THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: April 3, 1996 09:33 AM Wednesday; Rod Welch

Called Steve at Turner re sponsoring Asilomar.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Turner's Outline
3...Biographies
4...Turner Scope
5...Communication Manager
6...Technology Mainstreams Specialized Communication Processes
7...Correlation to PMBOK
.............Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, Close
8...Audit Trail - Traceability
9...Risk Management
10...Communication Manager
11...Turner Knows "Talk is Cheap"
12...Understanding and Follow Up Essential to Successful Communications
13...Mock Progress Meeting
.....New Tools, Skills, Roles
.....Mainstream Turner's Communication Manager Expertise
.....Technology - Paperless Office
.....Grove/Welch Management Method


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - Turner Const. SF                   415 274 2900 fax 989 1370
020101 - Mr. Steve Rule; Territory Engineer =415 274 2917
020102 - Engineering Department
0202 - Turner Const. SF                   415 274 2900 fax 989 1370
020201 - Mr. Darrell Petray; Manager =415 274 2920; Business Development

SUBJECTS
Financial Support from Sponsors, Turner
Turner, Alan Wetzel, Steve Rule
Communication Engineer/Manager

0705 -    ..
0706 - Summary/Objective
0707 -
070701 - Followed up work at ref SDS 17 line 49, ref SDS 15 line 44, 
070702 - line 43, ref SDS 13 line 125, ref SDS 12 line 509, ref SDS 9
070703 - and ref SDS 6 line 197.
070704 -
070705 - Received Turner's current outline and confirmed meeting for Friday at
070706 - 1030.  Developed a little further the idea that Turner is the model
070707 - for Communication Manager that we want to regularize through
070708 - automation.
070709 -
070710 -
070711 -
0708 -
0709 -
0710 - Progress
0711 -
071101 - Bill called and said Steve does not know about a meeting on Friday.
071102 -
071103 - Bill said Steve expressed concern about getting calls from Bill and
071104 - from Welch, indicating the pressure he is feeling.
071105 -
071106 - Steve asked Bill if I have received the agenda and Bill advised the
071107 - fax he received from Steve was of too poor a quality for him to
071108 - forward to me.
071109 -
071110 -
0712 -
0713 -
0714 - 0937 called Steve
0715 -
071501 - Left message per above asking for a copy of Turner's outline.
071502 -
071503 -
0716 -
0717 -
0718 - 1322 called Steve back - visited Turner
0719 -
071901 - Turner's Outline
071902 -
071903 - Steve invited me over to pick up their outline.  I visited Turner's
071904 - office and received ref DRT 1 line 30.
071905 -
071906 - I appologized for multiple calls cited above and indicated that since
071907 - we have not met since 960125, and since we agreed to meet the week of
071908 - 960305 for review, it seems appropriate to avoid further delay in the
071909 - review.  Steve said Turner plans to have a lunch meeting tomorrow with
071910 - their team to prepare for our meeting on Friday.
071911 -
071912 - We did not have time to consider Turner's new outline during our
071913 - meeting, but subsequent review was done below.
071914 -
071915 -
071916 -
071917 -
071918 - Biographies
071919 -
071920 - Steve showed me his biography and said he wants to edit it for Bill.
071921 - He is waiting to get biographies from Russ, Darrell and the other
071922 - member of their team.  I suggested that since we only need a
071923 - paragraph, if they are areeable, Bill can likely assemble a paragraph
071924 - from what they have now, so it can be submitted to the printer in time
071925 - for publication deadlines.  Steve will try to get this out today, or
071926 - at least have it ready for the meeting on Friday.
071927 -
071928 -
071929 - Turner Scope
071930 -
071931 - Steve asked about the message I left for Darrell of an idea for Turner
071932 - to consider following the discussion with Hank Hatch, ref SDS 17 line
071933 - 63 and ref SDS 14 line 59.  He said the message mentioned a way to
071934 - illustrate the Communication Manager role.
071935 -
071936 -
071937 - Communication Manager
071938 -
071939 - I mentioned Steve's point at the meeting on 960125 that Turner views
071940 - itself as a "Communication Manager," ref SDS 2 line 109.  Steve noted
071941 - that high risk construction projects require dedicated communication
071942 - procedures, which they carry out mostly by manual methods at great
071943 - time and expense.  He said many of these methods are directed toward
071944 - legal protections in light of contractual liability for failure to
071945 - perform the work correctly and on time.  These legalities have evolved
071946 - over thousands of years of trial and error into well established
071947 - procedures that ensure adequate communication among a diverse group of
071948 - organizations with conflicting interests, but who have committed to
071949 - accomplish a project, i.e., have a common objective.  The concern to
071950 - meet legal constraints reflects a history that lax communication
071951 - procedures cause harm.  This reflects the law as a "metric" described
071952 - in the NWO paper, ref OF 1 line 178, and discussed with David
071953 - Buoncritsiani at ref SDS 4 line 173 and ref SDS 4 line 324.
