THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700
S U M M A R Y
DIARY: March 15, 1996 10:00 AM Friday;
Rod Welch
Bill DeHart, Sherrill McDonald visit Morris at Chips re PMI.
1...Summary/Objective
2...Morris' Presentation Scope
3...Review Panels
.....Executive Work Practice & Technology
4...Communication Metrics - Preparation, Preparation, Preparation
5...Agenda Changes
6...Schedule
7...Biography
8...Management Consultants Improve Management Better than Com Metrics
..............
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CONTACTS
0202 - Chips & Tech. 408 434 0600 O-00000039 0101
SUBJECTS
PMI Event Program, Proposal
Contract/Charter, Buy In, Shared Vision
Theme, Agenda, Schedule, Speakers
Chips, Morris Jones, V.P., Founder
Structure
1007 -
1007 - ..
1008 - Summary/Objective
1009 -
100901 - Follow up ref SDS 28 BK8N, ref SDS 21 5M6H.
100902 -
100903 - They presented the ideas Bill developed in his email ref DRP 2 line
100904 - 24, at ref SDS 29 line 70, from discussions with Sherrill per
100905 - ref DRP 1 line 17.
100906 -
100908 - ..
1010 -
1011 -
1012 - Progress
1013 -
101301 - See agenda at ref SDS 28 line 162.
101302 -
101303 - I stopped at Chips about 1720 after meeting with Marcy at Intel,
101304 - ref SDS 26 line 99. The receptionist rang Morris' office and left a
101305 - message I was in the lobby. After about 15 minutes I asked if I could
101306 - check his office to see if he is still here. The receptionist agreed
101307 - and so I walked back to Morris' office. The door was shut, but as I
101308 - got nearer I could see through the window next to the door a woman was
101309 - in his office talking to someone. I assumed it was Morris. I went
101310 - back to the lobby and waited another 10 minutes or so. About 1800 I
101311 - call Morris' from the lobby and left a message that I was heading back
101312 - to Concord and would call him later tonight.
101314 - ..
101315 - In Concord, I called and picked up a message from Morris who called
101316 - the San Francisco number about 2000 and left message that he was
101317 - calling to report on meeting with Bill and Sherrill.
101319 - ..
101320 - His message seemed to say the discussion with Sherrill and Bill
101321 - resulted in proceeding with the scope described on 960103 ref SDS 10
101322 - line 79, and reviewed at ref SDS 24 line 594.
101324 - ..
101325 - I called him back oa 2037 and we talked for about an hour or so.
101326 - Turned out he was not in his office. He had a meeting in another
101327 - office and someone else was using his office for an interview, which
101328 - is why they did not pickup his phone.
101329 -
101331 - ..
101332 - Morris' Presentation Scope
101333 -
101334 - Initially he seemed to say Bill and Sherrill requested that he change
101335 - the content of his presentation from reengineering and the impact on
101336 - effective leadership, the need for new roles and tools, to I believe
101337 - he said something like conditions and obsticals to leadership. I
101338 - asked for an example of an "obstical" to leadership he would present
101339 - to the conference.
101341 - ..
101342 - Morris will first:
101343 -
101344 - Differentiate leadership from management.
101346 - ..
101347 - Then discuss three obsticles to leadership:
101348 -
101349 - 1. Management is consuming all the time, no time to lead
101350 -
101351 - What is the manager's excuse. Why don't managers have time to
101352 - "manager?" Could it be the next two points.
101354 - ..
101355 - 2. Failure to analyse
101357 - ..
101358 - 3. Failure to desire leadership
101360 - ..
101361 - This explanation sounds consistant with the original scope dealing
101362 - with communications, ref SDS 10 line 80, so I did not pursue this
101363 - discussion. His outline and narrative due in 3 weeks or so, will show
101364 - what he has in mind.
101365 -
101367 - ..
101368 - Review Panels
101369 -
101370 - Morris said they considered the idea of using panels, per our meeting
101371 - on 960227 ref SDS 24 line 449. He feels Sherrill is open to
101372 - considering this approach. Morris said Sherrill seemed very savvy and
101373 - effective during the meeting. He noted the panel for Sunday morning
101374 - does not seem to be well thought out. I told him that so far it is
101375 - simply a concept that needs dedicated planning. There are a variety
101376 - of ideas under consideration for this time slot, ref SDS 8 line 389.
101377 -
101379 - ..
