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


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: January 25, 1997 02:31 PM Saturday; Rod Welch

Visit Morris on SDS Windows project.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Morris' Comments
3...SDS Record is Psychologically Demanding
4...Capturing Only "Facts" for Management Support is Difficult
5...SDS "Analysis" Provides a "Story" that Gives Information Meaning
6...Fractionalized Subjects
7...Subject Indexing Requires Dedicated Resources


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - Chips & Tech.                      408 434 0600
020101 - Mr. Morris E. Jones
020102 - Sr. Vice President =4283 Ext

SUBJECTS
Dir Structure
Management
C for Windows
Programming
C Language

0807 -
0807 -    ..
0808 - Summary/Objective
0809 -
080901 - Followed up work at ref SDS 41 0000, ref SDS 40 0000.
080903 -  ..
080904 - Received the C programming book Morris wants me to use.  He provided
080905 - some comments on approaching the learning process.  Tried to get
080906 - Morris to review the notes of our meeting last week, so he could
080907 - provide input.  This proved to be too painful for him on the matter of
080908 - the record containing extraneous information.  We made no progress on
080909 - his question about "fractionalized subjects," except that he seems to
080910 - agree with my understanding of the problem. ref SDS 0 0472  As a
080911 - result there was not enough time to review SDS directory structure,
080912 - which he requested on 970116, and was submitted on 970120.
080913 -
080914 -     [On 970127 followed up. ref SDS 42 0001
080915 -
080916 -
080917 -
080919 -  ..
0810 -
0811 -
0812 - Discussion
0813 -
081301 - Morris' Comments
081302 -
081303 - We created a "learn" directory on I.  In the learn directory, use the
081304 - "info" command to learn more about the GCC system.  It is in the djgpp
081305 - directory.  You can put the cursor on a command and press Enter to get
081306 - more information on it. Press "u" to return to a prior level.
081308 -  ..
081309 - Cp.bat is used to compile the hello.c program
081311 -  ..
081312 - The library routines are described in info under liba.c
081314 -  ..
081315 - Modify the hello.c program so that it prints out hello rod.  You will
081316 - need to copy the hello.c program to a new program.  Say rod.c, and
081317 - change the compile.bat file, or compile it with the command gcc -o rod
081318 - rod.c
081320 -  ..
081321 - You should go through the book one example at a time.  It is good to
081322 - learn how to type in the stuff, the importance of having characters
081323 - the way you want them.  Don't skip anything.  It all builds.  At
081324 - first, you won't see any value in most of it.  The value comes later
081325 - as you learn how to apply it.  Kind of like SDS that way.
081326 -
081327 -
081328 -
081329 -
081330 -
0814 -

SUBJECTS
Tape Recording Meetings to Evaluate SDS
Psychologically Demanding to Discover Error
SDS Pressures Performance and Guides it
Story Brain Stores Linkages of Data to
Meetings Refusal to Prepare for Meetings Provide Feedback One Person'
Accuracy SDS Record Incorrect Rod Not Listening
Prepare for Meetings Refusal Provide Feedback One Person's Opinion Co
Meetings Refusal to Prepare for Meetings Provide Feedback One Person'
Accuracy Refined SDS Intelligence Process of Triangulation Avoids Arr
Stories Store Human Knowledge by Connecting Information into Context
SDS Analysis Gives Informtion Meaning by Connections that Construct a
Context Establishes Meaning of Words Based on Association that Form a

