CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Nov Event Planning, Theme, Content
Hand Written Notes
Management Communications v. Academic
Detective, Investigating
Failure to Communicate Analogy
Conventional Management Not Enough Time to
Conventional Management Practices
Planning Theater
Handwritten Notes
History Communications
Book (uses manual language)

1713 -    ..
1714 - Summary/Objective
1715 -
171501 - Follow up work at ref SDS 14 line 62.  This record does some
171502 - preliminary work on identifying the scope of the Jun Asilomar event.
171503 -
171504 -
1716 -
1717 -
1718 - Progress
1719 -
171901 - This supplements the considerations given yesterday to content of Nov
171902 - event, ref SDS 15 line 621.
171903 -
171904 - Since it is nearly upon us, we have to get started.
171905 -
171906 - Want to apply ideas discussed at 950608 meeting, ref SDS 11 line 109.
171907 - Want to address fundamental issue arrising from a
171908 -
171909 -           F A A A I L U R E    TO    C O M M U N I C A T E
171910 -
171911 -    .., ref SDS 8 line 121.
171912 -
171913 - Apply ideas developed from prior PMI events, e.g., Asilomar 1990 theme
171914 - of "Group Thinking," ref SDS 1 line 250, and the 1994 effort to solve
171915 - "Murphy's Law, ref SDS 3 line 242.
171916 -
171917 -       [See record on writing a book, 970923, ref SDS 17 line 89.]
171918 -
171919 - Communication Methods
171920 -
171921 -       •  Planning theater
171922 -       •  Forum
171923 -       •  Focus Group
171924 -
171925 -    Do we need to improve productivity of meetings, see Eric Jennett's
171926 -    article in PMI at ref SDS 2 line 174?
171927 -
171928 -    Key questions are how these methods differ from traditional methods
171929 -    of conducting meetings?  How do we decide when to use them? Can we
171930 -    use aspects of them in all or most meetings to improve our general
171931 -    practice?
171932 -
171933 -    Role of facilitator?  When to use?   How to charge?
171934 -
171935 -    What about "understanding" and follow-up within the meaning of
171936 -    Communication Metrics, per ref SDS 5 line 74.
171937 -
171938 -    Distinguish between "Management Communications" and
171939 -    "Communications" as pursuasion, motivation, ref SDS 7 line 165.
171940 -
171941 -
171942 -
171943 - Writing Notes Twice - Hand Written Notes
171944 -
171945 - Considered using hand written notes as a prop to illustrate
171946 - conventional practice, ref SDS 13 5509, and that this could also be
171947 - used in the 2nd event to show advantages of modern methods, i.e.,
171948 - getting materials that can be comprehended and thereby applied at a
171949 - later date.
171950 -
171951 -     Jun Event
171952 -
171953 -     We have in mind doing an exercise on this spread out over 3 days
171954 -     for the Asilomar event, per ref SDS 9 line 33.
171955 -
171956 -
171957 -
171958 - Start with Basics of Communication Origins/History
171959 -
171960 - Objective is to show humankind has succeeded so well it has painted
171961 - itself into a corner, by reaching for faster and faster information,
171962 - which now overwhelms the management process, of people, business,
171963 - government.
171964 -
171965 - Trace history of communications from making sounds like screaming,
171966 - beating a drum, smoke signals, language, poetry, writing, printing
171967 - press, books, loose leaf binders, telegraph, telephone, radio, TV,
171968 - celluar phone, computers, E-mail, 20 80 short cuts, Action Items
171969 - without context.
171970 -
171971 - The purpose of writing is to capture and preserve knowledge and ideas
171972 - as an investment in intellectual capital.
171973 -
171974 - Show the limitations of this method by collecting attendees notes
171975 - halfway through the event and review to show the difficulty of this
171976 - methodology in effectively applying what is encountered in daily
171977 - experience, i.e., to show it is not an effective way to invest
171978 - intellectual capital, and so is a source of "Murphy's Law.
171979 -
171980 -     Actually, we are thinking of using this in the 3rd event, possibly
171981 -     it can be demonstrated in different ways?
171982 -
171983 -     All we want to do is help people grasp that there is a lot of
171984 -     productivity gain in simply creating legible notes that can be
171985 -     used later, and that the process of doing this by writing out the
171986 -     notes later, is a process of discovering deeper meaning and
171987 -     understanding of nuance and implications, like the detective, the
171988 -     scientist, psychologist.
171989 -
171990 -
171991 - Conventional methods lead to errors through mis-communication when the
171992 - rate of information execeeds the capacity to convert it into knowledge
171993 - accurately.  Errors cause poor cost and schedule reports that in turn
171994 - cause management conflicts.  Legal and management consultants are
171995 - hired to resolve conflicts, train and re-organize people to use tools
171996 - that lead to more errors.
171997 -
171998 -
171999 - Partnering/Notice
172000 -
172001 - The PMBOK prescriptions in Section 10 could be treated in conjunction
172002 - with applying "partnering" and contract requirements to give notice of
172003 - potential difficulties, which came up in the seminar on estimating,
172004 - ref SDS 4 line 134.
172005 -
172006 -
172007 - Major Challenge for planning this Event
172008 -
172009 - if we present a lot in one day, people cannot absorb it.  Therefore,
172010 - we need an objective so the content can aim toward it.
172011 -
172012 -
172013 - Structure of Event
172014 -
172015 - The morning session is background, evolution of methods in the rate of
172016 - flow of information and increase in hierarchy that lead to a problem
172017 - which requires better methods to make communication more productive.
172018 -
172019 -     Seems like Ed Scannel might do this work,
172020 -
172021 - Just before lunch, introduce ideas to solve problems:
172022 -
172023 -             Planning Theater
172024 -             Focus Group
172025 -             Forum  ????  (maybe this is inherent in other two)
172026 -
172027 - After lunch, we break up the group into Focus Group and Planning
172028 - Theater groups.
172029 -
172030 -      These efforts identify specific applications and problems in
172031 -      communications.  We are drawing from the membership while
172032 -      teaching them techniques.
172033 -
172034 -      Focus Group talks about planning theater and forum.
172035 -
172036 -      Planning Theater talks about focus group, etc.
172037 -
172038 -
172039 - At 1500, we switch groups - everyone who did Planning Theater goes to
172040 - Focus Group; and vice versa --
172041 -
172042 - At 1600, we bring everyone back and use facilitator to get group to
172043 - explain what they learned today:
172044 -
172045 -      How does management communication differ from communication as
172046 -      taught in school?
172047 -
172048 -      What are critical issues?
172049 -
172050 -      How do Planning Theater differ from Focus Group?
172051 -
172052 -      Where would one be used v. the other?
172053 -
172054 -
172055 - When we end the program, invite everyone to attend the next event to
172056 - hear how MPM advances the ball on the challenge of converting
172057 - information into knowledge in a modern world.
172058 -
172059 -
172060 -
172061 -