CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Getting Things Done; Managing Tasks
Lists Should be Outlines

0504 -
0504 -    ..
0505 - Summary/Objective
0506 -
050601 - Follow up ref SDS 12 0000. ref SDS 9 0000.
050602 -
050603 -
050604 -
050606 -  ..
0507 -
0508 -
0509 - Basics of the 7 Habits
0510 -
051001 - Quadrants
051002 -
051003 -                     Urgent              Not Urgent
051004 -
051005 -                                   |
051006 -       Important       1           |         2
051007 -                                   |
051008 -                 ------------------+--------------------
051009 -                                   |
051010 -   Not Important       3           |         4
051011 -                                   |
051012 -
051013 -
051015 -  ..
051016 - Quadrant 1 - Urgent and Important
051017 -
051018 - Much of our time is spent here, and that is not all bad. These
051019 - activities *are* important. People in areas such as customer service
051020 - or emergency rooms have jobs that are largely Quadrant 1.
051021 -
051022 -
051024 -  ..
051025 - Quadrant 3 - Urgent and Not Important
051026 -
051027 - These seem important because they are urgent. Generally these
051028 - activities are urgent (and possibly important) to somebody else, but
051029 - are not important to us. The urgency may make them seem important.
051030 -
051031 - There is an addictive quality to urgency, and for those who get a
051032 - rush from urgency, the ability or desire to distinguish between
051033 - Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 3 diminishes.
051034 -
051035 -
051037 -  ..
051038 - Quadrant 4 - Not Urgent and Not Important
051039 -
051040 - This quadrant is a complete waste of time and energy. These include
051041 - most of the mindless pastimes.
051042 -
051043 -
051045 -  ..
051046 - Quadrant 2 - Not Urgent and Important
051047 -
051048 - All the other quadrants act on us -- we act on this quadrant. Covey
051049 - recommends that we spend 30% or more of our time in Quadrant 2, and
051050 - for top executives, this should represent 60 - 85% of their time.
051051 -
051052 -
051054 -  ..
051055 - Principle Centered Living
051056 -
051057 - Covey points out that ends are implicit in the means. An action can
051058 - have only the consequences that natural law provides, so we cannot
051059 - pick both our actions and their consequences. If we wish to be
051060 - effective, we must ground our values and actions in the principles of
051061 - natural law.
051063 -  ..
051064 - Covey maintains that all of his principles are self-evident and
051065 - require no further proof, since they are universally accepted. It
051066 - certainly seems that if they were all that self-evident, he wouldn't
051067 - have to work so hard at teaching them.
051068 -
051069 -
051071 -  ..
051072 - Values based on principles
051073 -
051074 - Values need to be chosen based on principles, otherwise they are not
051075 - truly effective. Effectiveness has some strict definitions for Covey.
051076 -
051077 - Covey reports seeing a group snatch a woman's purse in New York city.
051078 - They snatched the purse, passed it from one to another, and vanished
051079 - into the crowd within seconds.
051080 -
051081 -    He point out that this was a marvelous exhibition of shared
051082 -    values. They were committed, there was teamwork, there was a code
051083 -    of not ratting out one's friends, and likely for the division of
051084 -    the spoils. A really admirable set of values, except that they
051085 -    were not rooted in principles that value people and property.
051086 -
051087 -
051089 -  ..
051090 - Human Endowments
051091 -
051092 - There are 4 unique human endowments. They are uniquely human - animals
051093 - do not have any trace of them.
051094 -
051095 -      1.  Self awareness - the ability to think about our thoughts, to
051096 -          be aware of our actions, and to modify our behavior by
051097 -          choice.
051099 -           ..
051100 -      2.  Conscience - Covey claims that this is universal and the
051101 -          same for everyone. This remains to be proven, as there
051102 -          certainly seem to be a lot of different opinions and actions
051103 -          expressed in the world. Covey believes that all the world's
051104 -          religions and all the wisdom literature of the ages teach
051105 -          the same moral lessons. Again, if so, why are the most
051106 -          bitter and long lasting battles over exactly the difference
051107 -          in these moral lessons.
051109 -           ..
051110 -      3.  Power of Imagination - the ability to visualize things we
051111 -          have never experienced, to be able to see what has never
051112 -          been, and to think about outcomes.
051113 -
051115 -           ..
051116 -      4.  Willpower or independent will - the ability to exercise our
051117 -          own determination.
