CONTACTS 
0201 - University of Colorado             303 492 2875 fax or 800...
020101 - Mr. Thomas K. Landauer

SUBJECTS
PMI Event, Planning, Jul, Speakers,
Landauer, Tom

0504 -    ..
0505 - Summary/Objective
0506 -
050601 - Follow up ref SDS 10 0000, ref SDS 11 0000.
050602 -
050603 - Received ref DRT 1 0001 from Tom submitting his outline. ref DRT 1
050604 - 00NF and biography, ref DRT 1 MX4N, seem well suited for the 2nd and
050605 - 4th speaker scope.  Developed ideas to combine these presentations.
050606 -
050607 -     [On 960229 considered alternate ideas, ref SDS 18 7466, and with
050608 -     discussions with Morris on 960227. ref SDS 17 0777]
050609 -
050610 - Submitted response via internet and US mail, ref DIT 1, transmitting
050611 - this record and discussions with Morris at Chips ref SDS 7 line 134,
050612 - and later Jean at MIT to explain the role of Communication Metrics to
050613 - overcome the psychological trauma of conflict and confronting error.
050614 - Also sumbitted the lastest Asilomar agenda ref OF 3 line 17, changed
050615 - to show Leadership and Technology, and marked to show how Tom could
050616 - combine the 2nd and 4th speaker.
050617 - ..
050618 - Tried to develop the correlation between Tom's exertise in
050619 - cognitive science and the event them on leadership and technology,
050620 - ref SDS 14 line 131.
050621 -
050622 -
050623 -
0507 -
0508 -
0509 - Progress
0510 -
051001 - Tom indicates he has experienced jumbled internet stuff, so I
051002 - responded via internet and advised it seems to have been received
051003 - correctly.  He is sending a hard copy as well.
051004 -
051005 - Tom's letter ref DRT 1 0001, does not cite my Feb 22 letter
051006 - ref DIP 4 0001, confirming our discussion last week. ref SDS 10 0001
051007 - ..
051008 - This suggests his outline was prepared without reference to the
051009 - latest event agenda ref OF 2 line 17, submitted with the Feb 22
051010 - letter. Tom's work does however, reflect my letter of Jan 12,
051011 - ref DIP 3 line 33, which submitted the detailed planning done on Nov
051012 - 14, ref SDS 8 line 132.
051013 -
051014 -
051015 -  ..
051016 - Leadership & Technology
051017 -
051018 - Since sending the agenda to Tom on Feb 22, we made slight additional
051019 - changes to reflect the desire of the PMI Event committee to focus on
051020 - "leadership," per ref SDS 12 line 76.
051021 -
051022 -
051023 -  ..
051024 - Tom's Biography
051025 -
051026 - This is submitted below Tom's outline. ref DRT 1 MX4N I need to edit
051027 - ref OF 4 NG3E, or send it to him for acceptance.
051028 -
051029 -     [Did this at ref SDS 19 line 78.]
051030 -
051031 - Publications are at ref DRT 1 line 161, awards at ref DRT 1 line 153.
051032 -
051033 - Tom brings together all of the expertise I have been seeking the past
051034 - year or so to explain the need, rationale and elements of a new
051035 - science to lift or leverage the capacity to think, remember and
051036 - communicate ref SDS 3 line 45:
051037 -
051038 -      •  <UW74 Anthropology ref DRT 1 line 117
051039 -
051040 -      •  Psychology, ref DRT 1 line 73
051041 -
051042 -      •  Cognitive Science and Computer Science research, re 1
051043 -         line 80
051044 -
051045 -      •  Human Information Processing, ref DRT 1 line 81
051046 -
051047 -      •  Text, LSI & Superbook, ref DRT 1 line 87
051048 -
051049 -
051050 - These are the ideas that need to be integrated in the presentation of
051051 - the 2nd speaker, ref SDS 8 9036, to conceptually link "leadership"
051052 - with effective "communications."
051053 -
051054 -      [On 960715 Landauer was missed at Asilomar, ref SDS 21 IH6J
051055 -
051056 -
051057 -
051058 -
0511 -

