THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: June 3, 1995 09:23 AM Saturday;
Rod Welch
Reviewed ideas on planning for PMI Asilomar conference.
1...Summary/Objective
2...CPM Analysis
3...How to Tell the Story of Change
4...In the 1960s "investing" in CPM was still considered by many to be
5...This is an old battle that must be won by each generation.
.....Learning from Experience - CPM
.....Historical Perspective
........Vision, Experience Wisdom
.....Culture Drifting in Circles Lessons of History Not Aligned
.....History Repeated Culture Drifting in Circles Lessons Not Learned
..............
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CONTACTS
SUBJECTS
PMI events, Communication Metrics workshop
Change - Taking Quantum Leap
Experience, Case Studies, Continual Learning
Conflict with Existing Methods
Ignorance, Fear, Denial
Time - Too Busy Being Busy
Pharoah's Cost Control Problem
CPM, Bill Lord resisting
Budgeting to Fail
Lord, Bill Objected to Using CPM Schedule in 1966
1912 - ..
1913 - Summary/Objective
1914 -
191401 - Follow up ref SDS 9 0000.
191402 -
191403 - Thinking about the 4 events Ahmet wants.
191404 -
191405 - Submitted via ref DIT 1 line 30 (explained in next record segment)
191406 - this record as attachment, along with resubmission of updated
191407 - analysis of ref SDS 9 line 60.
191408 -
191409 -
191410 - ..
1915 -
1916 -
1917 - Progress
1918 -
191801 - Did more work today on ideas developed during disucssion with Bill
191802 - Dehart on 950601. ref SDS 9 0001.
191803 -
191804 - Created more links into the record to make sure we are staying on
191805 - track with respect to points that have come up so far. Clarified and
191806 - added language to sharpen ideas on scope, also, on 950601. ref SDS 9
191807 - 4141
191808 -
191809 -
191810 - ..
191811 - CPM Analysis
191812 -
191813 - We need to develop a CPM showing the relationships between each
191814 - event, particularly to consider the practicality of using input from
191815 - one event to support a succeeding event. Will this work?
191816 -
191817 - Resource allocation might be helpful here, so we can farm out
191818 - tasks to ensure no one team member is overburdened.
191819 -
191820 -
191821 -
191822 - ..
191823 - How to Tell the Story of Change
191824 -
191825 - Lori Brown might be good for the February event on emerging
191826 - technologies, to explain how SDS was different from what they had been
191827 - doing in agency management at the California Department of Water
191828 - Resources (CDWR), what SDS contributed, how things have gone since SDS
191829 - is no longer being used (this might be touchy), and the difficulty she
191830 - had explaining the benefits of SDS to her superiors and colleagues,
191831 - ref SDS 4 line 81. She would give us some "diversity," plus she
191832 - presents herself very well.
191833 -
191834 - Henry Goswick could explain how hard they tried at McClellan AFB to
191835 - use "automated integration", but the tools they had available did not
191836 - get the job done, so everyone gave up on it, ref SDS 2 line 157.
191837 - ..
191838 - Jake McMichael could explain his efforts to try SDS at Sandia
191839 - Labs, ref SDS 3 line 70, and ref SDS 7 line 69.
191840 -
191841 - Bill DeHart could talk about his memo to Chris Snyder, and Chris might
191842 - discuss the pressures in organizations that make it diffucult to
191843 - introduce new methods. The aim would be to help attendees deal with
191844 - resistance to change within their organizations in trying MPM.
191845 -
191846 - ..
191847 -
191848 - In the 1960s "investing" in CPM was still considered by many to be
191849 - unrewarding in the same way that only a few hundred years earlier,
191850 - literacy (reading and writing) was considered too time consuming to be
191851 - worthwhile for everyone. ref SDS 13 4444 Now writing and CPM are
191852 - mainstream. The resistance to change, however, remains constant.
191853 -
191854 - PMI is a professional organization that evaluates and promotes useful
191855 - change, and so the Asilomar Conference presents an opportunity to help
191856 - people transition from grazing on information in endless meetings,
191857 - calls and email, to investing intellectual capital that fosters a
191858 - culture of knowledge.
191859 -
191860 - [On 960105 Max Blodgett at Corps of Engineers recommends specifying
191861 - Communication Metrics, ref SDS 15 1008;
191862 -
191863 - [On 960221 overcoming resistance to trying new ideas in order to
191864 - gather evidence that a new way of working saves time and money,
191865 - requires analysis by experts of underlying rationale, discussed
191866 - with Tom Landauer. ref SDS 17 0000
191867 -
191868 - [On 960620 develop idea of PMI aiding improvement in paper for
191869 - David Buoncristiani at Asilomar Conference. ref SDS 22 1470
191870 -
191871 - [On 960612 resistance to new ideas eventually overcome by Intel,
191872 - leading to the PC industry. ref SDS 20 4444
191873 -
191874 - ..