051119 -  ..
051120 - The major point of these endowments is that they all exist and are
051121 - exercised in the space between stimulus and response. Here Covey is
051122 - precisely correct. It is the ability to interrupt the cycle of
051123 - stimulus and response with reason that is a major characteristic of
051124 - being human. People who cannot do this are little more than animals.
051125 -
051126 -
051128 -  ..
051129 - Basic Human needs
051130 -
051131 - Covey sees 4 basic human needs, which he codes as:
051132 -
051133 -      1.  To Live - this includes all the elements of physical
051134 -          survival, including economic survival.
051136 -           ..
051137 -      2.  To Love - this includes all human relationships, the need to
051138 -          love, the need to be loved, and the need to belong.
051140 -           ..
051141 -      3.  To Learn - this includes learning about living, becoming
051142 -          competent, understanding the universe.
051144 -           ..
051145 -      4.  To Leave a Legacy - to have our lives mean something, to
051146 -          make a difference in the world.
051148 -  ..
051149 - This appears to be a very good summation of human desires.
051150 -
051151 -
051153 -  ..
051154 - What people want in their lives
051155 -
051156 - Covey and Hyram Smith (founder of Franklin) say that what people want
051157 - in their lives is inner peace, which is made up of
051158 -
051159 -      1.  Balance - to devote time and energy to all the things that
051160 -          matter to them in life.
051162 -           ..
051163 -      2.  Simplicity - removing all the undesirable and unnecessary
051164 -          complications from their lives.
051166 -           ..
051167 -      3.  To be successful - to continue to achieve their objectives.
051168 -          This includes being happy.
051170 -           ..
051171 -      4.  To be effective - to be able to accomplish what they
051172 -          attempt.
051173 -
051174 -
051176 -  ..
051177 - The 7 Habits
051178 -
051179 - All of the 7 Habits are in Quadrant 2. They must be developed in
051180 - sequence, and at ever higher levels. This is an upward spiral.
051181 -
051182 - Private habits lead to independence
051183 -
051184 -      1.  Be proactive - take responsibility for all that you can
051185 -          control. Don't simply react.
051187 -           ..
051188 -      2.  Begin with the end in mind - personal vision sets goals and
051189 -          objectives
051191 -           ..
051192 -      3.  Put First Things First - focus on what matters most. The
051193 -          main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
051195 -  ..
051196 - Public habits lead to true interdependence
051197 -
051198 -      4.  Think Win-Win - look for solutions and relationships that
051199 -          maximize benefit to all concerned.
051200 -
051201 -      5.  Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood - practice
051202 -          perception and empathic listening. Understand what is really
051203 -          meant, not just what is said.
051205 -           ..
051206 -      6.  Synergize - synergistic relationships are more than the sum
051207 -          of their parts - they exceed what any of the parties could
051208 -          do alone or by merely cooperating. Covey characterizes such
051209 -          relationships as capitalizing on everyone's strengths and
051210 -          making their weaknesses irrelevant.
051212 -  ..
051213 - Habit 7 strengthens all the others.
051214 -
051215 -      7.  Sharpen the Saw - develop your abilities. Involve yourself
051216 -          in self-renewal and self-improvement.
051217 -
051218 -
051220 -  ..
051221 - Trustworthiness
051222 -
051223 - Trustworthiness is the intersection of character and competence. Both
051224 - are needed - a dishonest but competent person cannot be trusted to
051225 - offer what you need rather than what he can sell you, and an honest
051226 - but competent person is not qualified to do the job.
051227 -
051229 -  ..
0513 -
0514 -
0515 - Review of Rod's Analysis
0516 -
051601 - Rod's record on Covey 921205, ref SDS 1 0001.
051602 -
051603 - Covey doesn't offer practical ways to implement sound management
051604 - practices, ref SDS 1 0969. Perhaps not in "Living the 7 Habits", but
051605 - he certainly does in "First Things First".
051606 -
051607 -    1.  Determine your values and the principles on which they are
051608 -        based. Develop these into a Mission Statement that can be used
051609 -        to guide your decisions.
051611 -         ..
051612 -    2.  Establish goals based on your values. Plan the steps
051613 -        necessary to achieve those goals and assign a target date to
051614 -        each step.
051616 -         ..
051617 -    3.  Determine the major roles that are active in your life.
051619 -         ..