071954 -
071955 -      [See follow up at meeting on 960405, ref SDS 18 line 146.]
071956 -
071957 -
071958 - Technology Mainstreams Specialized Communication Processes
071959 -
071960 - So Turner is the macro example of the steps a Communication Manager
071961 - does procedurally to make leadership effective on a diverse team
071962 - comprised of conflicting interests who are brought together to
071963 - accomplish a stated objective.  Asilomar will ask the question General
071964 - Hatch asked when told about Communication Metrics.  Can technology
071965 - make more universal, regularize or mainstream this model so it can be
071966 - done quicker and more accurately so it makes sense for organizations
071967 - to use a new class of worker to perform every day many of the
071968 - Communication Manager steps Turner does, in the face of the growing
071969 - risk of error under the Information Highway?   When the military
071970 - connects bits and pieces of diverse information they call it
071971 - "intelligence".  Contractors call it managing communications.  By what
071972 - ever name, someone needs to be making the connections essential for
071973 - timely and accurate understanding.
071974 -
071975 - This fits the history of technology reported by Johanna Neuman in her
071976 - just released book "Lights, Camera, War.  When writing first came
071977 - along only specialists did it, because it did not seem cost effective
071978 - for everyone to use these special methods and the tools of writing.
071979 - Writing books which mostly entailed transcribing the Bible was
071980 - performed by entire organizations called monks.  As the tools became
071981 - more reliable, cheaper and more widely available, more people began to
071982 - use the methods.  As the value became more widely recognized, the
071983 - skill base widened.  This produced pressures for still better tools,
071984 - and ever wider use that eventually led to the modern phenomena of a
071985 - literate society, i.e., universal literacy introduced about 130 years
071986 - ago.
071987 -
071988 - Can we do the same today with the Communication Manager role, which
071989 - takes the definition of a "liturate" society to a new level with new
071990 - tools?  This is the goal of Communication Metrics in lifting the
071991 - capacity to think, remember and communicate.
071992 -
071993 - We will meet Friday to review Turner's progress.
071994 -
071995 -     [See follow up at ref SDS 18 line 88.]
071996 -
071997 -  ..
0720 -
0721 -
0722 - 2113 Reviewed Turner's Outline
0723 -
072301 - This is received into the record at ref DRT 1 0000.  I worked up a
072302 - transmittal to complete identification.  The outline is dated 960320
072303 - and is attached at ref DRT 1 7485.
072304 -
072305 - The new outline integrates Turner's summary and detailed outlines from
072306 - ref OF 3 0000 and ref OF 4 0000, received at the meeting on 960125.
072307 - ref SDS 2 4868
072308 -
072309 -      [On 960529 reviewed new outline focused on role of communication.
072310 -      ref SDS 19 4786]
072311 -
072312 -
072313 -  ..
072314 - Correlation to PMBOK
072315 -
072316 - This outline at section II 4. "Look at the mission" reflects the
072317 - classic project life cycle, set out in the PMBOK reviewed on 950721.
072318 - ref SDS 1 4012
072319 -
072320 -     It shows "Ideas" from the owner that initiate the project; the
072321 -     deliverable is a set of requirements. ref DRT 1 3859
072322 -
072323 -     "Design" from the architect correlates to "planning" in order to
072324 -     accomplish owner's requirements, ref DRT 1 3859.  The deliverable
072325 -     is a set of detailed plans and specs.
072326 -
072327 -        [On 960620 developed concept of "Knowledge Space" of management
072328 -        details, analogous to construction details in plans and specs
072329 -        prepared by arthitect. ref SDS 20 3516]
072330 -
072331 -     "Reality" from the contractor who executes the design, ref DRT 1
072332 -     line 97.  In this scheme, the "Reality" component has a "Control"
072333 -     subcomponent under section III. 2. c, ref DRT 1 line 141. Control
072334 -     may also entail activity by the architect and/or construction
072335 -     manager.
072336 -
072337 - Turner likely has a published project process, at least for marketing,
072338 - and if so that can be compared with the PMBOK.  In any case Turner can
072339 - comment on how the PMBOK project process:
072340 -
072341 -             Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, Close
072342 -
072343 -     ...works in practice, ref SDS 1 line 293.
072344 -
072345 -
072346 -
072347 - Audit Trail - Traceability
072348 -
072349 - This outline reflects a lot of paperwork, which gives Turner the
072350 - chance to explain and demonstrate how understandings from the owner's
072351 - "ideas" are traced to the details in the plans and specs, cost
072352 - estimates (bids), and in the record of construction, such as
072353 - contracts, change orders, RFIs, inspections, daily reports, progress
072354 - meetings.
