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S U M M A R Y


DIARY: June 28, 1995 10:00 AM Wednesday; Rod Welch

Visit Ron Buck re using Forum ideas for PMI communication seminar.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Circle of Knowledge
3...Follow Up
4...Begin "What Happened" Differintiated from Feelings
.....False Knowledge
.....Hand Written Materials
.....Ignorance, Fear and Denial
.....Writing Notes Twice as Reason to Avoid using SDS
.....Comment


..............
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CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
PMI 1996 Event Planning, Speakers
"Forum" methods for event agenda
Examples of Communication Issues
Correlation to Communicaiton Event
Communication Issues, Forum

0807 -    ..
0808 - Summary/Objective
0809 -
080901 - Follow up work at ref SDS 20 line 236 to investigate Forum ideas for
080902 - material on "communication."
080903 -
080904 - This supplements ideas previously considered on Covey at ref SDS 4
080905 - line 83.
080906 -
080907 -      [See follow up article in PM Network on "Concur Sessions" ref SDS
080908 -      24 line 187.]
080909 -
0810 -
0811 -
0812 - Discussion
0813 -
081301 - I explained the objective to develop ideas and methods that support
081302 - "communication," for presentation at a seminar on professional
081303 - development, per our discussion at ref SDS 20 line 221.  Reviewed
081304 - background at ref SDS 17 line 76.
081305 - ..
081306 - What does the Forum experience offer on these general concepts:
081307 -
081308 -          Communication
081309 -
081310 -              ...as an enabling medium for effective community, per ref
081311 -              SDS 8 line 104.
081312 -
081313 -              Ron said the Forum programs he attended did not provide
081314 -              ideas or methods on communication.
081315 -
081316 -          Understanding
081317 -
081318 -              ...as a process of converting information into knowledge
081319 -              by connecting information to time, people, documents and
081320 -              objectives, ref SDS 8 line 121.
081321 -              ..
081322 -              Ron said the Forum did apply "understanding" in
081323 -              this way nor intend to enhance participants understanding
081324 -              of the world.
081325 -
081326 -          Breakthrough
081327 -
081328 -              Ron seemed to describe this as occurring when a concensus
081329 -              (he also used "critical mass") seemed to emerge with
081330 -              respect to some aspect of a topic of group discussion.
081331 -
081332 -
081333 - Reading material:
081334 -
081335 -     Ron submitted a set of hand written notes from Forums he has
081336 -     attended.
081337 -
081338 -     I asked for written material on the purpose, methods and results
081339 -     of the Forum experience.
081340 -
081341 -     Ron described several techniques Forum leaders used (e.g., Focus
081342 -     Group evaluations during session breaks), but said he is unaware
081343 -     of any written explanation of purpose, methods and results
081344 -     attendees can expect to achieve.  He said each Forum is different
081345 -     and is presented ad hoc without any pre-determined objective, plan
081346 -     or technique.  It is entirely reactive.
081347 -
081348 -
081349 -
081350 -  ..
081351 - Circle of Knowledge
081352 -
081353 - Ron explained a drawing on page one of his notes as comprising a
081354 - circle segmented according to our sense of what we "know" and don't
081355 - "know."  This is similar to the visual used at the PMI meeting in Oct
081356 - 94, to distinguish "leaders" from "managers."  We reviewed briefly the
081357 - ideas at ref SDS 6 line 133.
081358 -
081359 -
081360 -
081361 -  ..
081362 - Follow Up
081363 -
081364 - I submitted the notes of the planning meeting for the Communication
081365 - Event Program, ref SDS 17 line 55.  Ron will review this and let me
081366 - know of further ideas from the Forum that may support this effort.
081367 -
081368 -
081369 -      [See follow up article in PM Network on "Concur Sessions" ref SDS
081370 -      24 line 187.]
081371 -
081372 -
081373 -
081374 -
0814 -

SUBJECTS
Knowledge, Perspective, Wisdom
Writing, Hand Written Notes
Writing Notes Twice
Hand Written Notes, Improve
False Knowledge, Mistakes
Wisdom v. Common Sense
Vision, Wisdom, Experience

