CONTACTS 
0201 - Wideman, R. Max                    604 736 7025
020101 - Mr. R. Max Wideman

SUBJECTS
Ambassadors for Change, PMI, Wideman, Max
Proactive Management Discovers Problems
Feel Good Management Suppresses Conflict,
Discipline, Redundant, Lazy, Lack
Crisis Management More Fun, Fast Action Feels Good
Obstacles to Leadership, Overcome with SDS
Meetings/Calls Flood Mind in Sea of
Errors Induced, Less Chance to Recover
Distinct from Data, Information, Wisdom
Blinded by Knowledge of Leaders
Hierarchy Causes Hubris by Shielding
Front-end Investment Difficult Managers to Make, Wideman
FBI Leadership Disconnected from Details Penny Wise Pound Foolish Avo
Penny Wise Pound Foolish Avoids Front-end Investment, FBI Example

3316 -    ..
3317 - Summary/Objective
3318 -
331801 - Follow up ref SDS 31 0090, ref SDS 30 0900.
331802 -
331803 - Max received my letter on his questions about the Corps of Engineer's
331804 - report on Communication Metrics.  He is working on an assignment and
331805 - so will respond to my letter when time permits, including contacting
331806 - Corps of Engineers.  He raised the issue of personality and Crisis
331807 - Management on the attractiveness of Communication Metrics.
331808 -
331809 -     [See follow up receiving research from Max, ref SDS 33 3345.]
331810 -
331811 -
331812 -  ..
3319 -
3320 -
3321 - Discussion
3322 -
332201 - I asked if Max received my letter, ref DIP 1 0000, since he sent an
332202 - inquiry about whether I received his letter, ref DRP 1 0000, a few
332203 - days after I submitted a response via ref DIP 1 0000.
332204 -
332205 - Max said he received my letter, ref DIP 1 0000, but has been working
332206 - on a project, and so has not had time to complete his response.
332207 -
332208 -     [Max's project relates to research for enterprise wide automated
332209 -     management, ref SDS 33 3391.]
332210 - ..
332211 - Max indicated he plans to call or contact CE staff involved with
332212 - the Corps of Engineers' Communication Metrics report, per ideas
332213 - discussed on 970814. ref SDS 31 4483
332214 -
332215 -     [See follow up letter asking about progress on this, ref SDS 1
332216 -     line 104.]
332217 -
332218 -     [See report of Max's call to Tom Keesling, ref SDS 34 line 117.]
332219 -
332220 -
332221 -  ..
332222 - Warrior Conquers Problems with Hard Work
332223 - Communication Metrics Takes Less Discipline Hard Work
332224 - Crisis Management Obstacle to Front-End Investment
332225 -
332226 - Max explained the challenge managers have in supporting front-end
332227 - investment for analysis and planning that avoids crisis.
332228 -
332229 -     [On 970910 report executives do not have enough time to think.
332230 -     ref SDS 34 2139]
332231 -
332232 -     [On 971008 USACE issued report calculating cost savings by
332233 -     avoiding "rework" from using Communication Metrics. ref SDS 36
332234 -     2710, ref SDS 36 1273.]
332235 -
332236 -     [On 980316 cited this record for Max to illustrate new linking
332237 -     feature for "business intelligence." ref SDS 39 3425]
332238 -
332239 -     [On 980824 Max indicated that links in SDS records cause people to
332240 -     lose track of objectives, and so they resist using Communication
332241 -     Metrics. ref SDS 41 4920]
332242 -
332243 -     [On 000330 front-end investment in medical treatments also pose
332244 -     risks. ref SDS 46 0001
332245 - ..
332246 - Max noted that analysis to produce useful "intelligence," as
332247 - reported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ref DRP 2 0000, takes
332248 - discipline.  When things are going well, managers get frustrated by
332249 - inactivity because they do not have a crisis to talk about.  They are
332250 - unable to see that "knowledge" is fragile, i.e., the human mind can
332251 - align understandings for only a minute, ref SDS 3 0550.
332252 -
332253 -     [On 980307 review of Andy Grove's book "Only the Paranoid Survive"
332254 -     reports that successful management requires "diligence" to prepare
332255 -     copious notes and ask questions to clarify meaning. ref SDS 38
332256 -     3101]
332257 -
332258 -     [On 990303 scientific paper on limited span of attention shows
332259 -     need for "intelligence" support. ref SDS 42 6120]
332260 -
332261 -     [On 990311 developed idea that working "hard" rather than working
332262 -     "intelligently," causes crisis management. ref SDS 44 6000]
332263 -
332264 - Connections constantly slip away and change alignment. per Landauer's
332265 - paper on LSA Knowledge Acquisition, ref SDS 9 9099, ref SDS 9 3734.
332266 -
332267 - Since this occurs in the mind and is involuntary, leaders feel anxious
332268 - to give an order or get information, rather than invest the most
332269 - valuable time they have, when nothing is going on, to capture and test
332270 - understanding of what has already gone on, before it slips away.
332271 - ..
332272 - Crisis management is another form of "Feel Good" management,
332273 - which is the antithesis of proactive problem solving supported by
332274 - Communication Metrics. ref DRP 2 6993
332275 -
332276 - We considered the allure of Crisis Management that inhibits front-end
332277 - investment, even when there seems to be time to do it.