051620 -    4.  Plan the week as the smallest interval of time that allows for
051621 -        achieving balance. Review your Mission Statement and your
051622 -        goals before you begin.
051624 -         ..
051625 -    5.  Take into account items that are already scheduled from
051626 -        earlier.
051628 -         ..
051629 -    6.  For each role, decide what is the most important thing that
051630 -        you can accomplish this week in that role and place it in the
051631 -        schedule.
051633 -         ..
051634 -    7.  Assign priorities. These are the major importances, A, B, and
051635 -        C.
051637 -         ..
051638 -    8.  Each day, assign priority within the categories. The result is
051639 -        a full analysis of the relative importances of everything you
051640 -        want to do today. Pick a reasonable sized list.
051642 -         ..
051643 -    9.  Work on the tasks. Complete them, delegate them, forward them
051644 -        to another day. By the end of the day, every task should have
051645 -        been dealt with in some way.
051647 -         ..
051648 -   10.  Handle interruptions by evaluating where they fit in the
051649 -        priorities. If you have to interrupt a task, mark it as In
051650 -        Process so that you have an immediate cue as to what you were
051651 -        doing prior to the interruption.
051653 -         ..
051654 -   11.  Handle each incoming item only once to decide what to do with
051655 -        it and allow the system to keep you from losing it.
051657 -  ..
051658 - There are specifics for using the Franklin / Covey planning system,
051659 - but this is the essence.
051661 -  ..
051662 - David Allen goes beyond this with a workflow process to decide exactly
051663 - how to deal with each incoming item. Allen adds the notion of Context
051664 - as where you need to be to accomplish the work, and the idea of the
051665 - Next Action on any project (a multi-step task). What Covey calls
051666 - Goals, Allen calls Projects. Allen says that prioritizing in advance
051667 - doesn't survive the first interruption and that once all the tasks
051668 - that can be done where you are are in front of you, picking the most
051669 - important task is trivial. Covey would claim that it isn't the result
051670 - of the prioritizing that is important, but that the act of
051671 - prioritizing that requires you to consider the importance of every
051672 - task in terms of your Mission Statement, your goals, and your values
051673 - is vital.
051675 -  ..
051676 - Covey and others claim that it is necessary to assign target dates to
051677 - all goals in order to accomplish them. Allen wouldn't be in violent
051678 - disagreement, but he believes that so long as you always know the
051679 - next action for any project and review them weekly, you won't lose
051680 - sight of what you need to be doing.
051682 -  ..
051683 - I dislike the idea of assigning dates to all the steps of a goal as
051684 - well. I think it tends to gather a whole lot of things that you can't
051685 - get to, and leads to discouragement.
051686 -
051688 -  ..
051689 - Covey says that understanding involves empathic listening to
051690 - understand both meaning and intent, ref SDS 1 2231. Here Covey is
051691 - overly optimistic. There are many skills beyond empathic listening
051692 - that are necessary for proper communication and understanding to
051693 - occur. Rod comments, correctly, that the call to listen with the eyes
051694 - and "heart" is very appealing because it promises "understanding" on
051695 - the cheap, ref SDS 1 1558. Rod claims, incorrectly, that people do
051696 - all of the things Mr. Covey recommends, when time permits,
051697 - automatically. That is how the biology of the human mind works,
051698 - ref SDS 1 JP68. Without arguing over whether this is really true,
051699 - suffice it to say, that doing these things unconsciously is of very
051700 - little use. Believing that you understand something other than what
051701 - was said with no idea as to how you know leads to the certainty of
051702 - false knowledge. As with so much of what SDS is trying to get us to do
051703 - consciously and deliberately rather than strictly automatically and
051704 - unconsciously, listening and developing a true understanding is too
051705 - important to leave to the haphazard, undirected, unevaluated processes
051706 - of human biology. Rod acknowledges this, ref SDS 1 4974. Rod is
051707 - correct in saying that Linking and Aligning Builds "Understanding",
051708 - ref SDS 1 1632, if people are willing to make the effort to
051709 - understand the context provided by the linked and aligned record.
051711 -  ..
051712 - Understanding is based on a triangle of elements. These elements are
051713 - connected - raising one tends to raise the others, lowering one tends
051714 - to lower the others.
051715 -
051716 -    Affinity - We must feel some degree of closeness. This is the
051717 -    empathic aspect that Covey cites.
051719 -     ..
