - The need for a solution was highlighted from the management seminar at
200432 - Cal Tech on 921021. ref SDS 3 5692
200433 -
200434 - Communication Metrics restores the balance between "doing" and
200435 - "thinking," ref SDS 4 5553.
200436 -
200437 -    [See later development of these ideas at ref SDS 18 2108.]
200438 -
200439 -
200440 -  ..
200441 - Implementation - Communication Engineering
200442 -
200443 - There are two components to applying SDS:
200444 -
200445 -     1.  Learning to use the SDS program
200446 -
200447 -     2.  Using SDS to write things down, link them up, and schedule
200448 -         follow-up.
200449 -
200450 - SDS can be learned in a few weeks of dedicated training.  In most
200451 - cases, however, managers cannot stop their business for a few weeks.
200452 - In addition, learning SDS requires the traffic of a busy day in order
200453 - to bump into the circumstances for applying all of its features, ref
200454 - SDS 5 line 83. Therefore, on-the-job training is needed.  This can
200455 - take from 4 - 8 weeks.
200456 -
200457 - The second part is really the greater challenge, and calls for a more
200458 - comprehensive solution.  SDS requires more time for thinking (see
200459 - "Why Another Buz Word" above), to grow our knowledge and preserve it.
200460 - A skilled SDS user needs less time, but new Users initially struggle
200461 - to decide what to write down and link up.  Since time is limited to
200462 - 24 hours in a day, we need another person initially to make sure the
200463 - SDS record is prepared.  We call this "transition support."  It is
200464 - performed by a:
200465 -
200466 -                      communication engineer
200467 -
200468 -     ...supplementing the skills of cost and schedule engineers, and
200469 -     claims analysts, to support project management, ref SDS 11 line
200470 -     260.
200471 -
200472 -
200473 - To illustrate communication engineering, John and I looked up
200474 - comments by Wayne Wetzel, Deputy Director of DNRC.  We used the SDS
200475 - Subject Index again to find...
200476 -
200477 -
200478 -                      Projects
200479 -                         SDS Development
200480 -                             Marketing
200481 -                                Customer Perceived Value
200482 -                 ---------------->  Executive Support
200483 -
200484 -      ..
200485 -     Example Using SDS
200486 -
200487 -     Wayne said in response to a recommendation that he prepare the
200488 -     SDS record on a particular meeting, in order to save time (Dec
200489 -     12, 1991 at the offices of DNRC in Helena Montana, see ref SDS 2
200490 -     line 144):
200491 -
200492 -        ... when he enters information himself (e.g. writing a
200493 -        letter), it takes much longer because he pauses to struggle
200494 -        with the language structure and to collect and organize his
200495 -        thoughts.
200496 -
200497 -        He feels on the other hand that he can discuss his views with
200498 -        me then go do other things while I craft and organize the
200499 -        language that accomplishes his objective, cite the documents
200500 -        and events for support, and if an inconsistency cannot be
200501 -        worked out he will be notified for further consideration.  I
200502 -        agreed that this is a good use of staff to support an
200503 -        executive.
200504 -
200505 -
200506 - Training & Support
200507 -
200508 - This experience and the work at PG&E ref DRP 1 0000 has led to the
200509 - idea of dividing "communication" between leadership and analysis. The
200510 - manager is attending meetings, making calls, sending and receiv- ing
200511 - documents.  This is the leadership component of communications.
200512 -
200513 - The communication engineer uses SDS to support analysis by insuring
200514 - clarity, accuracy, consistency, correlation to objectives and timely
200515 - follow up.  (See for example discussion with Morris Jones at Chips &
200516 - Technologies, ref SDS 15 line 216, and with IBM at ref SDS 7 line
200517 - 229).
200518 -
200519 -        PG&E uses "Project Analysts" other organizations use an Admin
200520 -        Assistant, Project Engineer, Assistant Superintendent -- all
200521 -        can acquire the new skill of "communication engineering."
200522 -
200523 - The goal of an organization using SDS is to transition its management
200524 - team to apply SDS.  Welch supplies a communication engineer for
200525 - training and transition support.  This "support" immediately begins
200526 - improving the success of the management team, as reported at PG&E,
200527 - ref DRP 1 line 25.  These benefits create desire among individual
200528 - managers to acquire SDS skills, and afford them the opportunity to do
200529 - so at their own pace.
200530 -
200531 -
200532 -
200533 -
2006 -

SUBJECTS
Communication Engineereing

2104 -
210401 - Time and Cost
210402 -
210403 -
210404 -     SDS program.................................... $550
210405 -
210406 -     Communication Engineer......................... $ 75/Hr.
210407 -
210408 -     Computer Workstation........................... $500/Mo.
210409 -
210410 -     The communication engineer is typically on-site from 2 - 6
210411 -     months, and thereafter provides off-site support as requested by
210412 -     the customer.
210413 -
210414 -     The total cost can range from $15,000 - $150,000 over several
210415 -     years, depending upon whether an organization internalizes SDS
210416 -     skills, or prefers to draw on Welch resources.
210417 -
210418 -
210419 -
210420 - Follow Up
210421 -
210422 - John requested brochures that summarize SDS features.  I gave him two
210423 - sets.  I will submit notes of our discussion today.  He plans to
210424 - submit a report on how SDS might be applied.  He requested an
210425 - explanation of cost.
210426 -
210427 - John feels his project at the treatment plant is too far along to
210428 - introduce SDS.  He indicated the expansion program at the airport
210429 - might be conducive to using SDS in the manner discussed today.
210430 -
210431 -
210432 -