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


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: September 7, 1997 10:12 AM Sunday; Rod Welch

Received letter from Max Wideman on book, chapters, team, audience.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Book on PMBOK - Project Communication Management
3...Law is Reactive, Communication Metrics is a Proactive Process
4...Do Turner Notes Identify "Project" Communication Issues?
5...Project Communications Not in Contractor Manuals
6...What Will Book on Project Communication Add?
7...Communication Most Important Factor in Project Success
.....Communication is Not Fast and Easy; is Complex and Difficult
8...Project Management Communication Needs Definition
9...Identifying the Audience for Project Communication
10...Book Requires Teamwork and Publishing Commitment
11...Seminar Supports Research if Planned and Reported, Not Essential
12...Chapters for Book on Project Communication
.....Converting Information into Knowledge, Wisdom and Vision
.....Straw into Gold; Water into Wine -- The Gift of "Time"

ACTION ITEMS.................. Click here to comment!

1...I would like Max, or someone who is competent, to take a look at
2...Max does not comment on whether the notes of the meeting with Turner,
3...I am not grasping this "trap."
4...Need an explanation of why a contractor's manual on submittals,
5...This presents a problem. How can we write a book on management
6...have one standard of communication for "projects" and another for
7...Possibly Max has already formulated language that distinguishes
8...conflict with "common sense" because it denies people the chance to
9...thing. But we need to consider an approach that will draw the
10...offer ideas and timely peer review. I would like to use ideas
11...the research subject index for Communication, and comment on how
12...A predicate is to determine the publishing process. If we write

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

SUBJECTS
Ambassadors for Change, PMI, Wideman, Max
Book (uses manual language)

0704 -    ..
0705 - Summary/Objective
0706 -
070601 - Followed up work at ref SDS 21 line 73, ref SDS 20 line 68.
070602 -
070603 - Max offers ideas for chapter structure on the book.  He feels an
070604 - editor would not be helpful, and questions whether the law is a good
070605 - source for effective communication methods.  He does not say whether
070606 - the Turner notes show the kind of detail he has in mind to distinguish
070607 - "project" communications.  He sees I need help in grasping and
070608 - applying PMI's definition of "project," in asking about the boundaries
070609 - between communication and project communication.  I submit ideas to
070610 - define the "communication process."  Max's willingness to engage these
070611 - ideas presents an extraordinary opportunity to move forward with the
070612 - book, or series of books, on communication, for which I am very
070613 - grateful.  His passion, ideas and work ethic are invaluable.
070614 -
070615 -     [See submission of response at ref SDS 25 line 97.]
070616 -
070617 -
070618 -
0707 -
0708 -
0709 - Progress
0710 -
071001 - Received ref DRT 1 line 21 from Max responding to my letter, ref DIP
071002 - 14 line 22, on ideas for a book on project communication.
071003 -
071004 -
071005 -
071006 - Book on PMBOK - Project Communication Management
071007 -
071008 - Max clarifies the scope of the book he has in mind by suggesting the
071009 - title...
071010 -
071011 -                   Project Communication Management
071012 -
071013 -      .., ref DRT 1 line 24, which is the title of chapter 10 in the
071014 -      PMBOK, ref OF 10 line 2747, analysed on 950721, ref SDS 7 line
071015 -      581 and ref SDS 7 line 724,
071016 -
071017 - A possible concern is that PMP trainees might regard a book with the
071018 - title of the PMBOK chapter heading, as the end of their research. From
071019 - my perspective, at least for the near term, that would be fine, since
071020 - we would intend to provide an approach that will enable people to
071021 - succeed.  My goal is to set a new standard for communication education
071022 - and practice, i.e., use my wonderful new approach!  However, it may be
071023 - too restrictive for sound educational, continual learning practices.
071024 - Of course we can always include a disclaimer that readers should look
071025 - beyond our material.
