CONTACTS 
0201 - Stanford Const Eng Mngmnt                                                                                                                                          O-00000232 0206
020101 - Mr. Haresh C. Shah; Chairman
020102 - Construction Engineering & Management Program
020103 - Mr. Paul Teicholz; Integrated Facilities Program
020104 - Construction Engineering & Management Program

SUBJECTS
WMA marketing, sales
Developing Leads
Education, institutional courses
Thinking Through Writing
Poetry, Harmony, Creativity
Stanford on POIMS
Educational Institutions

1009 -
1009 -    ..
1010 - Summary/Objective
1011 -
101101 - Follow up ref SDS 8 0000.
101102 -
101103 - Presented POIMS to Stanford Engineering and Management faculty
101104 - to initiate a class on teaching POIMS.
101106 -  ..
101107 - Follows presentation on 880422 at Stanford about Welch v. State.
101108 - ref SDS 1 0001
101110 -  ..
101111 - Explain case history available in SDS that could comprise good
101112 - information for construction and engineering management classes.
101114 -  ..
101115 - Students can learn to assemble the record, then what do they make of
101116 - the facts and ideas pursued by management?
101117 -
101118 -     [See follow up at ref SDS 15 0001 in 1996.]
101120 -  ..
1012 -
1013 - Discussion
1014 -
101401 - Initially explained the principals of SDS record flexibility with
101402 - respect to size and scope.
101403 -
101404 - I explained how SDS deals with specific tasks performed by people,
101405 - i.e. it is the micro scheduling and "doing," essential to IMPLEMENT
101406 - macro scheduling, e.g. CPM.
101408 -  ..
101409 - Haresh feels SDS may deal too much with personal working habits of
101410 - individuals, rather than management concerns.  I explained SDS is a
101411 - utility that greatly extends the power of the following common
101412 - business practices:
101413 -
101414 -        •  Make and maintain a list of things to do
101415 -        •  Plan what needs to be done
101416 -        •  Prioritize personal and group activity
101417 -        •  Coordinate schedules of colleagues and other resources
101418 -        •  Report & research performance, applying "Past is Prologue"
101419 -        •  Prepare & research correspondence
101420 -        •  Linking "control" systems to narrative analysis
101421 -
101423 -  ..
101424 - Integrated control and reporting
101425 -
101426 - Explained how SDS makes it possible for the first time to associate
101427 - cost and schedule reports with narrative analysis that explains the
101428 - basis for reported results.
101429 -
101431 -  ..
101432 - Subject Index
101433 -
101434 - Paul indicated that the Subject Index appears to apply concepts used
101435 - in "Hypertext."  He cited other programs that do some of the things
101436 - SDS does, e.g. Expedition.
101437 -
101439 -  ..
101440 - Power of POEMS Automated by POIMS
101441 -
101442 - Follow up ref SDS 3 0620, ref SDS 2 5003.
101443 -
101444 - SDS extends the concepts of Hypertext and Expedition by using "time"
101445 - and "subject" to form patterns of related knowledge and ideas which
101446 - unlock each other automatically!  Thus, POIMS is more than fanciful
101447 - literation.  Poetry was one of the earliest means to remember and
101448 - convey complicated thoughts, because rhyme and meter comprise patterns
101449 - that unlock each other during recall.  "Smart" people generally
101450 - remember well.  SDS lets everybody remember a lot better, by automat-
101451 - ing the primary criteria of human memory:  time and subject.
101452 -
101453 -     [On 991108 research showed poetry was a memory technology.
101454 -     ref SDS 22 3596]
101455 -
101456 -
101457 -
101458 -
1015 -