SUBJECTS
Writing & Linking, Gift of Time, Power of

0604 -
060401 -  ..
060402 - Writing Metric of Understanding
060403 -
060404 - He can set out ideas to "measure" what is understood in the mind from
060405 - an exchange of information.  Can we write it down and link it up?  If
060406 - we can't, then we don't understand it.  This is about as close as we
060407 - can get to a "metric" of understanding, except we can verify those
060408 - links and can check the assignment of subjects (meaning) to look for
060409 - gaps and inconsistencies that require more attention. If we send our
060410 - writing to someone with whom we spoke, they can take a look and draw
060411 - our attention to their perception of gaps and inconsistences.
060412 -
060413 -      [See example the next day on interaction with Jean at MIT Center
060414 -      for Organizational Learning, ref SDS 16 line 94.]
060415 -
060416 -
060417 -  ..
060418 - Outline
060419 -
060420 - Tom's outline has the title:
060421 -
060422 -
060423 -      Why computers don't help as much as you think, and what to do
060424 -      about it.
060425 -
060426 -
060427 - ...appended to his letter. ref DRT 1 00NF
060428 -
060429 -   This is not far from what was developed today, before receiving
060430 -   Tom's letter, at ref SDS 15 line 92, to encapsulate the event agenda
060431 -   for the 4th speaker at ref SDS 8 line 327:
060432 -
060433 -      ..
060434 -      Useful Automation for Executive Communications
060435 -
060436 -
060437 -    ..
060438 -   Analysis
060439 -
060440 -   Tom's title suggests a question about what managers/leaders do that
060441 -   computers can help them do better?
060442 -
060443 -       Connections & Knowledge
060444 -
060445 -       He seems to address this in section II of his outline ref DRT 1
060446 -       line 48.  He does not indicate in the outline the role of
060447 -       connecting up information to convert it into knowledge, or
060448 -       whatever one might call a set of "connected information" showing
060449 -       time, subject (meaning), correlations, implications, and
060450 -       causation.  That is the expertise cognitive science may be able
060451 -       to offer.  If we do not wish to call it "converting information
060452 -       into knowledge," what would be an alternate description?
060453 -
060454 -
060455 -
060456 -
0605 -

SUBJECTS
Executives Work by Visualization
Automated Management, Visibility, Controlled
Computers not used for management
Talking Seems Fast and Easy Knowledge,
Talking & Listening Inadequate, Need
Usefull Technology Can be Used A Lot
Automating Separate Tasks Does Not Improve
Leadership Mostly Communication, Needs

1511 -
151101 -  ..
151102 - Computers Not Useful to Management
151103 -
151104 -
151105 -   It appears Tom is thinking of making the initial case that computers
151106 -   in their present application are not "useful" to the management
151107 -   process, ref DRT 1 line 37.  He will find a very receptive audience
151108 -   because many executives/managers believe computers cannot improve
151109 -   management because managers are leaders and "leadership" is
151110 -   communications and "communications" is talking people into doing
151111 -   things. Managers feel they work by visualization and so want tools
151112 -   that provide graphical analysis and summaries, ref SDS 1 line 69,
151113 -   ref SDS 17 line 675, ref SDS 9 line 129.  Since this is not how
151114 -   managers really work, it cannot be created, so computers cannot
151115 -   support management which is a cognitive skill.
151116 -      ..
151117 -      This can be supported by asking for a show of hands from
151118 -      the audience of how many people are project managers, senior
151119 -      managers, executives.  Of that group, how many use a computer
151120 -      more than 1 hour a day, every day, per discussion with Dave
151121 -      Vannier at Intel, ref SDS 6 line 522.  Anyone who does not raise
151122 -      their hand is to be congratulated because they have recognized
151123 -      that so far computers are not useful to management.
151124 -
151125 -          [Dave Vannier wound up doing something like this at Asilomar,
151126 -          ref SDS 21 line 374.]
151127 -
151128 -      Bill Gates, Lou Gerstner, Andy Grove, Bill Clinton, most likely
151129 -      do not use a computer at all during most of their work day
151130 -      because their job is to think, remember and communicate.  It is
151131 -      hard to get a computer to help people do this.  If we could, then
151132 -      there might be a reason for Bill, Lou, Andy and Bill to use it
151133 -      more often, in the same way a car has become more and more a part
151134 -      of our lives over the past century.  We can carry more groceries
151135 -      home from the store, farther and faster.  That's useful.  Can
151136 -      computers help us think, remember and communicate over longer
151137 -      time spans, faster and more accurately?  That would be useful
151138 -      too.
151139 -      ..
151140 -      Possibly Bill, Lou, Andy and Bill have a need to ensure
151141 -      that understandings are consistent with commitments and to
151142 -      maintain shared meaning over time of what it is they talk people
151143 -      into doing.  Maybe computers can help with these aspects of
151144 -      communications.  What is "understanding," what is "meaning"?
151145 -
151146 -
151147 -
151148 -    ..
151149 -   Combine 4th & 2nd Speaker Scope
151150 -
151151 -   This seems to lead to Tom's field of cognitive science and
151152 -   connectionist theory, which is ideal for our 2nd speaker, and why it
151153 -   seems to make sense for Tom to do that scope in the course of
151154 -   explaining why computers are not useful, the 4th speaker scope.
151155 -
151156 -       [Later considered alternate ideas at ref SDS 18 line 114, and
151157 -       with discussions with Morris, ref SDS 17 line 349.]
151158 -
151159 -   He has this in his outline at ref DRT 1 line 48, but does not
151160 -   mention the need to connect information in order to create
151161 -   knowledge.  He may feel this issue is too new or controversial to
151162 -   advance at this time.  Tom addresses part of this question in his
151163 -   book at page 86 and 87, reviewed at ref SDS 4 line 520, noting that
151164 -   more megaflops do not improve productivity in a business, without a
151165 -   correlation to speed, convenience and effectiveness of a useful
151166 -   task.  What tasks do managers and executives do that could be
151167 -   speeded up, made more convenient and more effective?  Similarly, we
151168 -   need conferees to consider that merely increasing the flow of
151169 -   information does not improve productivity of a business either.
151170 -   They need something more.  What is it that businesses need and how
151171 -   can computers help them get it that is not being done now?
151172 -
151173 -
151174 -
1512 -

