CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Yosemite, 940826

0603 -
0603 -    ..
0604 - Summary/Objective
0605 -
060501 - Follow up ref SDS 2 0000.
060502 -
060503 - Richard, Ross and Nina are working through their father's illness, as
060504 - with Lucille a few years ago.  His career in the Marines is ahead of
060505 - schedule.  He reports the military is struggling to integrate command
060506 - and control personnel practices with autonomy endemic to personal
060507 - computers.  He will talk to Ross and Nina about a trip to Yosemite or
060508 - somewhere that we can visit about the Information Highway and the
060509 - future of civilization.
060511 -  ..
060512 - Submitted ref DIT 1 0001 confirming these understandings.  Included
060513 - notes of the Yosemite trip, as a reminder to check with Ross on doing
060514 - something this year.  Submitted the NWO paper and the follow up letter
060515 - to PMI Communications on the Asilomar event.
060516 -
060518 -  ..
0606 -
0607 -
0608 - Discussion
060901 -  ..
060902 - Armstrong Family is Dealing with their Father's Health
060903 -
060904 - Richard is staying at Ross' for just a few days to coordinate with
060905 - Ross and Nina on dealing with their father's condition.  He had Ross'
060906 - bike and had evidently biked to a BART station, and taken BART into
060907 - the City.  Wednesday stayed home this trip.  She has an ear infection
060908 - that is affecting her balance.  They also have a new dog to keep the
060909 - Lab company, so they need her attention.
060911 -  ..
060912 - Gordon has had more strokes since last year.  He is now hospitalized
060913 - in difficult health.  The kids had lunch yesterday.  Richard indicated
060914 - Ross seems very troubled by the decisions they face as a family.  I
060915 - recalled worry and uncertainty that surrounded similar circumstances
060916 - when my father had a stroke that led to him passing away within a few
060917 - months.  More recently the Armstrongs and Johnstons came together
060918 - around Lucille's failing health.  There is no correct decision or way
060919 - to meet these moments of finality in our lives.  Ross' closeness the
060920 - past number of years in caring for Gordon makes this kind of issue
060921 - more complex and in some ways more moving for him, ref SDS 8 066O
060922 -
060923 -
060925 -  ..
060926 - Richard Has Been Promoted to E-7
060927 -
060928 - Richard has been promoted to E-7, ahead of his time-in-service and
060929 - ahead of others.  He had to deal politically with those passed over
060930 - and with whom he has to continue to serve.  It is wonderful to hear
060931 - him address issues of the day with insight and purpose.
060933 -  ..
060934 - He feels his career has reached a point where he can deal effectively
060935 - with the military command.  He explained his interaction with officers
060936 - that grants empowerment on the strength of performance.  His knowledge
060937 - and record count for more than rank.
060938 -
060939 -
060941 -  ..
060942 - Visiting with the Armstrong Team
060943 -
060944 - We discussed a trip to Yosemite or elsewhere where Ross and Richard
060945 - and I can visit in more depth on these ideas and get caught up on
060946 - family stuff.  Richard will discuss it with Ross.
060947 -
060948 -
060949 -
0610 -

SUBJECTS
Lotus Notes & IBM, 910625
Organization of Information
Businesses Believe Computers Make Managers
Change in Right Direction, Leadership with
Computers Make Managers Productive So Can
Pied Pipers of Change Reliance on Style
Hierarchy, Organization Inhibits
Lotus Notes/Automated Systems Do Not Improve Productivity in Militar

