CONTACTS 
0201 - Jet Propulsion Laboratory          415 923 9542
020101 - Mr. Frank L. Shultz
020102 - Deputy Assistant Laboratory Director =818 354 5738 fax 393 1492
020103 - Office of Space Science and Instruments

SUBJECTS
SDS, Marketing, Research Application to Market
Correlation to Accepted Practice
Education, institutional courses
Cal Tech PM Seminar

0706 -    ..
0707 - Summary/Objective
0708 -
070801 - Completed the course and submitted an evaluation form supplied by Cal
070802 - Tech.  Gave Frank a very brief explanation of SDS and POIMS technology
070803 - at the end of the session, which he seemed to connect with the course
070804 - material.  Offered a few suggestions on course improvements.
070805 -
070806 -
070807 -
0709 -
0710 -
0711 - Analysis
0712 -
071201 - General
071202 -
071203 - This was an excellent introduction to the current practice of project
071204 - management.  Budget and schedule control were presented through a
071205 - series of case studies, that showed the importance of team building
071206 - and performance measurement.
071207 -
071208 -
071209 - Command and Control of the Record
071210 -
071211 - There was strong concensus on the importance of maintianing a careful
071212 - "record."  The person who controls the record, controls the job.
071213 -
071214 - Frank, the instructor, cited the importance of keeping a record about
071215 - events that prevent the PM from accomplishing his assignment.  Today I
071216 - asked how this is accomplished, what tools are employed?  He became
071217 - exercised about the state of the art in creating, distributing and
071218 - maintaining documentation.  He feels more needs to be done to help
071219 - managers cope with a hectic schedule.
071220 -
071221 -
071222 -     Correct Information is Usually Available
071223 -
071224 -     I explained that generally the project record varies from the
071225 -     perceptions of managers because they are relying on conversation
071226 -     rather than the record, and that this causes significant errors in
071227 -     judgement that lead to a lot of financial loss and even career
071228 -     losses.  Available information is ignored because:
071229 -
071230 -         a.  It is more fun to talk to people, than to research the
071231 -             record under conventional technology (paper, filing
071232 -             cabinets, desk drawers, floppy disks). There is some team
071233 -             building benefit to talking, and this becomes an excuse
071234 -             for ignoring the record.
071235 -
071236 -         b.  A mythology called the "official view of reality" emerges
071237 -             through conversation over time about an important issue,
071238 -             that overwhelms subsequent attempts at careful inquiry.
071239 -
071240 -         c.  Even though documents showing the official view is wrong
071241 -             or incomplete, are "readily available," such documents are
071242 -             not INSTANTLY available---usually because the number of
071243 -             documents is large and they are not organized properly---
071244 -             as is the "official view," and/or our immediate recollec-
071245 -             tion, and so the latter are used in the name of expedi-
071246 -             ency.  We are not aware our "recollection' is constantly
071247 -             swayed by emotional seiches.
071248 -
071249 -
071250 -     Cost/Benefit Says Ignore the Record
071251 -
071252 -     What actually occurs is a subconscious cost/benefit analysis in
071253 -     deciding whether to check the record or go with what we assume to
071254 -     be true.  As the number of documents, phone calls and meetings
071255 -     increases, absent automated tools to increase command of that
071256 -     record, the time available to retrieve it for verification
071257 -     diminishes.  Thus the pressure to "wing it," and go with what "we
071258 -     know" overcomes the perceived benefit of verification.  Even where
071259 -     big issues are adequately researched, the many small ones that are
071260 -     not verified, render decision making more perilous than necessary.
071261 -
071262 -
071263 -     Real-time Command of the Record
071264 -
071265 -     This would seem to indicate that techniques to create and assemble
071266 -     the record within a time frame that permits real-time verification
071267 -     are essential to improving project management.  Frank feels this
071268 -     constitutes a major opportunity to improve management performance.
071269 -
071270 -
071271 -         Current Practice Masks Opportunity
071272 -         to Improve Management Productivity
071273 -         ----------------------------------
071274 -         Doubtless the present practice of submitting printed documents
071275 -         that do not get read, leads to a perspective that documenta-
071276 -         tion is a burden rather than an aid to management.  The
071277 -         natural reaction is that if my memo is not read, why create
071278 -         it.  Let's just go talk to the person instead.  The discussion
071279 -         seems to result in consensus, but since conversation is in-
071280 -         herently discursive, the many misconceptions that in fact
071281 -         occur are not apparent.  Mistakes get made and we start over.
