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


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: July 21, 1997 07:47 AM Monday; Rod Welch

Called Tom about Communication Metrics in Corps of Engineers.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Los Angles Projects - $147M
3...Submit Communication Metrics Report to Division for Other Projects
4..."Regional Village" Concept Presented to SFD
......Tom May Take Independent Action
5...District Automation Plan Needs Consideration of Practicalities
6...DE's Review Communication Metrics Report
7...Claims Management Program Needs Immediate Actions


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - Corps of Engineers, SFD            415 977 8400 fax 8483
020101 - Mr. Max R. Blodgett, II, P.E., L.S.
020102 - Construction Operations Division   =415 977 8480
0202 - Corps of Engineers, SFD            415 977 8400 fax 8483
020201 - Mr. Thompson F. Keesling, Architect; Assistant Chief =415 977 8473
020202 - Construction Operations Division   =415 977 8480

SUBJECTS
Corps of Engineers, 970115
Oakland Claim Support, 970702
Richmond Harbor Deepening

1105 -    ..
1106 - Summary/Objective
1107 -
110701 - Follow up ref SDS 17 0000, ref SDS 14 0000.
110702 -
110703 - Asked Tom about sponsoring the Communication Metrics report and
110704 - introducing Welch at Division HQ and in other Districts.  Tom seemed
110705 - to defer making a contact in Division, but indicated he will submit an
110706 - email to the Los Angeles District where they have a large project
110707 - underway.
110708 -
110709 - I mentioned the article on Intel's efforts to implement automated
110710 - management systems, and the difficulities they had.  Tom requested a
110711 - copy of the article.  I submitted the article via ref DIT 1 line 30,
110712 - and the record where it is reviewed, ref SDS 16 line 103.
110713 -
110714 -
110715 -
1108 -
1109 -
1110 - Progress
1111 -
111101 -  ..
111102 - Los Angles Projects - $147M
111103 - Submit Communication Metrics Report to Division for Other Projects
111104 -
111105 - Asked Tom about contacting Jack Farless at Division to inquire about
111106 - support for Communication Metrics in other Districts.  We considered
111107 - that even though this may not be a good time for Communication Metrics
111108 - in the San Francisco District, there may be other Districs in the
111109 - Division that have projects where Communication Metrics can be
111110 - helpful.  I cited the recent report of a $147M project in Los Angeles
111111 - Harbor, ref SDS 13 line 125.
111112 -
111113 - Tom said he knows Chief of Con Ops in LA.  He will send him an email
111114 - advising of the Communication Metrics report.
111115 -
111116 -     [See follow up on 970725 ref SDS 18 line 286.]
111117 -
111118 - I mentioned the meeting with Jack on 960103, ref SDS 1 line 64.
111119 -
111120 - Tom indicated he does not have adequate standing to contact Jack or
111121 - anyone else in Division about Communication Metrics.  He said Jack is
111122 - the best person, or his boss.  He said his relations wtih Jack are not
111123 - strong enough for this iniative to be well received.  He advised that
111124 - Jack selected Max over Tom to be Chief of Con Ops when Jack moved from
111125 - that position to his new job in the Divison 2 years ago.  Tom feels
111126 - this choice was made because he took the initiative in presenting
111127 - options and analysis to Jack, instead of simply endorsing Jack's
111128 - ideas.  He noted that Jack's recommendation of Max for Chief of Con
111129 - Ops, indicates Jack is not open to Tom's suggestions.
111130 -
111131 - Tom also feels that Max and Jack do not have a strong relationship,
111132 - contrary to what might be expected from Jack having recommended Max
111133 - for his job of Chief of Con Ops.
111134 -
111135 - He suggested I conctact the Division directly.
111136 -
111137 - We considered the advantage of having the contact or a favorable
111138 - introduction from the District.  Tom said it is standard practice for
111139 - someone like him or Max to forward a report like Communication Metrics
111140 - for consideration by colleagues in the Division.  In this case, he