051720 -    Reality - We must have some grasp of the points of view involved.
051721 -    This is indeed part of Seeking to Understand.
051723 -     ..
051724 -    Communication - This involves understanding what was said and what
051725 -    was meant by what was said. There is an entire technology involved
051726 -    in doing this which Covey simply doesn't address.
051728 -  ..
051729 - Rod notes that SDS holds that improving innate capacity to think,
051730 - remember and communicate, improves interpersonal skills Mr.  Covey
051731 - advocates for better management, ref SDS 1 0Y6M. This is certainly
051732 - true to a great extent. Covey refers to increasing these abilities
051733 - and others as "Sharpening the Saw".
051734 -
051735 -
051737 -  ..
051738 - Covey recommends a Journal
051739 -
051740 - Covey does recommend a Journal, but is only distantly related to a
051741 - Diary as Rod suggests, ref SDS 1 0R31. For Covey, a Journal is a tool
051742 - of introspection. He does understand some aspects of understanding
051743 - through writing, but mostly he recommends a Journal for Sharpening the
051744 - Saw, ref SDS 1 1121.
051746 -        ..
051747 -    •  Thinking clearly about principles and values. Without writing,
051748 -       these are generally ill-defined and poorly thought out.
051750 -        ..
051751 -    •  Capturing things that worked well and things that didn't so
051752 -       that it is possible to recognize patterns upon review.
051754 -        ..
051755 -    •  To reflect your changing ideas and ways of thinking as a way of
051756 -       noting personal progress.
051758 -  ..
051759 - While all these are important, they are not involved in any attempt
051760 - to align current decisions with earlier facts in the record or to
051761 - keep any sort of complete record of events. Rod takes off from here
051762 - on the SDS approach, but it is not what Covey means by keeping a
051763 - Journal.
051764 -
051765 -
051767 -  ..
051768 - Focus on relationships
051769 -
051770 - Rod notes Covey's idea that traditional "time" management can be
051771 - improved by changing the focus to preserving and enhancing
051772 - relationships and on accomplishing results. (150:20), ref SDS 1 0RUP.
051773 -
051774 - Covey's focus in the 7 Habits is indeed on relationships, shared
051775 - values, and synergy. He considers these more important than the
051776 - strictly task oriented view of earlier management systems.
051778 -  ..
051779 - All of the 7 Habits operate in Quadrant 2 and deal with developing
051780 - true principle-centered independence and interdependence. He
051781 - believes, correctly, that establishing trust relationships and
051782 - building competence in those who work for an with you is the only
051783 - true path to increasing the true effectiveness of an organization.
051785 -  ..
051786 - I think that he may well be right, but it is far form the automatic
051787 - process that Covey seems to think it is. He believes that a single
051788 - shining example can infect the entire organization in a positive way,
051789 - and that is directly contrary to my experience and that of many
051790 - others.
051791 -
051792 -
051794 -  ..
051795 - Principles and World View
051796 -
051797 - Rod notes Covey's ideas that understanding human nature greatly aids
051798 - in dealing with others effectively, ref SDS 1 RL4I. This is all part
051799 - of Covey's belief that understanding the principles or natural laws
051800 - of the universe provides the only sound basis for developing values,
051801 - goals, and missions.
051803 -  ..
051804 - Covey may tie this to religion in the 7 Habits, but he tries much
051805 - harder to be general in "Living the 7 Habits". As a Mormon, his
051806 - orientation is clearly religious, and he does have a rather naive
051807 - idea of how some of these things can bring about a utopia, but by and
051808 - large, he has done a fair job of dealing with only concepts that can
051809 - be validated by direct experience rather than having to rely on some
051810 - spiritual teaching for their authority.
051812 -  ..
051813 - Rod correctly applies this concept to the need to understand the
051814 - specific principles involved in contracts, requirements, and
051815 - organizational issues in order to make effective decisions about
051816 - current actions, ref SDS 1 IS4T.
051817 -
051818 -
051820 -  ..
051821 - The nature of leadership
051822 -
051823 - Rod addresses leadership and identifies the need for timely
051824 - intelligence, ref SDS 1 5940. Covey is less concerned with a leader's
051825 - understanding of the intimate details of daily issues than he is with
051826 - issues of character, vision, addressing the issues in Quadrant 2
051827 - before they become urgent, for setting the tone of the organization
051828 - and for developing the culture along principle centered lines.