1410 -
141101 -  ..
141102 - Lotus Notes/Automated Systems Do Not Improve Productivity
141103 -
141104 - We discussed Richard's work with Lotus Notes and other efforts in the
141105 - military to apply automated systems, following up our discussion on
141106 - 921113, ref SDS 1 1774, and recent discussions with Hank Hatch at
141107 - Fluor Daniel, ref SDS 10 5577, who was formerly CG USACE.
141109 -  ..
141110 - Richard described work in his unit to use Lotus Notes for daily
141111 - communication and organizing information.  He feels LN has not worked
141112 - as well as hoped, and that it needs to be improved in order to be
141113 - effective.  He is not sure what improvement could make LN more useful.
141115 -  ..
141116 - Richard feels the Army is more committed to using technology for
141117 - decision support than the other services, based on his interaction
141118 - with the Army, Navy and the Air Force.  I mentioned the presentation
141119 - at the January PMI meeting by Jim Caudle Chief, Communications
141120 - Development Branch, US Army Missile Defense, ref SDS 9 7799, and last
141121 - year at the PMA Event, ref SDS 6 2842.
141123 -  ..
141124 - Richard gave an example of the CG in his organization exercising
141125 - effective leadership to solve technology problems so that the mission
141126 - of the organization is not impaired.  He said the General has a policy
141127 - of reading legitimate input from the rank and file on problems and
141128 - suggested improvements.  An NCO made a submission under this policy
141129 - that resulted in the CG taking needed action, however, the NCO came
141130 - under fire from colleagues and others in the chain of command, similar
141131 - to the reaction I got from asking questions in response to a request
141132 - for questions from the Company Commander during basic training at Fort
141133 - Gordon, GA in 1967.  That is why commanders must be proactive in
141134 - digging out the system day-by-day opportunities, conflicts and
141135 - mistakes that require attention or warrant consideration.  As the pace
141136 - of life increases on the Information Highway, this effort takes on
141137 - greater importance manage risk of error from complexity.
141138 -
141139 -
141141 -  ..
141142 - Procurement in Military Has Become Captive of Information Highway
141143 -
141144 - Richard described frustrations dealing with command decisions to apply
141145 - automated systems, which turn out to be ineffective and detract from
141146 - time to perform the unit mission.  We considered discussion with Ross
141147 - on a trip to Yosemite in 1994, when Ross explained systemic problems
141148 - of sellers and buyers of technology intended for others, ref SDS 3
141149 - 8209.  Neither the seller nor the buyer has any stake in whether the
141150 - stuff being purchased works or is more trouble than it is worth.
141152 -  ..
141153 - We discussed the NWO paper, the pending Asilomar Conference in July,
141154 - and the meeting yesterday at Fluor Daniel to use ideas and tools based
141155 - on POIMS for solving the problems Richard and his colleagues have
141156 - encountered trying to make technology useful to the leadership role.
141158 -  ..
141159 - In the case of Fluor Daniel, they are an LN shop and expressed similar
141160 - concerns Richard has.  General Hatch, former commander of the Corps of
141161 - Engineers, now a VP at Fluor Daniel, may be interested in POIMS
141162 - solutions to automate and mainstream the "intelligence" function in
141163 - the military.
141165 -  ..
141166 - Richard can review NWO paper and notes of the meeting with General
141167 - Hatch to Richard.  He may be able to fashion a submission within his
141168 - command for consideration of how to apply automation usefully.
141169 -
141170 -
141172 -  ..
141173 - Bomb Disposal Information Being "Automated"
141174 -
141175 - Richard described a project underway in his Marine unit to test an
141176 - automated data base for ordinance disposal.  He originally used
141177 - publications for identification and procedures of particular explosive
141178 - elements that occur in his work.  This was later converted into a
141179 - microfilm record he could take into the field.  Now they are testing
141180 - notebook computers with the information stored on a hard disk that
141181 - uses a Windows program for access.  They are encountering problems of
141182 - knowledge organization that Tom Landauer describes in his book "The
141183 - Trouble with Computers," cited also by Hank Hatch, ref SDS 10 line
141184 - 631, which the SDS Subject Index solves, ref SDS 7 line 184. Richard
141185 - indicated on this system he interacts with system developers to
141186 - expedite improvements, and they are taking 8 months or so to prove
141187 - usefulness, before implementing it. Richard is concerned about
141188 - directives that have stated this system will be substituted for their
141189 - existing manuals and microfilm.
141190 -
141191 -     [On 960627 Dave Vannier mentioned the military is using automated
141192 -     notebooks. ref SDS 11 1371]
141193 -
141194 -
141195 -
141196 -
1412 -

SUBJECTS
Computers Reduce Management Focus on
Technology for Management Never Becomes
Communication Manager Makes Technology
Technology Dilemma Unintended Consequences Information Overload
Technology Reduce Productivity Requires Testing Discover Ergonomic Se

1907 -
190801 -  ..
190802 - Communication Manager/Leadership Aide Makes Computers Useful
190803 -
190804 - Richard correctly identified a hidden weakness of personal computers
190805 - in requiring users to become software and hardware mechanics in order
190806 - to perform their primary function, cited by Landauer in his book at
190807 - ref SDS 7 3Y7J  This creates millions of people engaged in pilot
190808 - testing rather than doing their work, per discussion with Ross last
190809 - year, ref SDS 8 V36O and ref SDS 8 PQWP
190811 -  ..
190812 - Explained SDS solution tried at PG&E, reviewed on 950110, ref SDS 5
190813 - 9482 and discussed recently with Hank Hatch at Fluor Daniel on 960410.
190814 - ref SDS 10 0001
190816 -  ..
190817 - I gave a brief overview of SDS showing how the diary links time and
190818 - information with meaning, per POIMS. ref OF 1 0001
190819 -
190820 -
190821 -
190822 -
190823 -
190824 -
190825 -
190826 -
190827 -
190828 -
1909 -