071026 -
071027 -
071028 -
071029 - Law is Reactive, Communication Metrics is a Proactive Process
071030 -
071031 - Max objects to contract law as a source of sound project communication
071032 - practices, per my letter, ref DIP 14 line 32, and ideas at ref SDS 21
071033 - line 103.  The idea that "law is a metric," was formulated in the New
071034 - World Order paper, ref OF 3 line 179, at ref SDS 8 line 88, and the
071035 - paper on Concurrent Discovery. ref SDS 13 line 173,
071036 -
071037 -     Max says "Very few lawyers that I have met have any concept of
071038 -     effective/efficient communication (especially project
071039 -     communication), with their vested interest in preserving an arcane
071040 -     language..", ref DRT 1 line 34.
071041 -
071042 -     I agree that most lawyers, like others, are not focused on
071043 -     effective communication.  A lawyer is trying to win a lawsuit,
071044 -     just as a mechanic is trying fix a car, a postman is trying to
071045 -     deliver a letter, a doctor is trying to mend a limb, etc.  Each
071046 -     profession has processes which are carried out imperfectly by
071047 -     practitioners day to day.  My sense is that Max's point does not
071048 -     impair a concept of "law as a metric" of human experience in
071049 -     communities by using communication processes of...
071050 -
071051 -        •  Case studies........................ called "case law."
071052 -        •  Information Management.............. called "the record"
071053 -           (Foundation for "Knowledge Space")
071054 -        •  Feedback metrics.................... called "notice"
071055 -        •  Study and review.................... called "discovery"
071056 -        •  Traceability to original sources.... called "citations"
071057 -
071058 -     Each of these processes are called out in established management
071059 -     standards, including the PMBOK, ISO, AMA.  But only the law uses
071060 -     them rigorously, even though it is not the lawyer's intent to be
071061 -     an effective communicator, but rather to obfuscate, equivocate,
071062 -     withhold, and misstate in order to win a case.  Only the culture
071063 -     of competition in the arena of adjudication forces and tests the
071064 -     application of good communication practice.  It is like saying the
071065 -     alphabet is a powerful process for representing meaning in the
071066 -     mind, and to aid in growing new knowledge.  That it can be used
071067 -     for nefarious purpose does not detract from the utility of the
071068 -     method.
071069 -
071070 -     No one implements the PMBOK consistently either, but that does not
071071 -     mean the PMBOK does not have processes that can be helpful, if
071072 -     applied consistently.  It is difficult for humanity, including
071073 -     lawyers, swayed by momentary passion and perspective, to do
071074 -     anything constructive consistently.  Cultural convention in
071075 -     religion, law, codes, industry standards and company policy
071076 -     evolved, along with art, music, poetry and cliches, to support
071077 -     consistent application of established verities.
071078 -
071079 -     I address the role of culture to support good work practices in
071080 -     the New World Order... article, ref OF 3 line 93, and in the
071081 -     article on "Dialog, Documents and Human Memory..., ref OF 4 line
071082 -     359.  The articles explain how reactive legal practices can be
071083 -     useful to daily communication if applied proactively with support
071084 -     from special technology.
071085 -
071086 -     I would like Max, or someone who is competent, to take a look at
071087 -     this material and comment on whether we have made an adequate case
071088 -     for using "communication" processes from the law, that may be
071089 -     improperly applied to distort meaning because of the reactive,
071090 -     adversarial structure of legal practice, but which never-the-less
071091 -     comprise a powerful way to discover meaning in time to avoid
071092 -     mistakes, when applied proactively.
071093 -
071094 -
071095 - Do Turner Notes Identify "Project" Communication Issues?
071096 -
071097 - Max does not comment on whether the notes of the meeting with Turner,
071098 - reflect the kind of issues he has in mind for a book on Project
071099 - Communications, ref SDS 9 line 112.