051830 -  ..
051831 - Covey takes the view that most of the daily operations will be
051832 - handled properly by others if the organization has developed the
051833 - trustworthiness (character and competence) of its people and provided
051834 - the shared vision of principles and values. This is what Covey means
051835 - by real leadership.
051837 -  ..
051838 - Clearly there must be some element of effectiveness and competence in
051839 - a leader if he is to be trustworthy, and that does require a degree
051840 - of timely intelligence about the activities that he must manage
051841 - directly or be intimately involved with.
051843 -  ..
051844 - Covey's approach is far removed from the typical "just get them to
051845 - say yes" approach of the shallow manager. Covey wants everyone to
051846 - understand and share the vision and the principles on which the
051847 - organization operates and for everyone to be as empowered as he is
051848 - competent. If this is done well, people will indeed often "say yes",
051849 - but it will be from a deep sense of understanding and shared value
051850 - rather than the result of some unthinking response, or "tell them
051851 - what they want to hear" attitude.
051853 -  ..
051854 - Rod comments that selecting the right "path" requires analysis,
051855 - questions, an examination of the record, of costs and benefits,
051856 - ref SDS 1 0S59. While I believe this to be true, Covey tends to be a
051857 - bit more mystical in his belief that if everyone were to follow the 7
051858 - Habits, then truly synergistic relationships based on shared
051859 - principles and values will make the right "path" obvious. Here I
051860 - agree with Rod that the devil is in the details. All of the work that
051861 - Covey wants to precede such decisions is valuable, and Covey does
051862 - recognize the need for competence in relationship to the work that
051863 - needs doing, but that competence is hardly addressed. SDS is heavily
051864 - about competence empowered by accurate and timely intelligence.
051866 -  ..
051867 - By adding some features and using the existing features of SDS
051868 - cleverly, the mechanics of adding these methods can be supported as
051869 - suggested on 031101, ref SDS 12 0001.
051871 -  ..
051872 - Rod notes correctly that those who generally attain leadership roles
051873 - in most organizations are far from the ideal that Covey expresses,
051874 - ref SDS 1 JNVP. Most deal with the trappings of leadership, with
051875 - getting agreement or at least acquiescence, and projecting the image
051876 - necessary to get others to follow than with exhibiting the traits
051877 - that Covey associates with true leaders.
051879 -  ..
051880 - Covey notes correctly that the need for true leaders is great and
051881 - growing, but his belief that it can be accomplished in existing
051882 - organizations by people working from the middle until some
051883 - spontaneous magic occurs flies in the face of everything I have
051884 - experienced. I see precious few examples to support his point of
051885 - view.
051887 -  ..
051888 - I do agree that we are likely to be in dire straits unless changes
051889 - similar to those that Covey suggests, and those that we are trying to
051890 - introduce as part of the practice of using SDS can be widely adopted
051891 - by those who have the power to bring about change.
051892 -
051893 -
051895 -  ..
051896 - Computers Have Failed Managers
051897 -
051898 - Rod notes that computers do not support management activities,
051899 - ref SDS 1 5883, and he is correct on all counts. We have been over
051900 - this endlessly. Essentially, software developers have no concept of
051901 - augmenting human intelligence. Some applications help greatly in some
051902 - areas, but augmenting intelligence isn't among them.
051904 -  ..
051905 - A cynic would say that attempting to augment intelligence is
051906 - extremely difficult because there is so little intelligence around to
051907 - study. Cynical, but not far from the mark.
051909 -  ..
051910 - By the time Rod begins talking about linking, ref SDS 1 8955, he is
051911 - talking about SDS and has left any relationship to Covey behind.
051913 -  ..
051914 - The observations are correct, that linking is required to capture
051915 - essential contexts, relationships, and associations, but Covey
051916 - doesn't deal with any of these issues beyond the superficial. The
051917 - only such relationships that Covey addresses have to do with linking
051918 - activities to values and missions. In the use of the planning system,
051919 - there is a limited amount of "linking" to allow entering notes on
051920 - today's page and being able to get back to them from such things as
051921 - the meeting that the notes are about.
051922 -
051923 -
051925 -  ..
051926 - The nature of habits
051927 -
051928 - Rod begins to discuss the nature of habits, ref SDS 1 4803.
051930 -  ..