191875 -
191876 - This is an old battle that must be won by each generation.
191877 -
191878 - [On 950629 discussed ideas for Jul event in Asilomar,
191879 - ref SDS 11 6943,
191880 -
191881 - [On 960227 planning meeting with Morris discusses challenge of
191882 - leadership. ref SDS 18 0595
191883 -
191884 - ..
191885 - Learning from Experience - CPM
191886 -
191887 - I remember well Bill Lord (who owned Lord Bros. Contractors in
191888 - Portland) coming into Chuck Montgomery's office in 1966 and saying
191889 - that the CPM schedule Chuck had put together for a sewer project
191890 - in Gresham, Or, was not needed. Bill said Lord Bros. "...didn't
191891 - have time nor the money to waste on this stuff, and that Chuck was
191892 - hired to expedite the work." Chuck had to hide the CPM schedule
191893 - from Bill in order to get it done, and he had to be careful which
191894 - superintendant he discussed it with, all in order to save Lord
191895 - Brothers from financial failure.
191896 -
191897 - [960612 Lynn Conway tried to introduce VLSI that is credited
191898 - with launching the PC industry. ref SDS 21 1368
191899 -
191900 -
191901 - ..
191902 - Historical Perspective
191903 -
191904 - Sounds like what happened to the Pharohs in Egypt.
191905 -
191906 - I can well imagine the Pharaoh's project manager explaining the
191907 - advantages of using 3 slaves instead of 2 on a critical rock
191908 - splitting task, and the Pharaoh noting that they didn't have
191909 - time nor the grain to invest in another slave on a task that
191910 - was traditionally done by 2 slaves, ref SDS 5 line 303.
191911 -
191912 - ..
191913 - Vision, Experience Wisdom
191914 -
191915 - The modern use of "vision" is to set a broad goal, objective or
191916 - image of a result to be achieved. It uses the TQM practice of
191917 - figuring out where you are going before starting. This can come
191918 - from a lucky insight, but usually comes from experience. The
191919 - characteristic of having "vision" seems like a composite of
191920 - several mental processes that arise in large measuer from
191921 - experience.
191922 -
191923 - [See later analysis at ref SDS 12 line 286.]
191924 -
191925 - Ed Scannel told of the J.C. Penny story about vision coming
191926 - from experience at, ref SDS 6 line 176. I later developed the
191927 - concept of wisdom as an extension of knowledge in a discussion
191928 - with Morris, ref SDS 18 line 734. I drew on this concept in a
191929 - discussion with General Hank Hatch, now VP at Fluor Daniel,
191930 - explaining the advantage of SDS to support the General Versnon
191931 - Walter's role of leadership aide, ref SDS 19 line 512.
191932 -
191933 -
191934 - ..
191935 - Culture Drifting in Circles Lessons of History Not Aligned
191936 - History Repeated Culture Drifting in Circles Lessons Not Learned
191937 -
191938 - This kind of scenario was recounted in the Pmnet p. 5, Feb 1993
191939 - at ref OF 3 line 25, in building the US Navy's first metal clad
191940 - ship during George Washington's presidency, reviewed at ref SDS 1
191941 - line 220. That experience sounds like Joel Koppleman's report on
191942 - difficulties Primavera had with its Windows program, ref SDS 5
191943 - line 254.
191944 -
191945 - [See explanation of why Communication Manager is needed from
191946 - discussion with Corps of Engineers, ref SDS 14 line 238, and
191947 - why it must be specified to encourage contractors to apply
191948 - better tools, ref SDS 16 line 100.]
191949 -
191950 -
191951 -
191952 -
191953 -
1920 -
SUBJECTS
Communications & Communication Metrics
Modern Project Management (MPM)
Re-Engineer Project Management
Scenario using SDS
2307 -
230701 - Follow up work at ref SDS 9 line 380.
230702 -
230703 - Sent Bill ref DIT 1 line 30 requesting his comments on the scenario,
230704 - ref OF 1 line 11, submitted at ref SDS 8 line 78 via ref DIP 1 line
230705 - 23.
230706 -
230707 - [Followed up at ref SDS 10 line 70.]
230708 -
230709 -
230710 -
230711 -
230712 -
230713 -
230714 -
2308 -