071100 -
071101 -
071102 -
071103 - Project Communications Not in Contractor Manuals
071104 -
071105 - In response to my observation that contractors have manuals with
071106 - communication procedures for "projects", but do not follow them, ref
071107 - DIP 14 line 47, Max says:
071108 -
071109 -     Sad, but I think you fall into the same trap that so many other do
071110 -     because they fail to recognize the difference between 'project
071111 -     management' (the management of the project process) and 'technical
071112 -     management' (the management of the technology), ref DRT 1 line 55.
071113 -
071114 -     I am not grasping this "trap."
071115 -
071116 -     Need an explanation of why a contractor's manual on submittals,
071117 -     change orders, schedules, correspondence, meetings, RFI's, Daily
071118 -     Reports, etc., does not cover "project communication" and/or the
071119 -     management thereof, as contrasted with non-project communications
071120 -     which typically do not encounter this level of rigor?
071121 -
071122 -
071123 -
071124 - What Will Book on Project Communication Add?
071125 - Communication Most Important Factor in Project Success
071126 -
071127 - Max says, "Indeed, so many books have been written communicating
071128 - technology, but so few have been written about *efficient and
071129 - effective* communication for purposes of furthering the project
071130 - process. It is the single most significant source of failure in
071131 - project work, ref DRT 1 line 59.
071132 -
071133 -     I agree communication is a key factor in successful communities,
071134 -     including "projects," per original formulation of "Communication
071135 -     Metrics" on 950327, ref SDS 5 line 140, and recent articles, ref
071136 -     SDS 17 line 780.
071137 -
071138 -        [See report from CEO of PG&E on 970908, ref SDS 26 line 106;
071139 -        copy sent to Max under separate cover.]
071140 -
071141 -     Communication is Not Fast and Easy; is Complex and Difficult
071142 -
071143 -     There are a lot of books on communications, including human
071144 -     relations, leadership and interpersonal stuff that promote better
071145 -     dialog and listening to improve communication.  These are popular
071146 -     because they do not require any real work.  They imply people can
071147 -     talk and listen "empathically" and then go home.  Communication,
071148 -     however, requires "meaning" and this is a complex, difficult task
071149 -     because of strengths and weaknesses in human mental biology, ref
071150 -     SDS 14 line 420.
071151 -
071152 -     Books and articles on technology and communication offer allusions
071153 -     that shared meaning which is the essence of "communication," can
071154 -     be created by pushing a button on the computer.  People continue
071155 -     to hope they can talk all day, then go home, and the computer will
071156 -     develop the intelligence that converts information into knowledge.
071157 -
071158 -     George Shultz, Peter Drucker, Henry Kissinger, et al, cite the
071159 -     need for organization and analysis to unravel the complexities of
071160 -     human endeavors and thereby discover the "meaning" that leads to
071161 -     the best path forward, ref SDS 1 line 216.
071162 -
071163 -     Welch has formulated a technology that leverages the capacity to
071164 -     think, remember and communicate for proactive problem solving by
071165 -     using automated integration of time and information, ref OF 1 line
071166 -     87, ref OF 3 line 305,  It makes analysis and organization of
071167 -     information to produce "intelligence" faster, better and cheaper.
071168 -     It, however, is not fast and easy to perform.  Yet it makes
071169 -     everyone else's job faster and easier, i.e., it adds value to
071170 -     information, people and organizations.
071171 -
071172 -     This presents a problem.  How can we write a book on management
071173 -     standards when the only solution is the author's pet system?
071174 -
071175 -
071176 -
071177 - Project Management Communication Needs Definition
071178 -
071179 - I posed the need to develop a relatively clear distinction (having in
071180 - mind that complete distinctions are rare in the nature of things)
071181 - between "Communication" and "Project Communications." ref SDS 21 line
071182 - 96, stated thus:
071183 -
071184 -     How do we draw the line between plain old communication and extra
071185 -     or special stuff uniquely needed for projects?