111141 - feels there are not strong enough ties to the right people for this to
111142 - be successful.
111143 -
111144 - Tom seemed a bit discouraged this morning.  He lamented the difficulty
111145 - of making headway on initiatives.
111146 -
111147 - He recalled having sent email on Communication Metrics to the author
111148 - of the article in PM Network, and that this person, who has a
111149 - comparable job to Tom's in the South Atlantic Division, in Atlanta,
111150 - GA, has not responded.  Tom said this person was recently part of a
111151 - team from the South Atlantic Division who gave a presentation to the
111152 - San Francisco District on the "virtual office" concept, and Tom asked
111153 - the author again to respond to his email, and got the impression he
111154 - would get a response, but so far he has not heard anything.
111155 -
111156 -
111157 -  ..
111158 - "Regional Village" Concept Presented to SFD
111159 - -------------------------------------------
111160 - Tom feels there is opportunity to enhance goal of the "Virtual
111161 - District."  The article is reviewed at ref SDS 3 1233.
111162 -
111163 - On 970502 I gave Tom the issue of PM Network with the article on
111164 - USACE's efforts to develop a "Virtual District. ref SDS 3 2187. He
111165 - distributed it in the SFD per ref SDS 4 6693, and we later developed a
111166 - draft memo on implementing aspects of it to DE, ref SDS 6 7749, since
111167 - DE's proposed Operations Plan contains language that indicates he
111168 - likes the ideas in the article. ref SDS 5 6488
111169 -
111170 -
111171 -      Tom May Take Independent Action
111172 -
111173 -      Since Tom seemed discouraged today, he may still go ahead and
111174 -      make some inquiries in the Division about Communication Metrics.
111175 -      He taken action previously, when he initially indicated negative
111176 -      inclination to do so.
111177 -
111178 -
111179 -  ..
111180 - District Automation Plan Needs Consideration of Practicalities
111181 -
111182 - I mentioned the paper from Intel explaining the conflict they
111183 - encountered between "empowerment" and implemening standardized
111184 - management systems, ref SDS 16 line 238.  Tom is in charge of
111185 - implementing new automated systems, which could fall prey to the same
111186 - problems Intel encountered.
111187 -
111188 - Tom requested a copy of the article.
111189 -
111190 - Submitted the article via ref DIT 1 line 30.
111191 -
111192 -
111193 - DE's Review Communication Metrics Report
111194 -
111195 - Follow up ref SDS 17 9488, ref SDS 14 8839.
111196 -
111197 - Tom said DE is out of the office much of this week.  Max later told
111198 - me he has a staff meeting with DE at 1000.
111199 -
111200 - Tom said DE met with CG of South Pacific Division and was told the
111201 - Division is expecting instructions from HQ on the degree of latitude
111202 - local commanders have in changing their organization.
111203 -
111204 -
1113 -

SUBJECTS
Planning, Assignments
Schedule, Budget, Tasks
Consultant Support
Command & Control Record
Schedule/Budget Complete Work
Contractor Management Team
Action Item Review, COE Only, 961206

1810 -
181001 - Claims Management Program Needs Immediate Actions
181002 -
181003 - I asked Tom about the guy who attended the Action Item review meeting
181004 - on 961206, ref SDS 2 line 89, there was someone repesenting the
181005 - Division who is about 6' 1" about 170# and 55 years old.  I suggested
181006 - Tom might send the Communication Metrics report to him.
181007 -
181008 - Tom said that was John Eft, Chief Counsel for the District.
181009 -
181010 - He seemed to be open to ideas during the meeting on 961206, so
181011 - possibly I could contact him about supporting their litigation
181012 - situation.
181013 -
181014 -
181015 -
181016 -
181017 -
1811 -
1812 -
1813 - 1214 called Max
1814 -
181401 - He is meeting with John.  He said they have serious problems on
181402 - Oakland, even worse than I am aware of.
181403 -
181404 - I suggested I will call him in the morning.  Max agreed to this.
181405 -
181406 -
181407 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"