101380 - Executive Work Practice & Technology
101381 -
101382 - Another idea is for Morris and others to show how the executive of
101383 - today uses a computer to support their management practice, per
101384 - our discussion on 961228, ref SDS 9 5850, and mentioned in our
101385 - meeting on 960103, ref SDS 10 line 98.
101387 - ..
101388 - I asked if Bill and Sherrill brought up the idea that he (Morris)
101389 - demonstrate how the executive of today uses a personal computer,
101390 - which I had scoped out in relation to the work of the consultant
101391 - Morris hired from the Cal Tech seminar, ref SDS 28 9036?
101393 - ..
101394 - Morris said they did not ask him about this.
101395 -
101397 - ..
101398 - Communication Metrics - Preparation, Preparation, Preparation
101399 -
101400 - I asked if they reviewed the record during the meeting to guide the
101401 - meeting based on understandings from our telecon on 960312, ref SDS 27
101402 - 4882, and our discussion on 960314? ref SDS 28 8945.
101403 -
101404 - Morris said they did not have enough time for review during the
101405 - meeting, and he did not have enough time prior to the meeting to read
101406 - the notes of the 960227 meeting.
101407 -
101409 - ..
101410 - Agenda Changes
101411 -
101412 - He said Bill and Sherrill showed an agenda which seemed to be changed
101413 - somewhat from our meeting on 960103. ref SDS 10 9009 Morris indicated
101414 - the revised agenda showed new speakers, noting they have scratched
101415 - Bill Walsh, and there were no apparent heavy weights on the schedule.
101416 - We considered briefly that General Hatch and Tom Landauer may be
101417 - "heavy weights" though certainly lack the name recognition of Bill
101418 - Walsh.
101419 -
101421 - ..
101422 - Schedule
101423 -
101424 - Morris feels he can have an outline within the next 3 weeks, per our
101425 - meeting at 960227 ref SDS 24 line 977, confirmed by my letter ref DIP
101426 - 6 line 32 and email at ref SDS 25 line 116.
101427 -
101429 - ..
101430 - Biography
101431 -
101432 - We did not discuss this.
101433 -
101434 -
101436 - ..
1015 -
1016 -
1017 - 2144 called Bill
1018 -
101801 - Related in general the discusson with Morris.
101802 -
101803 - Bill feels he and Sherrill confirmed Morris should present the ideas
101804 - discussed on 960103 ref SDS 10 line 80.
101806 - ..
101807 - I mentioned the email to Bill that suggests consideration with Morris
101808 - of possible duplication with the scope of Ed Wink per ref SDS 29 line
101809 - 119. Bill does not recall discussing that point today with Morris.
101811 - ..
101812 - Bill said that driving back from Morris' office, Sherrill expressed
101813 - continued reservations about the advantage of having panel discussions
101814 - following a series of presentations. He voiced support for a single
101815 - panel at the end of Saturday. This still leaves open what will happen
101816 - for the Sunday panel.
101818 - ..
101819 - I reviewed the meeting with Marcy, and that we have scheduled a
101820 - meeting for 950325, or later in the week. Bill and Sherrill may be
101821 - able to attend that meeting, if it is done later and I have jury duty
101822 - beginning on 960326.
101823 -
101824 -
101825 -
101826 -
101827 -
101828 -
101829 -
1019 -
SUBJECTS
Correlation to accepted practice and
Document Management Systems
Information Management
Communications & Communication Metrics
Industry Contacts
Executive Work Practices
Executive Training firms
Management Consultants Support Communication Metrics than SDS, Morris
Noise Vendors Claim Better Capability Make it Hard for Busy Executive
Management Consultants Claim Better Support than SDS, Not Enough Time
2312 -
231301 - ..
231302 - Management Consultants Improve Management Better than Com Metrics
231303 -
231304 - From our discussion about a possible demonstration Morris could give
231305 - at Asilomar explaining executive work practice (defined in our meeting
231306 - on 951011, ref SDS 6 3885), illustrated by work on 960314 reviewing
231307 - Chips' product development process, ref SDS 28 TE6F, I again suggested
231308 - that Morris submit the NWO paper and the Asilomar agenda to the
231309 - management consultant he contacted when attending a recent Cal Tech
231310 - seminar, to help spread the work about Communication Metrics, perhaps
231311 - gather constructive feedback, and possibly, in this case, encourage
231312 - the consultant from Cal Tech to attend, and possibly give a
231313 - presentation at the Asilomar Conference.