332278 -
332279 - Crisis calls for hard work and immediate action that test physical
332280 - capabilities, akin to combat.  Young managers in particular like to
332281 - work hard, and so like the warrior, relish the challenge of "climbing
332282 - the mountain" ... ref SDS 7 4930
332283 -
332284 -      [On 980808 Ross wanted to work hard to overcome information
332285 -      overload through skillful problem handling, rather than solve it
332286 -      to reduce the need for problem handling. ref SDS 40 3379]
332287 -
332288 -      [On 990303 scientific paper on limited span of attention shows
332289 -      needs for "intelligence" support. ref SDS 42 6120]
332290 -
332291 -      [On 990311 concept of warrior willing to expend physical effort
332292 -      to work hard, but not to work intelligently.
332293 -
332294 - I recalled that as a General Contractor I would visit projects and
332295 - spend 30 minutes to an hour for a meeting or other activity to review
332296 - job progress, and then would be anxious to move on.  My experience
332297 - working with executives, including other general contractors, is that
332298 - they typically are...
332299 -
332300 -      "fast studies," who have little patience for careful analysis.
332301 -
332302 - This is fertile ground for "Crisis Management," as evidenced by Joel
332303 - Koppleman's explanation on 950412 of his problems at Primavera
332304 - producing a Windows program. ref SDS 4 3920  The NWO paper further
332305 - explains "fertile ground" for improving management. ref OF 2 7490
332306 - ..
332307 - Communication Metrics' breakthrough in management science is to
332308 - provide a productive use of time when there is no crisis.  Formerly,
332309 - managers could only worry, become anxious.  Nightmares wake them up
332310 - screaming at 3:00 A.M. about the mental connections slipping away, per
332311 - meeting with John Lettieri at Marsh & McLennan last week, ref SDS 32
332312 - 8849.
332313 -
332314 -       [On 990305 Max seems to indicate that Communication Metrics is
332315 -       good science. ref SDS 43 1836]
332316 -
332317 - SDS technology empowers managers to accomplish Communication Metrics
332318 - by capturing understandings, organizing it and developing analysis to
332319 - discover alignment with requirements that avoid crisis.  However, the
332320 - trappings of leadership in giving orders and taking immediate action
332321 - present an obstacle to effective leadership, by engendering reluctance
332322 - to make the front end investment Max describes.
332323 -
332324 - There is also the deeper issue of the distinction between information
332325 - and knowledge and how this impacts decision making.
332326 -
332327 -      ..
332328 -     Distinction between Information and Knowledge
332329 -     Blinded by Common Sense, Inexperience Impedes Comprehension
332330 -
332331 -     The difference between information and knowledge can be seen from
332332 -     the recent example of an FBI department head, who, in a five
332333 -     minute meeting, refused to approve payment of $500 a week to an
332334 -     informant for intelligence to avoid execution of a bomb plot.
332335 -
332336 -     Some might say the department head was penny wise and pound
332337 -     foolish, but the decision was based on available information.
332338 -
332339 -     The agents who had worked the case were unable to "communicate"
332340 -     their knowledge about the strength of the threat and the value of
332341 -     the intelligence.  Since there was no direct evidence of a pending
332342 -     attack on a specific target, and since the decision maker had no
332343 -     direct experience with the evidence gathering process that had
332344 -     convinced the agents of the urgency to obtain "intelligence," the
332345 -     executive only had "information" and it conflicted with his common
332346 -     sense.  He was blinded by his "knowledge" that such threats are
332347 -     incredible, and so he could not answer his mental question:
332348 -
332349 -                Why invest in front end investigation?
332350 -
332351 -     After the Twin Towers in New York were bombed the informant was
332352 -     paid $1M to get intelligence on subsequent bomb targets, which
332353 -     then led to the arrest of the Iranian gang before another attack
332354 -     occurred.  Absent the crisis of a bomb going off, managers are
332355 -     reluctant to invest to avoid crisis.
332356 -
332357 -        See, also, analysis of "Blinded by the knowledge of its
332358 -        leaders, nation takes wrong path," ref SDS 5 8830.
332359 -
332360 -
332361 - Wayne Wetzel at DNRC in Montana mentioned Max's point about discipline
332362 - and that when a meeting is over, people what to go home or go to the
332363 - next meeting, rather than perform Communication Metrics, ref SDS 2
332364 - line 118. Now, after his Broadwater project litigation, he has a
332365 - broader perspective.  He has become the Communication Manager for
332366 - DNRC, ref SDS 17 3003.
332367 -
332368 -     [On 980307 review of Andy Grove's book "Only the Paranoid Survive"
332369 -     reports that successful management requires "diligence" to prepare
332370 -     copious notes and ask questions to clarify meaning. ref SDS 38
332371 -     3101]
332372 -
332373 -     [On 990625 Fortune article says CEOs faile when they don't "grab a
332374 -     pen and start writing at the end of meetings. ref SDS 45 1024]
332375 -
332376 - This is another reason a dedicated specialist for the Communication
332377 - Manager role is needed to apply the discipline of overcoming the urge
332378 - to move on, looking for a crisis to become a hero by putting out a
332379 - fire.  People voice the desire for proactive management and problem
332380 - solving, but it is actually too psychologically demanding for most
332381 - folks.
332382 -
332383 - Crisis and Feel Good management were addressed in the paper prepared
332384 - for Morris last year to present at PMI's Asilomar Conference, ref SDS
332385 - 10 8839.  The paper describes the executive mindset that substitutes
332386 - "knowledge" from experience (i.e., personal hunch, proclivity and
332387 - impulse) for inquiry to obtain relevant facts, which arises because an
332388 - executive is typically not questioned about what they know by the
332389 - people they encounter in daily work, ref OF 3 line 512.
332390 -
332391 -
332392 -
332393 -
332394 -
332395 -
332396 -
332397 -
332398 -
3324 -