071186 -
071187 -     My initial inclination is that Communication Metrics is valid
071188 -     across all disciplines and fields of endeavors.  The U.S. Army
071189 -     Corps of Engineers report is a fairly comprehensive explanation of
071190 -     the ideas and methodologies that includes a scope of services in
071191 -     Appendix D on a step-by-step set of related practices. My question
071192 -     is why should this be restricted solely to "project management"?
071193 -
071194 -     Max says this is "Not that difficult - if you subscribe to PMI's
071195 -     view of project management as a baseline.  But then there are a
071196 -     lot of people who struggle with "What is a project?"  I satisfied
071197 -     myself on that issue many years ago.  You choose your words,
071198 -     establish rational definitions, lay them as foundations stones,
071199 -     and build from there. Lot of people have difficulty with that.
071200 -
071201 -     I submitted some distinctions between "communication" and "project
071202 -     communication" in the notes of the meeting with Turner on 960125,
071203 -     preparing for the PMI Asilomar Conference, including the need to
071204 -     "communicate" in the language of the project, as cited in the
071205 -     PMBOK, ref OF 10 line 2755.  I do not regard these views as
071206 -     dispositive, however, since, as set out in the Turner notes,
071207 -     sectors that have traditionally not viewed their work in terms of
071208 -     "projects" are beginning to need the same level of care in daily
071209 -     communication, per ref SDS 9 line 276.  This is supported by the
071210 -     movement in recent years to manage by "projects."  Thus, should we
071211 -     have one standard of communication for "projects" and another for
071212 -     everything else, at a time when everything else is supposed to
071213 -     managed by "projects"? ref SDS 15 line 161.
071214 -
071215 -     Max does not comment on these ideas, and Turner did not understand
071216 -     them, even though they work at project communications every day.
071217 -     We are not picking on Turner.  The folks at Stanford, MIT, Ford,
071218 -     IBM, Intel, and on and on, do not understand my ideas.  This
071219 -     suggests that my approach is not clear, or possibly that the task
071220 -     is more complex than might seem at first blush.
071221 -
071222 -     Possibly Max has already formulated language that distinguishes
071223 -     communication from "project communication".  This would be helpful
071224 -     to have.
071225 -
071226 -
071227 -
071228 - Identifying the Audience for Project Communication
071229 -
071230 - I discuss identifying the audience (market) for the book in relation
071231 - to the style.  For example Jeremy Campbell's book on artificial
071232 - intelligence was really a way to present key ideas in human cognition.
071233 - He got people to read about important material by couching it in a
071234 - more intriguing prospect of artificial intelligence.  He concludes the
071235 - latter is "fools gold" but in the telling made his points about
071236 - cognitive science.  Should we do the same since our target is equally
071237 - arcane?
071238 -
071239 - People like and will read "happy talk" about improving effectiveness
071240 - with better talking and listening skills, ref DIP 14 line 52.  If we
071241 - explain the "truth" about the level of work entailed to build and
071242 - maintain shared meaning and discover misunderstanding so it can be
071243 - fixed before mistakes are made that cost money, then it will not be a
071244 - popular message.  My point is not that we should suppress our views,
071245 - but rather how to structure the material so people will grasp its
071246 - power, without having experienced it.  Lynn Conway aptly expressed the
071247 - challenge of "introducing a new system of knowledge that seems to
071248 - conflict with "common sense" because it denies people the chance to
071249 - discover "uncommon sense," ref SDS 12 line 279.
071250 -
071251 -     Max says "In that case you have the wrong audience.  Such people
071252 -     are not suited to project work.  Indeed, according to Myers Briggs
071253 -     personality typology about 25% of the population are unsuited to
071254 -     project work - but get thrust into it anyway." ref DRT 1 line 84.