231314 -
231315 - Actually, experience shows that consultants, like Booze Allen,
231316 - Arthur Little, Ernst & Young, and so on, are looking to sell what
231317 - people will buy, not what will help them. They sell training for
231318 - better talking and listening skills, because customers will buy
231319 - that support. Morris noted on 911123 that executives believe
231320 - talking is fast and easy, ref SDS 1 1331, and on 950426 Axiom
231321 - pointed out that is what customers want. ref SDS 4 4392 and
231322 - ref SDS 4 line 246.
231323 - ..
231324 - Morris said a management consultant he met at a Cal Tech seminar
231325 - is a "heavy weight" who supports management better than Communication
231326 - Metrics. He noted the consultant formulates specific metrics that
231327 - measure communication, which Morris believes are more useful than SDS,
231328 - referring to our discussion of "metrics" on 951103, ref SDS 7 5503 and
231329 - ref SDS 7 7777 Morris gave an example of this consultant producing a
231330 - calculation showing the amount of effective communication based on the
231331 - distance between the desks and offices of two people.
231332 -
231333 - [On 980827 Morris cited high-priced consultants who promise a lot
231334 - and so make it difficult for SDS to rise above the noise.
231335 - ref SDS 31 E15J
231337 - ..
231338 - I asked if Morris has ever called the consultant, and asked about
231339 - disposition of a letter sent a week or so previously, and how
231340 - understandings in the letter align with what was presented at the Cal
231341 - Tech seminar, or with good management practice, for example set out in
231342 - ISO standards reviewed on 950721? ref SDS 5 2846
231344 - ..
231345 - Morris said he has not done this, but feels from discussion with the
231346 - consultant about related management processes presented at the Cal
231347 - Tech seminar, and from examination of the consultant's work product,
231348 - that the consultant has capability for finding within a few minutes
231349 - documents issued and received, like SDS does. He is less certain the
231350 - consultant has focused on alignment.
231351 - ..
231352 - Morris said he believes, however, SDS capability is not useful,
231353 - echoing a report on 950204 citing independent cooboration that other
231354 - consultants advocate SDS capability and the Welch Management method,
231355 - which seemed like overkill, ref SDS 3 5932,
231357 - ..
231358 - I asked in light of Morris' observation that I work differently from
231359 - other executives he knows and constultants he has encountered, if he
231360 - has discussed Welch Management methods, SDS methods and Communication
231361 - Metrics with his Cal Tech contact or any of his other contacts?
231363 - ..
231364 - Morris said he has but not by name. He mentioned doing this generally
231365 - over dinner and other informal settings with his Cal Tech guy. It was
231366 - unclear in our discussion this evening to what depth these discussions
231367 - extended.
231368 - ..
231369 - He recalled a recent trip to Florida where he examined a lot of
231370 - communication logs that he feels are more rigorous than SDS.
231372 - ..
231373 - I asked if he checked any of the entries out to see if they are
231374 - accurate. Merely having a lot of logs does not mean they are
231375 - effective.
231377 - ..
231378 - He described an elaborate audit system where there were many more
231379 - engineers checking to ensure communication logging procedures were
231380 - followed than were performing the actual work.
231382 - ..
231383 - I asked if this indicated the merit of SDS that enables a single
231384 - Communication Manager to consistently accomplish traceability to
231385 - original sources?
231387 - ..
231388 - Morris felt the Florida operation was unneeded overkill, and so does
231389 - not support the value of SDS. This may the trip he reported on
231390 - 950204, which he said supported the SDS methodology, but seemed like
231391 - overkill. ref SDS 3 5932
231393 - ..
231394 - I mentioned it seems to show that the cost of good management
231395 - escalates when the risk of failure is high, per the NWO paper,
231396 - ref OF 1 line 458, and similar to the analysis from the Turner
231397 - meeting, ref SDS 11 line 153 and, ref SDS 14 line 197. This led to a
231398 - discussion of the "O" ring disaster on the space shuttle in 1989,
231399 - considered at the Cal Tech seminar at ref SDS 2 line 713. Morris
231400 - recalled his cousin or uncle worked for Thiokall and ultimately their
231401 - communication procedures of tracking documentation exonerated them of
231402 - wrong doing. Morris indicated an understanding that NASA was found to
231403 - have been at fault for succumbing to political pressures to launch,
231404 - rather than follow proper procedures under the facts presented by
231405 - Thiokall. From all of this I drew an impression that Morris has given
231406 - a lot of thought to various methods of tracking information.
231407 -
231408 -
231409 -
231410 -
231411 -
231412 -
231413 -
231414 -
231415 -
231416 -
231417 -
231418 -
231419 -
231420 -
231421 -
2315 -