3714 -
371501 -  ..
371502 - SDS Record is Psychologically Demanding
371503 -
371504 - Had to struggle this afternoon to get Morris to review the record for
371505 - the meeting last week, similar to efforts on 960326 preparing for the
371506 - Asilomar Conference. ref SDS 24 LO5G  Today, initially Morris said
371507 - that feedback from prior understandings and commenting to refine
371508 - accuracy takes too much time.  He advised that nobody invests time
371509 - these days pouring over past discussions, and trying to remember what
371510 - was said and intended to prepare for performing the work.
371512 -      ..
371513 -     This aligns with the report on 960205 that people waste 70% of the
371514 -     day because they are not prepared. ref SDS 21 5902  On 911123
371515 -     Morris described "feel good" management where people do not worry
371516 -     about accuracy of past communication. ref SDS 4 1331  At that
371517 -     time, he noted the Welch management method of aligning daily work
371518 -     with objectives, requirements and commitments is different from
371519 -     the way other executives work. ref SDS 4 4930  Later on 950822
371520 -     alignment of communication in meetings, calls and documents was
371521 -     resisted on the grounds that experience and history from prior
371522 -     related events is water under the bridge. ref SDS 17 9433
371524 -      ..
371525 -     On 881007 Clyde Earnest explained that people fear feedback
371526 -     because it exposes weakness in memory and record keeping that
371527 -     causes worry about what has been forgotten. ref SDS 1 KZ5J
371529 -  ..
371530 - After a cursory review Morris expressed past concerns, e.g., on
371531 - 950712, ref SDS 8 1116. that the record of our meeting on 970116 has
371532 - analysis that was not done during the meeting. (...below, Morris
371533 - eventually read the record and made a correction. ref SDS 0 3398)
371535 -  ..
371536 - Morris recalled being tired on 970116.  He noted this afternoon that
371537 - he may have forgotten some of what was said, similar to Tom White's
371538 - remarks on 961202 concerning the record of a meeting on 961126 for the
371539 - Oakland Harbor project. ref SDS 33 3399
371540 -
371541 -       [See follow up indicating the concern about accuracy may really
371542 -       relate to worry about looking bad in the record for not having
371543 -       considered past relevant information and options, ref SDS 42
371544 -       line 156.]
371546 -  ..
371547 - Interestingly, Morris did not complain today that anything was left
371548 - out of the SDS record, even though most of what was actually said was
371549 - omitted from the record because we met for 4 or 5 hours.
371550 -
371552 -  ..
371553 - Capturing Only "Facts" for Management Support is Difficult
371554 -
371555 - A transcript of everything that was actually said would be useless as
371556 - a management tool because ordinary conversation lacks the planning and
371557 - structure of courtroom and deposition testimony, which is elicited
371558 - long after events occur in order to correlate facts with subjects
371559 - called "issues" in the law, and with other sources in documents and
371560 - depositions.  Morris' concern reflects the general desire for a record
371561 - that contains only "facts" which people expect results from a tape
371562 - recording or stenographic record, without realizing that such records
371563 - are large and require a lot of time and expense to read, absorb,
371564 - correct, store and handle.  People really don't want a transcript and
371565 - so a call for only the "facts" is problematic.
371566 -
371568 -  ..
371569 - SDS "Analysis" Provides a "Story" that Gives Information Meaning
371570 -
371571 - SDS records are intended to support the management process by aligning
371572 - what was said and done with objectives, and original sources, and by
371573 - and identifying follow up.  "Analysis" in SDS records is a glue that
371574 - binds together disparate "facts" in the absence of ordered testimony.
371575 - The SDS record provides context and correlations that give information
371576 - meaning relative to objectives and original sources, e.g., prior
371577 - meetings, calls, documents.  This results in a "story" which is the
371578 - way information is stored in the human mind to construct "meaning,"
371579 - per the paper on Dialog, Documents and Human Memory," developed on
371580 - 960620, ref SDS 26 1485, also demonstrated by review of Jeromy
371581 - Campbell's book on 900303, ref SDS 2 3016, and later review of Tom
371582 - Landauer's paper on 960809. ref SDS 28 7860
371584 -  ..
371585 - This evening, after eventually reading through the record of our
371586 - meeting on 970116, Morris made a single correction to the definition
371587 - of "Fractionalized Subjects" (see below) by substituting "point of
371588 - view" for "near term perspective" as set out at ref SDS 38 1732.
371589 - Morris feels this is not a material change, but he likes phrase "point
371590 - of view."
371592 -  ..
371593 - It does, however, illustrate the psychological tension SDS causes, as
371594 - discussed previously with Wayne Wetzel in our meeting on 920128....
371595 - ref SDS 5 3862.  The concern people voice about "accuracy" is actually
371596 - a worry and plea to avoid the burden of having to research whether the
371597 - record is accurate.  Of course such research is the very essence of a
371598 - "metric" and of the POIMS management cycle of plan, perform, report,
371599 - to help people discover gaps in their understanding. A Communication
371600 - Manager can expedite this metric/review process by providing a target
371601 - for people to consider in an orderly manner.  In the absence of enough
371602 - time for people to perform review, the SDS record provides the best
371603 - evidence of what transpired.  People can only discover gaps in the
371604 - record and/or their understanding by reading the record and struggling
371605 - with their memory.  SDS helps a lot with this goal, but does not
371606 - eliminate the need to think.
371607 -
371608 -
371609 -
371610 -
3717 -