071255 -
071256 -     I think this is a different problem.  Project managers are as
071257 -     closed to the true solution as everyone else.  It would not be
071258 -     going too far to say that "project managers" are unsuited to
071259 -     "project work" when the scope of that work is explained that
071260 -     reveals the morass of mistakes and consequent tolerance for error
071261 -     which is psychologically debilitating.  That is why I invented
071262 -     technology that makes performing the tasks needed for effective
071263 -     communication possible.
071264 -
071265 -     An example is a discussion between a Project Manager and Computer
071266 -     technician at PG&E.  The latter thought his job was great because
071267 -     he could talk with a lot of different people and solve problems.
071268 -     The Computer Technician was anxious to get out of his job because
071269 -     it posed constant problems.  Hurrying to fix one problem so he
071270 -     could go home, led to another problem and then another, and his
071271 -     customers were unhappy because their computer was not ready.  He
071272 -     asked how to become a project manager because the PG&E Project
071273 -     Manager said problems are fixed by talking.  He did not grasp that
071274 -     "communication," absent a system of metrics, that are inherent in
071275 -     computer work (e.g., "debugging" see "POIMS, Art of Automated
071276 -     Management for 21st Century, ref OF 1 line 402), simply grows more
071277 -     problems, ref SDS 2 line 181, per Aristotle's original observation
071278 -     about the compounding effect of the least deviation in the
071279 -     beginning that goes undetected, cited in the NWO ... paper, ref OF
071280 -     3 line 36.
071281 -
071282 -     My sense is that Max is anxious to get on with the writing of this
071283 -     thing.  But we need to consider an approach that will draw the
071284 -     reader into something with which they can initially identify and
071285 -     then build an intellectual bridge to the New World Order.
071286 -
071287 -     So, de we begin with a review of communication leading to modern
071288 -     practices, then explain the exegiencies of a new reality that
071289 -     require greater attention to details, and this leads to a notion
071290 -     of knowledge space, to Communication Metrics and then to
071291 -     technology to manage it?
071292 -
071293 -     Maybe this is moot.  Why not just write what we think, and let
071294 -     history decide what becomes of it, rather than plan for commercial
071295 -     considerations.  I did that in POIMS..., New World Order... and
071296 -     "Turning Straw into Gold."  There has been a deafening silence
071297 -     even among the "community of thinkers."  The writing helped me,
071298 -     but no one else.  How can we help others see the light?
071299 -
071300 -
071301 -
071302 - Book Requires Teamwork and Publishing Commitment
071303 -
071304 - I posed the idea that we need an experienced editor to help plan the
071305 - material for the reasons at ref b. which is my letter on 970904
071306 - stating, "We need a strong team to plan the scope and correlation of
071307 - the books, and to support publication, publicity and especially
071308 - editing. Planning is needed to decide on the audience and therefore
071309 - the orientation of the material, ref DIP 13 line 63.
071310 -
071311 -     Max seems to reject the idea of using an editor, with the
071312 -     characterization...
071313 -
071314 -         In other words somebody to do the hard work (and who probably
071315 -         doesn't understand anyway?)  I think not.
071316 -
071317 -     This is actually good news to me in a way.  I did not have a good
071318 -     experience on "understanding" with the editor on the NWO... piece,
071319 -     ref SDS 10 line 298.  Since I have not done a book, and Max has, I
071320 -     will not press the point, other than to note that many authors
071321 -     cite the valuable support they receive from an editor.
071322 -
071323 -     Maybe rather than an "editor" I am just thinking of a team who can
071324 -     offer ideas and timely peer review.  I would like to use ideas
071325 -     formulated in POIMS...; NWO...; Executive Mindset Obstacles to
071326 -     Leadership; and so on.  Seems like a professional writer may be
071327 -     able to help organize the material.
071328 -
071329 -     Max has begun with some chapter headings, so he might be willing
071330 -     to contribute in this way, and possibly there are others who would
071331 -     like to help, so that one person is not overburdened. I need
071332 -     people to read the baseline of material we have, including examine
071333 -     the research subject index for Communication, and comment on how
071334 -     they see it fitting into a book on Project Communication.  This
071335 -     requires willingness to engage the ideas without becoming too
071336 -     emotionally wrought if the final outcome is different from their
071337 -     preference. The little bit of working together Max and I are doing
071338 -     reflects this process.