072355 -
072356 -
072357 -
072358 - Risk Management
072359 - Communication Manager
072360 -
072361 - The impression from the outline is that a lot of paper will pile up if
072362 - Turner illustrates each type of communication listed in the outline.
072363 - We might do this kind of quickly, even to the point of the presenter
072364 - seeming to be confused by all the forms and processes.  This could
072365 - illustrate that when "knowledge" work is done quickly, quality
072366 - degrades.  That will convey the challenge of effective communications,
072367 - i.e., it is careful work intended to avoid misunderstandings, mistakes
072368 - and delays by capturing, understanding and integrating new information
072369 - into the workstream in way that it can be accuratley retrieved when
072370 - needed.
072371 -
072372 - The audience will feel it takes a lot of time to do Communication
072373 - Management, but since Fortune magazine recently announced that
072374 - "project manager" is the number one career choice, ref SDS 3 line 38,
072375 - this means many outside construction are trying this method. They need
072376 - to know what it entails.
072377 -
072378 - Turner can show that classical Communication Management is costly and
072379 - time consuming, but essential for high risk work, which is the point
072380 - of Turner's presentation.  Risks impose costs!  Do you pay for careful
072381 - work and analysis to avoid mistakes or pay later for the mistakes that
072382 - were not avoided and the opportunities that were overlooked?   Other
072383 - industries are beginning to feel greater competition from the global
072384 - economy, i.e., the compression of time and distance.  Other industries
072385 - are turning to Project Management as a solution to meet the greater
072386 - risks which construction has delt with for centurie.
072387 -
072388 - This sets up the point that the time and cost of effective leadership
072389 - derived from good communications can be reduced and its value can be
072390 - increased by the right use of technology.  Applying technology to
072391 - traditional communication methods yields the science of Communication
072392 - Metrics.  This produces a better partnership between leadership and
072393 - technology sought by the conference.
072394 -
072395 -
072396 -
072397 - Turner Knows "Talk is Cheap"
072398 - Understanding and Follow Up Essential to Successful Communications
072399 -
072400 - Turner's outline appears to reflect that successful "communications"
072401 - needs in addition to convincing speech, a lot of paperwork to ensure
072402 - understanding and follow up.
072403 -
072404 - This carries the point that when risk is high, talk is cheap.  It sets
072405 - up the point that technology can improve leadership by reducing the
072406 - cost of working carefully, i.e., by using automated knowledge to
072407 - replace the paperwork.
072408 -
072409 -
072410 -
072411 - Mock Progress Meeting
072412 -
072413 - Turner might spend 5 - 10 minutes on the construction project
072414 - environment with respect to ponts II 1 - 4, pausing on the fact that
072415 - dealing with a lot of different organizations increases the risk of
072416 - misunderstanding since these entities having opposing interests, as
072417 - well as common interests.
072418 -
072419 - Actually, we might get David Buoncristiani with TMJ&B who is speaking
072420 - prior to Turner, to set up this point about conflicting interests
072421 - endemic to contract work.
072422 -
072423 - The aim, however, is to get Turner to pile up a bunch of paper on the
072424 - desk to illustrate the level of effort and skill required for
072425 - effective communications on the one hand, and the need for technology
072426 - to "manage" it, rather than just generate more stuff to think about.
072427 -
072428 - Possibly a mock progress meeting could illustrate how Turner's
072429 - communication methods are applied and why they are needed, per ref SDS
072430 - 16 line 161. Maybe David Buoncristiani will participate.
072431 -
072432 -
072433 -     New Tools, Skills, Roles
072434 -     Mainstream Turner's Communication Manager Expertise
072435 -
072436 -     Then after Turner speaks Morris Jones, VP with Chips and
072437 -     Technologies can explain the prospects of a new role in general
072438 -     business to accomplish the Communication Manager role Turner has
072439 -     described.  We say that not every situation requires hiring an
072440 -     entire company like Turner to track communications; but maybe
072441 -     adding a person or two to do this work is helpful, like at
072442 -     Telematics, and maybe technology can make it more effective like
072443 -     at PG&E and DNRC.
072444 -
072445 -
072446 -     Technology - Paperless Office
072447 -     Grove/Welch Management Method
072448 -
072449 -     Save the desk piled high with Turner's paper for the Intel demo
072450 -     where all that paper is swept onto the floor and accomplished by
072451 -     the computer to implement the new management science of
072452 -     Communication Metircs.
072453 -
072454 -
072455 -
072456 -
072457 -
072458 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"