SUBJECTS
Analysis Hard Work Deliberative Analysis Not New Paul Teicholz Uses

1503 -
150401 -  ..
150402 - Managers Do Not Have Time for Deliberative Analysis
150403 -
150404 - Paul commented that the phrase "deliberative analysis" in POIMS is not
150405 - particularly inciteful or new. ref OF 5 5418  He calls this process
150406 - "systematic analysis;" and, feels managers do not do enough of it due
150407 - to the frequency and volume of issues they face.
150409 -  ..
150410 - We considered briefly that this excuse begs the question.
150412 -  ..
150413 - If carefull thinking, i.e., deliberative analysis, saves time and
150414 - money, then managers have a duty to invest the time required to save
150415 - time and money.  That is their job.  Moreover, tools should empower
150416 - managers to do more and better analysis in less time.
150417 -
150418 -       [On 931130 Drucker sets out value of analysis central to daily
150419 -       management. ref SDS 10 7911]
150421 -        ..
150422 -       [This became "Communication Metrics", ref SDS 13 1830, and also
150423 -       at ref SDS 11 0000.]
150425 -        ..
150426 -       [On 950911 Tofflers cited critical meta-skill of continual
150427 -       learning essential for future. ref SDS 12 2222
150429 -        ..
150430 -       [On 960620 concurrent discovery and "Knowledge Space" enable
150431 -       deliberative analysis. ref SDS 16 1101
150433 -        ..
150434 -       [On 960708 developed "knowledge space" linked to construction
150435 -       details, per ref SDS 17 8451.]
150437 -        ..
150438 -       [On 970727 used SDS Knowledge Space for responding to Paul's
150439 -       email. ref SDS 18 2150.]
150441 -        ..
150442 -       [On 970818 Max Wideman noted managers do not have enough time
150443 -       for "front end investment" AKA "analysis," ref SDS 19 1897]
150445 -        ..
150446 -       [On 980307 Andy Grove calls for executives to "study" rather
150447 -       than just let things just happen, ref SDS 20 3620, by taking
150448 -       copious notes to increase understanding that avoids ambiguity.
150449 -       ref SDS 20 3101
150451 -        ..
150452 -       [On 980813 notified Paul about Communication Metrics web site
150453 -       that supports analysis. ref SDS 21 0000]
150455 -        ..
150456 -       [On 000307 research found that good management is a lot of hard
150457 -       work that discourages performance using conventional
150458 -       technologies.
150460 -        ..
150461 -       [On 011219 explained SDS for continual learning that improves
150462 -       literacy. ref SDS 23 JJ6J
150464 -        ..
150465 -       [On 040905 article "Analysis Paralysis" explains root cause
150466 -       analysis is a lot of hard work to gather data; proposes root
150467 -       contradition analysis. ref SDS 24 QP9L
150469 -    ..
150470 -   Managers, like most people, believe they know what they "know."
150471 -   People who exercise authority get used to giving instructions and
150472 -   moving on. [See executive mind set at ref SDS 14 9008.  Management
150473 -   "analysis" is generally limited to thinking only within the limits
150474 -   of the mind, rather than writing out the circumstances, options and
150475 -   course of action adopted, because until SDS writing was too
150476 -   ponderous to create and retrieve for dynamic decision making which
150477 -   is the mainstay of most management work. "Analysis aids," like flow
150478 -   diagraming, use different tools (graphics) from those managers use
150479 -   most often: WORDS!
150481 -    ..
150482 -   The best tool for thinking, i.e., analysis, is writing, and SDS
150483 -   improves reading and writing by an order of magnitude by providing
150484 -   an efficient environment for organizing information into a more
150485 -   useful resource commonly called "knowledge." see POIMS, ref OF 5
150486 -   3742,
150488 -    ..
150489 -   But most managers "write" only to tell others about what management
150490 -   "knows" and "intends," i.e. documents convey information.  Such
150491 -   writing is seen as a time consuming chore rather than an opportunity
150492 -   to discover and grow understanding.  Indeed, writing and its
150493 -   derivitives of reading, associating, distributing, storing and
150494 -   retrieving information have been a "chore" the way it has been done
150495 -   for thousands of years.  So, instead of writing, managers "think"
150496 -   impulsively while moving between meetings, or doing an activity
150497 -   (e.g. shower, TV, driving, dinner, discussion).  Writing for the
150498 -   most part is the result of "thinking," rather than its means.
150500 -    ..
150501 -   In SDS, writing is the medium for "thinking."  Once the data entry
150502 -   skill is learned, we need merely focus on the content of our ideas,
150503 -   disassemble them, and put them back together QUICKLY in alternate
150504 -   forms, while VIEWING prior forms that give us clues about still new
150505 -   arrangements.  This facile environment, together with instant ACCESS
150506 -   to STRUCTURED knowledge and ideas (i.e. intellectual capital) from
150507 -   the SDS data base that automates MBO practices, greatly increases
150508 -   our chance of formulating a good idea.
150510 -    ..
150511 -   We write first what was said, then what was ment, what we think
150512 -   about it, and finally what should be done.
150514 -    ..
150515 -   This takes a little time, but reveals nuance and implications that
150516 -   otherwise do not show up until a failure occurs weeks or months
150517 -   later.  Avoiding mistakes by anticipating the future based on the
150518 -   past is the essence of genius, and can be brought from each of us
150519 -   with SDS.  Such is the thory and power of POIMS!
150521 -    ..
150522 -   These benefits can only be derived, though, if data entry is quick,
150523 -   i.e. the concept is of no value unless there is a way to carry it
150524 -   out; ergo, SDS.
150526 -    ..
150527 -   What also is NEW in SDS is the ability to perform this kind of
150528 -   analysis within a planning data base environment, that links
150529 -   information and ideas today, with prior related events and documents
150530 -   that can be accessed instantly to verify facts, and draw on ideas.
150532 -    ..
150533 -   Everyone knows it is a good idea to verify facts and to obtain the
150534 -   latest thinking on current issues.  It can only be done effectively
150535 -   in a management situation with SDS.
150536 -
150538 -    ..
150539 -   Controllable Action Items
150540 -
150541 -   Mere thinking and good ideas are not sufficient for management. SDS
150542 -   permits converting "analysis" into "controllable action items,"
150543 -   instantly.  This is different from simply telling someone to do
150544 -   something, or making a note to do something.  The latter have no
150545 -   context, except in the current state of someone's mind, and so are
150546 -   fragile.  SDS action items are robust because they are linked to
150547 -   all that has happened and been considered before.
150549 -    ..
150550 -   Of course if we can access other people's knowledge and ideas
150551 -   without calling or meeting, as we can with SDS, we have more time
150552 -   for "... analysis" of the kind being done in this record.  This in
150553 -   turn better prepares us to conduct an effective discussion when we
150554 -   do meet or call to confer with colleagues.
150556 -    ..
150557 -   All of the above, is summarized by the concept of
150558 -   "deliberative analysis."
150559 -
150561 -  ..
150562 - Paul asked about the underlying principles behind SDS.
150564 -    ..
150565 -   Paul feels the "exam" prepared for GGU meets
150566 -   this requirement.
150567 -
150569 -  ..
150570 - Lecture to larger group
150571 -
150572 -   Haresh and Paul asked me to send a proposal to do a lecture for
150573 -   Stanford's CIFE project.
150574 -
150575 -
150576 -
1506 -