071282 -
071283 -
071284 -             "Communication" Metrics
071285 -             -----------------------
071286 -             Traditional and popular management training teach "listen-
071287 -             ing" and "communication" skills to avoid mistakes.  This
071288 -             alone however, is inadequate because implementation occurs
071289 -             over time, and time diffuses understanding.  Therefore, it
071290 -             is not enough to explain and to listen well, we need to
071291 -             measure both in order to verify understanding in advance
071292 -             of action, and measure action relative to intent.  There
071293 -             are two steps in doing this:
071294 -
071295 -                1.  Write out our understanding of what was said, its
071296 -                    intent and implications, and the actions that will
071297 -                    be taken as a result, and distribute for confirma-
071298 -                    tion.
071299 -
071300 -                2.  Link scheduled actions to the record of understand-
071301 -                    ings that support work in progress.
071302 -
071303 -             Written understandings do not fade with time.  We can
071304 -             check as often as necessary to insure our course is
071305 -             consistent with our understandings, and that our under-
071306 -             standings are supported by the record of performance.
071307 -
071308 -
071309 -         Reluctance to rely on the record arises in part from the fact
071310 -         that traditional records management methods have been
071311 -         overwhelmed by the volume of information generated by PC's,
071312 -         faxes, meetings, mobile phones, etc.  All of the "stuff" that
071313 -         comes to a manager everyday, has to to evaluated, identified
071314 -         and integrated into the existing record quickly, so it can be
071315 -         brought to our attention when needed automatically.
071316 -
071317 -
071318 -     Conventional Technology is Inadequate
071319 -
071320 -     SDS addresses this dilemma by reducing the amount of printed
071321 -     written material that has to be physically handled (except in
071322 -     external management, it becomes a weapon).  This is accomplished
071323 -     by using electronic memos called "SDS records" that are auto-
071324 -     matically filed and distributed as soon as they are produced, and
071325 -     are thereafter instantly available when needed.  These electronic
071326 -     notes and memos are automatically rolled over into the Schedule as
071327 -     "controllable action items" linked to the document of origin, in
071328 -     seconds.  Right now, people are trying to do this with CC mail,
071329 -     but they are missing the essential ingredients of subject indexing
071330 -     and linkage to their schedule and to prior related events and
071331 -     documents.  That linkage is being done in their head which results
071332 -     in endless cycles of correcting mistakes.
071333 -
071334 -
071335 -
071336 -
071337 - Meeting Notes
071338 -
071339 - Frank said he prepares his own meeting notes, and Sheri, with Apple
071340 - Computer, said she does the same.  We discussed the importance of
071341 - making detailed meeting notes, beyond simply writing down action
071342 - items, since the reasons for taking action and for NOT taking other
071343 - actions, are often more important than the action items themselves.
071344 -
071345 - One attendee observed that often there is not enough time to capture
071346 - the detail, as the number of meetings, phone calls, documents
071347 - increases.
071348 -
071349 -
071350 -     Too Busy to Succeed
071351 -
071352 -     Frank said that popular view redounds to the proposition that we
071353 -     are too busy to succeed, and only have time to fail.  Since the
071354 -     sole purpose of management is to succeed, the real problem lies
071355 -     not in the time available, but in the allocation of available time
071356 -     to that which contributes the most to success.
071357 -
071358 -
071359 -     Writing Creates Understanding
071360 -
071361 -     Attending a meeting is a soft science.  We are listening and
071362 -     talking to varying degrees.  People like to talk.  It is person-
071363 -     able and stimulating to exchange views.  The hard important work
071364 -     is figuring out afterward what was said, what was meant, and the
071365 -     implications relative to organizational objectives and the record.
071366 -
071367 -     In other words attending a meeting is like writing an initial
071368 -     software program, fun and creative.  Writing up the meeting is
071369 -     like debugging and testing software, slow and painful where we
071370 -     discover deep seated conflicts in our thinking.  What "sounds"
071371 -     brilliant at a meeting, often turns out not to fit very well when
071372 -     written out and/or is flatly contradicted by the record, forcing
071373 -     us to go check with people about what was truly intended.  This is
071374 -     painful, but generally less so than failure.  Unfortunately, too
071375 -     often the pain of future failure is overwhelmed by the prospects
071376 -     of immediate pain, embarrassment or inconvenience
071377 -
071378 -        1.  ...to invest limited time writing down what we believe we
071379 -            already know, instead of attending another meeting, social-
071380 -            izing in the office, or going home early.
071381 -
071382 -        2.  ...to inquire of superiors and others about correcting
071383 -            perceived mistakes.
071384 -
071385 -
071386 -     So, while we are forced to debug a software program that does not
071387 -     work, by correcting mistakes of fact and reasoning, the same
071388 -     forced discipline does not exist with meetings because mistakes
071389 -     take longer to manifest themselves.  Thus, writing up detailed
071390 -     meeting notes is the process of taking responsibility for the
071391 -     success of the meeting.
