CONTACTS 
0201 - Unisys Corporation                 510 613 1303 fax or 800...
020101 - Mr. Merrill Malvini; Account Executive =510 613 1303
020102 - Sales Department

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing, Sales
Developing Leads, Industry Contacts
Obtain Names of Prospects, Unisys
Send product
Se information, requesting give
Accounting Analogy
Making more money
Align Communications to Maintain Shared Meaning from Meetings, Calls
Contract Communication Procedures Align People Based on Experience
Management Details
Project Management Methods, Procedures
Sales Management
Contract Management
Project Management
External management

1817 -    ..
1818 - Summary/Objective
1819 -
181901 - Followed up work at ref SDS 14 line 99.
181902 -
181903 - Merrill has been very helpful in suggesting to colleagues that they
181904 - consider Communication Metrics. ref SDS 0 6840  Merrill sees the need
181905 - for a dedicated "Communication Manager" to maintain alignment of daily
181906 - management with contract requirements. ref SDS 0 7708  This reduces
181907 - costs and improves earnings better than traditional cost and schedule
181908 - controls. ref SDS 0 4080  He feels businss loses a lot of money
181909 - because performance of the work does not follow original objectives of
181910 - the customer. ref SDS 0 7592
181911 -
181912 -
181913 -
181914 -
181915 -  ..
1820 -
1821 -
1822 - Disussion
1823 -
182301 - Merrill said he discussed Communication Metrics with a colleague, Max,
182302 - who has recently been promoted to manage major accounts in the Western
182303 - US, which is approximately $2B annual volume.
182304 -
182305 - Max is located in Southern California.
182306 -
182307 - Merrill intended to give Max the Communication Metrics report issued
182308 - by COE, ref DRP 1 line 118, however, he could not find it his brief
182309 - case.  When he returned to his office to get the report, he discovered
182310 - it was actually in his briefcase all along.
182311 -
182312 - Merrill plans to send the report to Max with a cover letter.
182313 -
182314 -
182315 -  ..
182316 - Communication Manager Role
182317 -
182318 - Merrill said he has read the report several times, but he is confused
182319 - about how it works. He asked about the "Scribe" and then about the
182320 - "Communication Manager."
182321 -
182322 - I explained Communication Metrics is about hiring and/or developing a
182323 - new form of expertise in the organization, called a Communication
182324 - Manager, similar to an accountant.  When the amount and complexity of
182325 - accounts got too big, executives hired accounts to keep track of the
182326 - financial details of their business. The idea of Communication Metrics
182327 - is that the amount and complexity of communications has grown so big,
182328 - due to the Information Highway, that now we need a new specialist to
182329 - keep track of management details in the manner that financial details
182330 - are tracked by accountants, and construction details are tracked by
182331 - architects. ref SDS 11 1568, and in the record at ref SDS 9 8900.
182332 -
182333 - Merrill said he likes the accountant analogy.  He feels communication
182334 - has grown significantly, similar to the situation at Intel discussed
182335 - on 950927. ref SDS 10 6021
182336 -
182337 - An explanation of how a Communication Manager functions is in the
182338 - record on 950428. at ref SDS 9 8900.  It reflects the scope of
182339 - services in the report on Communication Metrics dated 970328 issued by
182340 - the Corps of Engineers (see Appendix D). ref DRP 1 4929
182341 -
182342 -
182343 -  ..
182344 - Reducing Costs, Improving Earnings with "Metrics" Like Accounting
182345 -
182346 - Merrill asked how Communication Metrics reduces costs.
182347 -
182348 - I explained Communication Metrics is an investment in risk management
182349 - to avoid mistakes that cost money, per discussion at ref SDS 5 line
182350 - 81, the same way that an accountant saves money by making sure
182351 - finacial details are properly tracked.  A throrough discussion of
182352 - "making money" with SDS is at ref SDS 2 line 110, ref SDS 3 line 191,
182353 - ref SDS 4 line 97.  Consideration of reducing costs by reducing risk
182354 - similar to cost and schedule control, is at ref SDS 8 line 183.
182355 -
182356 - In sum, traditional management controls in cost and schedule save
182357 - money by alerting managers to deviations in projected intermediate
182358 - milestones, called "cost accounts" and "schedule activities." Managers
182359 - can then focus on changing work practices, staff or other remedies to
182360 - bring deficits into alignment with budgets and schedule targets.  This
182361 - is reactive management.  Often it is too late for effective action,
182362 - forcing management to accept losses, or seek recovery in claims and
182363 - litigation.