051931 - Rod notes, correctly, that most people form habits largely through the
051932 - accident of experience rather than by design, and therefore find
051933 - changing habits to be very difficult. Habits are very powerful whether
051934 - they are working for you or against you. Covey talks about the 7
051935 - Habits for a reason. He wants the practices to become habitual, to
051936 - become a part of who we are, not just a part of our lives.
051938 -  ..
051939 - The 7 Habits are cultivated and developed by intent, by design, not by
051940 - accident. They are based on reason, principle, and understanding, and
051941 - therefore work for us, where many "accidental" habits are destructive
051942 - and work against us.
051944 -  ..
051945 - Rod notes that a few people have developed good habits that help them,
051946 - ref SDS 1 0T94. Several of the self-improvement courses note that the
051947 - real differences in achievement from one person to another can often
051948 - be traced directly to the quality of their habits - hence, "The 7
051949 - Habits of Highly Effective People" is a superb title and an excellent
051950 - concept, whether we agree with the habits chosen or that they really
051951 - are the ones exhibited by truly effective people. Note that Covey
051952 - defines "effective" in such a way that only those who practice the 7
051953 - Habits either deliberately or intuitively can qualify as
051954 - "effective". In a sense, this is cheating, but understandable.
051956 -  ..
051957 - Rod notes that unless practices are formed into habits, they get
051958 - dropped in favor of more familiar practices, ref SDS 1 4516. Effort
051959 - is required to turn a practice into a habit. Conventional wisdom is
051960 - that is takes at least 21 days of constant repetition to create a new
051961 - habit. My experience suggests that this is not automatic, and that it
051962 - requires an understanding of the benefits of having the new habit
051963 - both positive (what it does for me) and negative (how it keeps things
051964 - from being worse) in addition to the 21 days of repetition. It is
051965 - also of immense help to have the support of the people around you in
051966 - the formation of new habits. If the culture doesn't reward the new
051967 - habit in some way, it can rapidly come to appear pointless.
051968 -
051969 -    This is why Covey talks about establishing values, visions, and
051970 -    goals (2. Begin with the End in Mind) and then to apply
051971 -    independent will regardless of circumstances to follow those
051972 -    visions (3. Put First Things First). Thus understanding and will
051973 -    are essential ingredients in the development of new positive
051974 -    habits.
051976 -  ..
051977 - Rod addresses additional good management practices not addressed by
051978 - Covey, ref SDS 1 6013. Some of these are dealt with in other Franklin
051979 - / Covey programs.
051981 -  ..
051982 - Rod makes the statement that POIMS ... lifts human potential to a new
051983 - level without the burden of forming new habits, ref SDS 1 5553.  This
051984 - is, not to put too fine a point on it, totally false. Even with a
051985 - 3-tiered structure so that managers do not have to learn to use SDS
051986 - directly, POIMS and SDS require numerous habits of good management.
051987 - The ideas of running meetings in accord with assigned action items and
051988 - previous actions and agreements is a habit that most are not willing
051989 - to cultivate. Much of the resistance to SDS is resistance to forming
051990 - the habits of good management in the first place. Rod contends that
051991 - people really want to do better and that it is because it takes too
051992 - much effort that they do not. This is an attractive theory, but
051993 - doesn't stand up under scrutiny.
051994 -
051995 -    Following a brilliant piano recital a woman gushed to the pianist,
051996 -    "I would give anything to be able to play like you do," to which
051997 -    the pianist replied, "That isn't true. You are not willing to
051998 -    invest the years of time and the endless hours of practice that
051999 -    are what is required to play the way I do."
052001 -  ..
052002 - People do want to do better so long as it doesn't mean doing
052003 - different. Rarely are they willing to make the investment, to pay the
052004 - real price, as Covey points out, to earn the right to have what they
052005 - claim they want. To want without action is a wish.
052007 -  ..
052008 - People are unwilling to embrace POIMS and SDS because they are
052009 - unwilling to make the investment of time, effort, energy, and
052010 - understanding required to change they way they manage their affairs.
052011 - this is not laziness so much as a failure to understand that the
052012 - desired result can be achieved and is worth the investment.
052013 -
052014 -    The purpose of a system is what it does - Stafford Beer
052016 -  ..