071339 -
071340 -     A predicate is to determine the publishing process.  If we write
071341 -     something how can we get it published?
071342 -
071343 -     If we can get a team and publishing established, then we can make
071344 -     this a project and proceed.
071345 -
071346 -
071347 -
071348 - Seminar Supports Research if Planned and Reported, Not Essential
071349 -
071350 - Max says "God forbid another special event when there is too much to
071351 - document already and people just get up and pontificate at length on
071352 - how wonderful they are."
071353 -
071354 -     I agree that, like business meetings, seminars for most people are
071355 -     mostly wasted time, ref SDS 10 line 117. Evidence shows that using
071356 -     Communication Metrics improves these processes, ref SDS 4 line 76,
071357 -     by yielding a lot of wonderful connections and a resource for
071358 -     analysis and knowledge growth that can be used over and over
071359 -     again, within the meaning of investing intellectual capital that
071360 -     applies the power of conservation set out in the POIMS paper, ref
071361 -     OF 1 line 307.  My aim is pin people down (speakers, experts) on
071362 -     what they are actually doing in relation to practices called for
071363 -     in books, standards and in their presentations.  So, I view a
071364 -     professional event as an evidence gathering effort of failed
071365 -     practices that shows the need for a new direction to meet the
071366 -     demands of a new environment.
071367 -
071368 -     Max has not seen my notes of professional events. If I send him a
071369 -     sample he might recognize that even though others do not draw much
071370 -     from professional events beyond meeting new people and visiting
071371 -     old friends, such events can be a significant source of insight,
071372 -     even beyond what the speakers think they are conveying.  We can
071373 -     prepare an agenda that guides presentations, we can prepare papers
071374 -     than produce useful, coordinated content, and we can ask questions
071375 -     and then align formal comments with the record.  This is extremely
071376 -     illuminating.  We can then present it in the book to show that
071377 -     adding "metrics" to communication is leads to enlightenment.
071378 -
071379 -     On the other hand, Max may not have enough time to review the
071380 -     record and so would draw a different conclusion.
071381 -
071382 -     So, while I do not press the idea with great resolve, if we did it
071383 -     and I planned it, a seminar on project communication could be the
071384 -     center piece of a book, or at least provide useful input.  On the
071385 -     other hand, we can use the results from Asilomar last year to make
071386 -     the same point.
071387 -
071388 -
071389 -
071390 - Chapters for Book on Project Communication
071391 -
071392 - Max offers following initial structure:
071393 -
071394 -     Communication Management -
071395 -         Listening, directing, reporting, messaging, personal
071396 -     intercommunication, conducting meetings, fellowship, public
071397 -     relations, disclosure, and accord.
071398 -
071399 -     Information Management -
071400 -         Data collection, distribution, visibility, storage and
071401 -         retrieval
071402 -
071403 - Can this be interpreted as two main sections, divided into chapters,
071404 - thus:
071405 -
071406 -     Communication Management -
071407 -     Information Management -
071408 -
071409 - How does this square with a title "Project Communication?
071410 -
071411 -     Is the idea to explain the generic, then say here are the special
071412 -     and additional needs of projects"?
071413 -
071414 -     Is the thought to identify "communication" as a skill and set of
071415 -     tasks that generate information, e.g., meetings, calls, reports.
071416 -     We then have a second category to manage information generated by
071417 -     "communication."
071418 -
071419 -     Are we saying that project communication entails communication
071420 -     management and information management, but communication does not
071421 -     entail information management.
071422 -
071423 -     Another question that comes up here is that Information Management
071424 -     is quite a huge category, just from Max's recent project that
071425 -     yielded up IMS.  Does he have in mind addressing this matter? It
071426 -     would be an interesting challenge.