SUBJECTS
Organic Subject Structure
Executive Mindset Needs Communication

4104 -
410501 -  ..
410502 - Fractionalized Subjects
410503 - Subject Indexing Requires Dedicated Resources
410504 -
410505 - Morris indicated that my description of "fractionalized subjects,"
410506 - which he cited at the meeting on 970116, is wrong, ref SDS 38 1732.
410507 - However, his correction merely substituted "point of view" for "near
410508 - term perspective," which does not seem to be a material change.
410510 -  ..
410511 - My impression from this evening's struggle to get him to read the SDS
410512 - record is that Morris, like many executives, has struggled to find a
410513 - simple means for catagorizing on-the-fly that permits fast retrieval
410514 - of relevant information for effective decision support.  However, this
410515 - is very hard to accomplish, as seen from the many different systems he
410516 - has tried over the years.
410518 -  ..
410519 - He complained this evening that I did not understand the problem, then
410520 - he complained that the explanation of the problem was much too long,
410521 - ref SDS 38 1732, and asked for a solution.  When I drew his attention
410522 - to the solution below the explanation of the problem, he complained it
410523 - cannot work even before he read it. ref SDS 38 9539
410525 -  ..
410526 - I explained that his frustration arises from having to come to grips
410527 - with the complexity of human thought, and the consequent need to
410528 - formulate a visible structure that replicates it, as SDS does.  We
410529 - cannot wish away this complexity, but we can do some things with
410530 - technology to deal with it much more effectively.
410532 -  ..
410533 - Morris asked if I could look up the record on upgrading my computer
410534 - which he helped me with in December.  I did this and found the record
410535 - on 961228. ref SDS 35 8539.
410537 -  ..
410538 - He asked about another matter.  I offered to demonstrate how to look
410539 - it up, but he declined and instead noted that SDS subject indexing
410540 - works for a single individual, but would not be successful if applied
410541 - among many people at different locations and cultural backgrounds,
410542 - like at Chips, PG&E or the US Army Corps of Engineers. He said
410543 - information has different meanings to different peoples and this makes
410544 - subject indexing too complex.
410546 -  ..
410547 - This proposition falls of its own weight.
410549 -  ..
410550 - The whole of civilization is predicated on the ability to organize
410551 - diversity into focused intelligence for community action, such as in a
410552 - nation, state, city, company, family, project.  Management guides,
410553 - like PMBOK and ISO, make clear that a key duty of leadership is to
410554 - align people through communication, and this requires working every
410555 - day to build and maintain shared meaning.  That information can be
410556 - catagorized to accomplish this alignment can be seen from a trip to
410557 - the local library, or look at a chart of accounts, a set of plans and
410558 - specs, a WBS, etc.  There are a lot of natural organizing structures,
410559 - such as geography, time, discipline (e.g., scientist, salesman,
410560 - farmer, architect, etc.), contracts, schedules and so on, by which the
410561 - human mind catagorizes "information" it encounters.
410563 -  ..
410564 - The fact that "meaning" varies between people, organizations,
410565 - locations and cultures, sets the standard leadership must meet to be
410566 - effective.  It is not an excuse for ignoring tools and methods for
410567 - building and maintaining shared meaning.  As well, meaning drifts
410568 - within each person's mind over time, per Tom Landauer's paper reviewed
410569 - on 960518. ref SDS 25 3734.  This is all the more reason to assign
410570 - someone called a Communication Manager to make sure that adequate
410571 - attention is being given each day to maintain common meaning over
410572 - time.
410573 -
410574 -
410575 -
410576 -
410577 -
4106 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"