SUBJECTS
Cognitive Science, Difficult to Understand
Automated Integration of Management Tasks
Lift Capacity to Think, Remember and
Continual Learning, Computers Don't Support Thinking, So Not
Management Complex, SDS
Cognition Linking Present to Past,

2709 -
270901 -    ..
270902 -   Managing is Integrating:
270903 -   Thinking, Remembering, Communicating
270904 -
270905 -   A cognitive scientist is ideal to explain how thinking, remembering
270906 -   and communicating are integrated mental tasks that entail making
270907 -   connections from the continual learning process, ref SDS 20 line
270908 -   195, called the Management Cycle in POIMS technology of plan,
270909 -   perform, report. So in order for computers to make management more
270910 -   effective they have to integrate these tasks, i.e., help the mind do
270911 -   what it is already trying to do. This leads to the notion of
270912 -   automated integration of time, information and subjects (meaning).
270913 -   Someone who understands the complexity of the mind may be able to
270914 -   allay fears of those who have not had the time to consider this
270915 -   matter, that to improve cognition is a complex undertaking, but the
270916 -   benefits reflect Gilder's Law of the Microcosm, per meeting with
270917 -   David Vannier at Intel last year, ref SDS 6 line 1062.
270918 -
270919 -
270920 -
270921 -
2710 -

SUBJECTS
Meeting Notes, confirm understandings
Meeting Notes that Conflict Cause Anger,
Information Highway New Environment Needs
Risk Management, Avoid Mistakes on
What Did We Say, What Did We Hear, What Did
Truth Moving Target on Information Highway,
Communication Manager, Why Needed, What
Psychologically Demanding Com Manager
Com Manager Raises Issues, Not Temperatures
Mad 1-sided Interpretation Notice Communication Accountability Cause

4713 -
471301 -    ..
471302 -   Miscommunication Perceived as Ill Will People Get Mad
471303 -
471304 -   Tom's work in psychology seems well suited to address the point
471305 -   about communications breaking down between organizations and among
471306 -   people internally and externally.  Organizations are hiring lawyers
471307 -   and psychologists to repair this problem, ref SDS 7 line 134.  This
471308 -   treats the symptoms.  What is the cause?   Is the mind overburdened?
471309 -
471310 -   Can it be that inevitably as the pace of communications increases,
471311 -   errors will occur that are overlooked and when they encounter
471312 -   reality, simple mis-communications are perceived as deliberate acts
471313 -   of ill will intended to harm, which cause frustration and anger as
471314 -   people spend half their time arguing about who said what at the last
471315 -   meeting, in the last phone call that was corrected by the last
471316 -   email, faxed to everyone?
471317 -
471318 -        [On 961017 complaint that organizational memory is only one
471319 -        person's interpretation that makes people mad, because they
471320 -        remember differently, and don't want to invest time for
471321 -        submitting feedback to correct the record, is precisely why a
471322 -        timely record is essential to provide a framework for
471323 -        discovering differences in communication early enough to avoid
471324 -        mistakes, because people get mad anyway when failure to give
471325 -        notice causes defective work that delays progress and increases
471326 -        cost. ref SDS 23 5832
471327 -
471328 -
471329 -    ..
471330 -   Truth, Conflict are Psychologically Demanding
471331 -
471332 -   The psychologist can also explain that some people cannot tolerate
471333 -   constant exposure to error, ref SDS 8 line 229.  The mind buffers
471334 -   error, so people can act.  Maybe this indicates we need a dedicated
471335 -   person, a new discipline, using special tools to check the
471336 -   connections and make the adjustments that keep people on course.
471337 -
471338 -   Another aspect of this is that when people receive a record showing
471339 -   a representation of their comments and they feel it is incorrect,
471340 -   they become emotionally disturbed and can lash out believing it is
471341 -   an effort to harm, rather than an opportunity to help others correct
471342 -   misunderstandings before they take an incorrect course.
471343 -
471344 -      [See example the next day on interaction with Jean at MIT Center
471345 -      for Organizational Learning, ref SDS 16 line 104.]
471346 -
471347 -
471348 -
471349 -
4714 -