071427 -
071428 -     I may be painting myself into the proverbial "corner."  I came up
071429 -     with "Communication Metrics" to orient people on using SDS.  It
071430 -     has grown into a "management science" that integrates time,
071431 -     information, organization, analysis and now intelligence, because
071432 -     that is how the mind works.  How do we synthesize this with a
071433 -     bifurcated world of communication and information management?
071434 -
071435 -     What we could do is explain historical separation of work
071436 -     practices, and then present a vision of integration required to
071437 -     meeting future realities.  I though I did this in the POIMS paper.
071438 -
071439 -
071440 - The detail in these sections appears to be, as shown below.  I set out
071441 - some observations to begin thinking about the subjects.  Max may have
071442 - a source, or several sources, on "Listening, messaging, Personal
071443 - intercommunication, fellowship, accord, etc..
071444 -
071445 - A thought that occurs to me is to define an innate communication
071446 - process and then show its application to higher levels of overt
071447 - communication cited by Max.
071448 -
071449 -
071450 -     Communication Management -
071451 -
071452 -         Listening
071453 -
071454 -             What about "dialog" since it entails talking and
071455 -             listening.  One of the challenges of "listening" is
071456 -             leading.  People who lead meetings feel they can remember
071457 -             what others say, but cannot remember what they say, ref
071458 -             SDS 3 line 381.
071459 -
071460 -         Directing  (how different from "leading" and "managing")
071461 -
071462 -             Are we integrating here?
071463 -
071464 -         Reporting
071465 -
071466 -             Is this the monthly cost/schedule report, the annual
071467 -             report to stockholders?   Is it a submittal log, list of
071468 -             RFIs?
071469 -
071470 -             Is it "reporting" within the meaning of POIMS technology
071471 -             that combines "listening" and thinking...
071472 -
071473 -                "Reporting" invests intellectual capital as the
071474 -                knowledge and ideas from discussions, meetings,
071475 -                calls, documents and observations. For the most
071476 -                part this is only recorded in the human mind as
071477 -                personal experience. Traditionally, only fragments
071478 -                of this experience are reported in notes and
071479 -                memos, because documentation is slow and
071480 -                bureaucratic. Automated management is a practical
071481 -                way increase the investment of intellectual
071482 -                capital.
071483 -
071484 -         Messaging
071485 -
071486 -             What is this?  How is it different from meetings,
071487 -             discussion, calls, correspondence and email?)
071488 -
071489 -         Personal intercommunication
071490 -
071491 -             What is this?  Analysis, thinking, can we apply "thinking
071492 -             through writing"?
071493 -
071494 -         Meetings (discussion, calls, correspondence, email)
071495 -
071496 -             Objectives  (subjects different from "agendas")
071497 -             Preparation  (research, planning, politics)
071498 -             Limitations
071499 -             Action Items
071500 -             Follow up       (Feedback metrics, notes)
071501 -             Corrections     (More feedback)
071502 -
071503 -         Fellowship
071504 -
071505 -             What is this?
071506 -
071507 -         Public relations
071508 -
071509 -             Why is this part of project communications anymore than
071510 -             say "human relations," "stakeholder management,"
071511 -             "regulatory relations," "claims management," "litigation
071512 -             management."
071513 -
071514 -         Disclosure
071515 -
071516 -             What is this?
071517 -
071518 -         Accord.
071519 -
071520 -             What is this?
071521 -
071522 -         What about...
071523 -
071524 -             Calls
071525 -             Correspondence
071526 -             Memoranda
071527 -             Email
071528 -
071529 -
071530 -     Information Management -
071531 -
071532 -         Data collection,
071533 -         Distribution,
071534 -         Visibility,
071535 -         Storage
071536 -         Retrieval
071537 -
071538 -
071539 - I think what we are after for "information management" is to show the
071540 - following developed from discussions with Dave Vannier at Intel ref
071541 - SDS 17 line 555, and Morris Jones at Chips, ref SDS 11 line 763.