052017 - If the goal of good management were truly considered worthwhile and
052018 - worth the investment of effort to obtain it, much of what is needed
052019 - could be accomplished with the tools at hand. With a great deal of
052020 - effort that SDS reduces to practicality, it is true, but more could
052021 - be done than is being done. Also, if proper computer support of good
052022 - management practices were really desired, people like Doug Engelbart,
052023 - Ted Nelson, and Rod Welch wouldn't have to spend their lives trying
052024 - to get people to use the tools that have shown demonstrated
052025 - superiority to those in general use.
052026 -
052027 -
052029 -  ..
052030 - The role of faith
052031 -
052032 - Rod addresses the role of faith, particularly religious faith,
052033 - ref SDS 1 8493, as a shortcut to thinking and will power. The
052034 - constant admonishment of faith to behave in acceptable ways helps
052035 - form positive habits. The lack of understanding of the habits and
052036 - their value can lead to abandoning them when the going gets tough.
052038 -  ..
052039 - Rod notes that the argument that people avoid SDS because they are
052040 - lazy, is really an observation they lack faith in making the
052041 - investment, ref SDS 1 IX39, is certainly correct, but not overly
052042 - helpful. People do some sort of cost / benefit analysis as Rod noted
052043 - on 940628, ref SDS 2 0550. This analysis is seldom reasoned, but
052044 - generally a "gut feel" that this is "more effort than it is worth".
052045 - The analysis is made more difficult because of the difficulty that
052046 - humans have in associating cause and effect over time or space.
052048 -  ..
052049 - Faith helps to bridge that gap by assuring people that there is
052050 - benefit even if they can't see or understand it at the moment.
052052 -  ..
052053 - Reason is a lot harder way to achieve the same effect, but I belief
052054 - that it is more permanent.
052056 -  ..
052057 - Rod notes that business processes promise results in this world and
052058 - therefore people demand "proof", ref SDS 1 IX6Y. I disagree with Rod's
052059 - contention that Covey promises worldly rewards based on religious
052060 - faith, ref SDS 1 6633. At least in the tape sets, Covey goes to
052061 - substantial lengths to indicate that the principles he talks of are a
052062 - part of natural law, of the way the universe operates, and that they
052063 - can be validated directly by individual experience without recourse
052064 - to religious authority. Covey really does contend that working with
052065 - the system is effective for the same reason I do.
052066 -
052067 -    You cannot violate natural law -- when one side cannot lose, there
052068 -    can be no contest.
052069 -
052070 -
052072 -  ..
052073 - A New Paradigm for a New Age
052074 -
052075 - Rod notes that SDS is an enabling technology, ref SDS 1 IY87. SDS is
052076 - an enabling technology.  SDS changes time from being an enemy of
052077 - change, to being an inherent (automated) attribute of using good good
052078 - management practice consistently.
052080 -  ..
052081 - This is true, but the trick now is to get people to understand that
052082 - the benefits are worth the cost. In some areas the problem is that
052083 - without experience, people have no real idea of what is possible.
052084 -
052086 -  ..
052087 - An integrated system
052088 -
052089 - Rod notes that POIMS is the idea of integrating "personal" with
052090 - "organizational" management, to improve both, ref SDS 1 9503.  Covey
052091 - heartily endorses this. In his emphasis on balance, Covey insists that
052092 - all aspects of life have to be examined and given their place.  From
052093 - the perspective of a system, Covey promotes a single system for
052094 - managing life. He uses roles as an organizing aid, but doesn't treat
052095 - them as separate in any way. Covey wants us to see life as a single
052096 - coordinated, principle centered whole.
052098 -  ..
052099 - Rod's efforts toward a fully integrated time and information system,
052100 - ref SDS 1 JR52 are in direct alignment with the management systems
052101 - that Franklin / Covey produces.
052103 -  ..
052104 - Franklin / Covey have simply never conceived of the extent to which
052105 - such integration is possible. Their systems integrate several
052106 - elements, as noted on 031103, ref SDS 12 4K6O. However, what they mean
052107 - by notes and by links are trivial by comparison with what SDS manages.
052108 - For them, notes are small pieces of information needed to carry out a
052109 - task -- directions to the meeting, things to bring to the meeting,
052110 - etc. They rely on the traditional information processing technology
052111 - for documents for managing the work related information. They don't
052112 - even really address how to go about it other than superficially.
052114 -  ..
052115 - Their systems, do, however, do a good job of managing the things that
052116 - they attempt. There are features in their software that SDS could use
052117 - to its benefit as we evolve our capabilities.
052118 -
052119 -
052120 -
052121 -
052122 -