SUBJECTS
Cost/Benefit of Better Communications
Risk Management, Avoid Mistakes on
Historical Evolution of
Writing Turns Plans into Action
Broader Vision Technology Improves
Civilization, Next Step to Continuous
Innovation Stifled by Large Organizations
Market Fears Being First to Use New System
Alphabet Hard to Learn Not Intuitive, but
Calculate Risk Management Exposure NPV
Management Evolution of Practices

6114 -
611401 -    ..
611402 -   Cost-Benefit of Power to Create Knowledge
611403 -
611404 -   The simple question is what is the cost of making the wrong
611405 -   connections, and what are the benefits of making the right ones?
611406 -   This is a dimension of Risk Management that will be addressed by
611407 -   Turner Construction, drawing on the culture of communications in a
611408 -   setting where misunderstanding means the difference between success
611409 -   or failure.
611410 -
611411 -        [On 960920 perception at COE to avoid analysis of daily
611412 -        management. ref SDS 22 9530
611413 -
611414 -        [On 961017 complaint that organizational memory is only one
611415 -        person's interpretation that makes people mad, because they
611416 -        remember differently, and don't want to invest time for
611417 -        submitting feedback to correct the record, is precisely why a
611418 -        timely record is essential to provide a framework for
611419 -        discovering differences in communication early enough to avoid
611420 -        mistakes, because people get mad anyway when failure to give
611421 -        notice causes defective work that delays progress and increases
611422 -        cost. ref SDS 23 5832
611423 -   ..
611424 -   This is an area I would like to hear about.
611425 -
611426 -   How do we measure the cost/benefit of reading and writing, of
611427 -   ordinary literacy?
611428 -
611429 -        [On 991108 alphabet technology was an explosive change in
611430 -        life-style called the alphabetic mind. ref SDS 24 5628
611431 -
611432 -        [On 010622 alphabet technology made people superhuman.
611433 -        ref SDS 25 N668
611434 -
611435 -   If we had no writing to link up little understandings about letters
611436 -   into larger and larger meanings called sentences, paragraphs,
611437 -   articles, books, would we be more productive?   If this is actually
611438 -   critical to progress of civilization, then should not an advance to
611439 -   a higher plane of application for writing likewise advance
611440 -   civilization to a higher plateau?
611441 -   ..
611442 -   Tom can trace from an anthropological perspective the
611443 -   evolution of writing from scratchings on cave walls and in the
611444 -   ground, to tablets then specially processed parchments.  This
611445 -   condition meant that it was cost/effective for only very few to use
611446 -   the process. Citations evolved in religion and in law but still only
611447 -   specialists used these methods within narrow confines of distinct
611448 -   subcultures called scribes, monks, lawyers.  Maybe automation now
611449 -   makes it possible to apply more widely the benefits of linking under
611450 -   connectionist theory in cognitive science to support a new paradigm
611451 -   from documents to a continuous automated knowledge stream.
611452 -
611453 -
611454 -    ..
611455 -   Courage, Vision, Leadership and Technology
611456 -   Market Progress is Slow:  Need Investigation/Testing
611457 -
611458 -   This evolutionary history suggests that when the next breakthrough
611459 -   in knowledge tools does arrive, it may take a period of years when
611460 -   specialists apply the new methods of automated integration of time,
611461 -   information, people, documents and subjects.
611462 -
611463 -   This reflects Tom's point about the slowness of usefull technology,
611464 -   ref SDS 4 line 791, especially when market rewards are focused on
611465 -   ease of use.  The alphabet takes 12 years to learn.  It is not user
611466 -   friendly, but it is extremely powerful once it is learned.  It is by
611467 -   far the most powerful business system at Intel, ref SDS 6 line 648.
611468 -   In order for technology to advance that is useful, it must be
611469 -   investigated and tested.  This investment in time and expense takes
611470 -   the courage and vision of a true leader.
611471 -   ..
611472 -   That is the real message of Asilomar on Leadership and
611473 -   Technology.
611474 -
611475 -
611476 - I will write back to Tom requesting he consider combining the 2nd and
611477 - 4th speaker roles.  His outline basically does this.
611478 -
611479 -    Did this via ref DIT 1 line 30.
611480 -
611481 -
611482 -
611483 -
611484 -
611485 -
611486 -
611487 -
611488 -
611489 -
611490 -
6115 -