071542 -
071543 -
071544 -     Converting Information into Knowledge, Wisdom and Vision
071545 -     Straw into Gold; Water into Wine -- The Gift of "Time"
071546 -
071547 -     Humans form mental patterns that interpret information, called
071548 -     "paradigms" and schemas.  These constructs evolve over time as
071549 -     people build their "story" of life.  In the larger community
071550 -     information accumulated over time and connected up into knowledge
071551 -     is called "history" (initially men wrote the story).  Leaders use
071552 -     history to make judgements about future direction called "vision,"
071553 -     under the rule "past is prologue."
071554 -
071555 -     At the personal level, each of us are capturing our own "story" to
071556 -     interpret information every day all day long.
071557 -
071558 -     Psychologists and cognitive scientists call this a process of
071559 -     "consciousness," or alternatively the process by which the human
071560 -     mind "turns water into wine."
071561 -
071562 -     But, people cannot remember details, so we invented stories to
071563 -     help and later added rhyme to create poetry, then melody to create
071564 -     songs.  Since it takes a long time and a lot of inspiration to
071565 -     write poetry and songs, ways were invented to save stories, called
071566 -     "storage," first on cave walls, then stone tablets, then animal
071567 -     skins, parchment, paper, notebooks and now computer media.  But
071568 -     when information comes too fast there isn't enough time to capture
071569 -     our stories into safe storage nor to organize them in a way that
071570 -     we can quickly check new information against what is stored in
071571 -     filing cabinets, notebooks, and computer disks.
071572 -
071573 -     Thus, information harms understanding unless it is tested, aligned
071574 -     and connected up correctly to what is already known.  The "wine
071575 -     turns sour" as the mind's automatic pilot fills in missing details
071576 -     incorrectly by commingling understandings from unrelated events in
071577 -     order to react quickly when time is short on the Information
071578 -     Highway.
071579 -
071580 -     So often "common sense" forms a vision that leads us down the
071581 -     wrong path.  Since error occurs in the beginning, disconnected in
071582 -     time from the result, we dismiss the calamity as "Murphy's Law,"
071583 -     ill will or failure of others to work hard enough.
071584 -
071585 -     A structure of consciousness can represented as:
071586 -
071587 -
071588 -              +----  Vision   (seeing the future by knowing the past)
071589 - Communication|      History  (specialists write and form judgements)
071590 - Metrics      |      Wisdom  (i.e., "uncommon sense")
071591 - does this ---+      Common Sense
071592 -              |      Knowledge
071593 -              +----  Information   -----+
071594 -                +--  Data               +- IT is struggling to bridge
071595 -  Computers do  |    Words/Numbers -----+  this gap
071596 -   this stuff --+    Bytes
071597 -                |    Bits
071598 -                +--  0,1  (on off, yes no, right wrong, life death)
071599 -
071600 -
071601 -     Computers can quickly assess whether a gate is open or shut and
071602 -     report this as 0 or 1, reflecting innate dichotomies of existence:
071603 -
071604 -         on off, right wrong, left right, top bottom, up down, over
071605 -         under, life death.
071606 -
071607 -     From this simple clarity, computers create bits, bytes,
071608 -     words/numbers. This "on/off" dichotomy forms the foundation for
071609 -     computer wizardry in producing lots of "data."  However, it is
071610 -     only useful to leadership after it has been "processed" into
071611 -     higher forms. Today, technology is struggling to convert "data"
071612 -     into "information." Leaders don't use information.  They need
071613 -     knowledge, common sense, wisdom, history and vision.  Talk is like
071614 -     data.  It is only useful after it has been tested and connected
071615 -     into knowledge, wisdom and vision.
071616 -
071617 -
071618 -
071619 -
0717 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"