2410 -
241001 -  ..
241002 - Begin "What Happened" Differintiated from Feelings
241003 -
241004 - I sensed a recurring theme in Ron's explanation of his notes that
241005 - "Forum" theory/practice is aimed at improving personal understanding
241006 - of important events by making a conscious effort to separate fact from
241007 - feelings and analysis.  He said humans are naturally driven to distort
241008 - reality by commingling fact and personal feelings, or what I call
241009 - perspective.
241010 -
241011 - The Forum he attended used the term "presence" to connote the facts of
241012 - "what happened."  It uses "story" and "concept" to reflect the
241013 - reaction and analysis of the "presence."  Ron's notes showed how often
241014 - people overlap the circles of these domains.  He recalled the Forum
241015 - recommended striving to separate "truth" from "perspective," i.e.,
241016 - first consider "what happened" then analyse it for "concept" and
241017 - integration into one's personal "story."
241018 -
241019 -     I mentioned how this idea was applied in a report on Pat Welch's
241020 -     funeral, ref SDS 2 line 61.
241021 -
241022 -     I mentioned that SDS accomplishes this Forum objective, so that it
241023 -     is easier for people to do it consistently.  Ron commented on my
241024 -     recognition of commonalities between effective work practices and
241025 -     SDS functionality.  He indicated alertness to this linkage may
241026 -     reflect harmful nurosis.  I indicated that SDS sales depend on
241027 -     finding this linkage and effectively imparting it to customers in
241028 -     a manner they can believe in it and apply it.  The difficulty of
241029 -     accomplishing this goal for new solutions like SDS, engenders
241030 -     greater effort.
241031 -
241032 -      ..
241033 -     False Knowledge
241034 -
241035 -     We discssed Robert MacNamera's recent book, as an illustration of
241036 -     the distinction between "knowledge" and "information", and how the
241037 -     former can distort recognition of the latter, ref SDS 9 line 143.
241038 -
241039 -          "Wisdom" is recognizing when our "knowledge" may require
241040 -          further analysis, and that useful knowledge requires the
241041 -          practice Ron explained was presented by the Forum.  The idea
241042 -          is stated another way by Stephen Covey:
241043 -
241044 -                First "understand" then evaluate and prescribe, ref SDS
241045 -                3 line 365.
241046 -
241047 -          ...and by Aristotle:
241048 -
241049 -                "The least initial deviation from the truth is
241050 -                multiplied later a thousandfold."
241051 -
241052 -              ...ref SDS 5 line 44.
241053 -
241054 -          I considered these ideas for the PMI Event Program on
241055 -          Communicaiton at ref SDS 21 line 682.
241056 -
241057 -
241058 -      ..
241059 -     Hand Written Materials
241060 -
241061 -     This need arises from the difficulty using hand written notes
241062 -     developed during an event.  Ron said his notes (which we are
241063 -     reviewing today), support this need, and is consistent with the
241064 -     letter he submitted last month. ref SDS 10 VJ6M  I mentioned a
241065 -     possible group exercise being considered for Asilomar to
241066 -     illustrate this need. ref SDS 14 0001  See also discussion on
241067 -     benefit of writing out notes after a meeting on 950223.
241068 -     ref SDS 7 5931
241069 -
241070 -         [On 961023 hand writing not legible to person who prepared the
241071 -         record, example at USACE. ref SDS 23 2079
241072 -
241073 -
241074 -      ..
241075 -     Ignorance, Fear and Denial
241076 -     Writing Notes Twice as Reason to Avoid using SDS
241077 -
241078 -     The difficulty of creating adequate hand written notes during a
241079 -     meeting or other presentation, and the subsequent lack of utility
241080 -     for such notes, as shown my Ron's experience today, means that the
241081 -     resistance to using SDS for Communication Metrics that is voiced
241082 -     as a desire to avoid the time and expense of writing notes twice,
241083 -     is misplaced. Such expressions represent denial that personal work
241084 -     practices need support, fear of the effort to develop the skill
241085 -     and invest the time to write, and ignorance that investing time to
241086 -     capture the record has a significant pay off.
241087 -
241088 -         [On 960920 Tom Keesling at USACE cites difficulty with making
241089 -         notes during meetings. ref SDS 22 4261
241090 -
241091 -         [On 961023 hand writing not legible to person who prepared the
241092 -         record, example at USACE. ref SDS 23 2079
241093 -
241094 -
241095 -
241096 -
2411 -

SUBJECTS
Forum Methods Impractical for Business

2504 -
250401 - Ron said Forum procedures to improve the accuracy of personal
250402 - awareness of facts through increased care in analysis (i.e., "What
250403 - happened?), by deferring judgement of impacts (i.e., "How do I feel
250404 - about what happened?"), are not something he would recommend for use
250405 - in business.  He said the level of effort to apply these methods is
250406 - only justified for use in personal life.  He would not make the effort
250407 - entailed by Forum methodlogy to perofrm daily management in a business
250408 - setting.
250409 -
250410 -     Comment
250411 -
250412 -     Did not have a chance to consider whether if less time and effort
250413 -     is required to carry out the process of separating truth from
250414 -     feelings, say for example by automating the process, then would
250415 -     this make it a more attractive exercise in a business setting?
250416 -
250417 -
250418 -
2505 -

SUBJECTS
Speakers on Forum Methods

2604 -
260401 - I asked if he knows of any speakers who might be interested in
260402 - appearing at the Communication seminar at the Sheraton Palace in Nov?
260403 -
260404 -      Ron said he is out of touch with all of these people, and is
260405 -      unaware of how to contact any of them.
260406 -
260407 -
260408 -
260409 -
260410 -
2605 -