182364 -
182365 - Communication Metrics is proactive.  It identifies deviations in
182366 - dialog and documents with project requirements, that will cause cost
182367 - and schedule variances.  Managers can then bring the team into
182368 - alignment with requirements, to avoid cost and schedule variances.
182369 -
182370 - Additionally, Communication Metrics discovers and corrects mental
182371 - errors and confusion that cause major failures, commonly attributed to
182372 - "Murphy's Law."
182373 -
182374 -  ..
182375 -
182376 - Merrill asked if Communication Metrics keeps track of how daily
182377 - business activity, through calls, meetings, email and correspondence,
182378 - aligns with specific requirements in a contract?
182379 -
182380 - I explained that is precisely how it works, as shown in the report
182381 - issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on 970328. see the record
182382 - for 970418 at ref SDS 13 3368 and ref SDS 13 5368
182383 -
182384 -      An example from a PG&E contract.... ref SDS 7 8899
182385 -
182386 -      An example from Corps of Engineers... ref SDS 12 1220
182387 -
182388 - On 911123 advantage of SDS for Communication Metrics to improve
182389 - conventional "feel good" methods. ref SDS 1 4930
182390 -
182391 - Merrill feels his company loses a lot of money because understandings
182392 - and agreements from routine daily business activity. cannot be readily
182393 - aligned with contract requirements.
182394 -
182395 -      [On 970825 discussion with Pete Hady. ref SDS 15 4774.]
182396 -
182397 -      [On 970826 Merrill wants a way to demonstrate how Communication
182398 -      Metrics builds and maintains shared meaning to avoid mistakes
182399 -      that cause losses and delay. ref SDS 16 6702]
182400 -
182401 -      [On 971008 government report says Communication Metrics saves
182402 -      money by reducing management mistakes. ref SDS 17 2710]
182403 -
182404 -      [On 980723 Communication Metrics web site delivers intelligence
182405 -      using clear, concise and complete communication. ref SDS 18 2759]
182406 -
182407 -      [On 980810 Welch web site explains Communication Metrics improves
182408 -      earnings. ref SDS 19 7412]
182409 -
182410 - We considered that this is a common problem, now growing in importance
182411 - due to the Information Highway effect of increasing the pace of daily
182412 - business.  In the record reviewed on 940609, Henry Kissinger decrys
182413 - "Alice in Wonderland" management, where, like the Mad Hatter, everyone
182414 - is late for a very important date, and nobody has time to understand
182415 - what has transpired in the "date" just completed, ref SDS 6 4238.
182416 -
182417 - Merrill explained that Unisys uses a work catagory called an
182418 -
182419 -                      Implementor
182420 -
182421 -      ...to manage their projects as the primary contact with customers
182422 -      and Unisys resources. This is similar to a Project Manager or
182423 -      account executive.
182424 -
182425 - I mentioned the explanation of adding "intelligence" to information.
182426 -
182427 - Merrill said this explanation is hard for him because he knows
182428 - computers do not have "intelligence."  He cited the recent victory of
182429 - an IBM computer program against the World Champion chess player, as an
182430 - example of computers who cannot think, but can compare a lot of stored
182431 - information in a fixed environment quickly.
182432 -
182433 - I suggested he prepare a transmittal letter to send the COE report,
182434 - and asked Merrill to send me a copy.  He said he planned not to
182435 - prepare a formal letter, but merely to put a handwritten note on the
182436 - document and to highlight key matters in the report.
182437 -
182438 - I explained the theory in Communciation Metrics, called "thinking
182439 - through writing," that writing out out what we think is a window on
182440 - our mind and a metric of our understanding that helps us grow our
182441 - knowledge.
182442 -
182443 - After our discussion, I submitted ref DIT 1 line 30 to draw attention
182444 - to Appendix D in the COE report, ref OF 3 line 88, that explains the
182445 - duties and responsibilities of a Communication Manager, ref DIT 1 line
182446 - 30.
182447 -
182448 -
182449 -
182450 -
1825 -
1826 -
1827 - 2132 received response from Merrill
1828 -
182801 - Received ref DRT 1 line 30 transmitting the COE report, per my letter
182802 - to Merrill, ref DIT 1 line 30.
182803 -
182804 -
182805 -
182806 -
182807 -