071392 -
071393 -     But it is much more than that.  Writing notes lets us "discover"
071394 -     our knowledge and ideas by "processing" inchoate mental percep-
071395 -     tions through the prism of formalized language, and measuring them
071396 -     (i.e. the metric) against the rules of logic, and the record of
071397 -     prior related events and formal correspondence.  These are the
071398 -     essential elements to improve management productivity, since they
071399 -     ensure that conduct is adequately supported.
071400 -
071401 -
071402 -     Conventional Writing Inadequate
071403 -
071404 -     Writing via wordprocessing or by handwritten notes cannot achieve
071405 -     the productivity required to make writing a critical discovery
071406 -     tool.  SDS provides the context, subjects and linkage (automated
071407 -     citations to prior related events and documents) that alert the
071408 -     user to correlations and implications of current events.  Only
071409 -     real-time access to information enables the busy manager to grasp
071410 -     the context and create new and meaningful structures of under-
071411 -     standing.
071412 -
071413 -
071414 -     Better Formatting Improves Communications
071415 -
071416 -     Particular decisions need only a small part of a record, and this
071417 -     is too difficult to extract from a sea of narrative.  Today, we
071418 -     need part a, at a later time, part m, is needed.
071419 -
071420 -     Therefore, records of important events should be prepared with
071421 -     headings and structure that permits quickly finding main issues
071422 -     and understanding the essential points of the document, so nar-
071423 -     rative need only be read selectively.  Since this typically is not
071424 -     done, a perception arises that notes are not useful because it
071425 -     takes too much time to read everything.  Headings are difficult to
071426 -     create because often during the creative mode of writing the
071427 -     record, we cannot fully anticipate what the headings should be. We
071428 -     have go back and create them after the narrative is complete.
071429 -
071430 -
071431 -
071432 -
071433 -
071434 -
071435 - Project Management is Difficult
071436 -
071437 - Near the end of the day, Frank commented on the difficulties in
071438 - performing project management, and asked rhetorically:
071439 -
071440 -
071441 -                Why would anyone go into this field?
071442 -
071443 -
071444 -    The hardest thing about project management is coming to understand
071445 -    how complex it is.  The first day of class we listed causes of
071446 -    failure on projects:
071447 -
071448 -
071449 -      Causes of Failure
071450 -
071451 -      1.  It is comprised of people who have competing interests in
071452 -          cost, schedule, ego and career paths.
071453 -
071454 -      2.  The large number of competing interests (people, organiza-
071455 -          tions, specifications, design details, communications),
071456 -          makes the potential for error very large.
071457 -
071458 -      3.  Failure to adequately "plan" for cost, schedule and
071459 -          performance.
071460 -
071461 -             Failure to focus planning and resources on areas of
071462 -             greatest potential failure, i.e. complex design or
071463 -             people interface.
071464 -
071465 -             Inadequate support from upper management of planning
071466 -             process and thereafter, implementation.
071467 -
071468 -             Failure to apply metrics against planning criteria to
071469 -             trap errors.
071470 -
071471 -      4.  People over time tend to perform according to familiar
071472 -          pattern and social pressure, rather than rely on planning
071473 -          metrics and/or the terms of the Contract or other Project
071474 -          charter.  "Feel good" management prevails.
071475 -
071476 -      5.  People tend to rely on their recollection of events and
071477 -          understandings, rather than rely on the project record,
071478 -          because the latter is not readily accessible, causing
071479 -          mistakes that incur extra expense and time under the guise
071480 -          of expediting performance.
071481 -
071482 -      6.  The interests of people and organizations change over
071483 -          time.
071484 -
071485 -      7.  People fail to consistently apply sound project management
071486 -          techniques because they are inexperienced.  Those who know
071487 -          what to do are unable to do it because they lack the tools
071488 -          to carry them out, and/or support from upper management.
071489 -
071490 -
071491 -    When we start in "Project Management" for say the first 10 years -
071492 -    it appears to be a simple, straight forward undertaking.  By the
071493 -    time we gain the experience to appreciate its complexity, we often
071494 -    give up on achieving excellence, believing things cannot be done,
071495 -    for example adequate records management.
071496 -
071497 -
071498 -    Automated Integration
071499 -
071500 -    Therefore, to make a meaningful improvement in the practice of
071501 -    management requires a significant effort.  Something like SDS which
071502 -    automates the integration of key management practices can seem too
071503 -    "complicated," because it is doing a complicated thing.  Learning
071504 -    it requires exposing the User to something the mind inherently
071505 -    hides in order to get through the day, complexity, by rolling up
071506 -    details into levels of summaries.  However, the mind tends to
071507 -    commingle low level details that fit common patterns, resulting in
071508 -    "confusion."  Thus, automating the process of assembling "details"
071509 -    into useable summaries like the mind does, improves productivity as
071510 -    a consequence of avoiding "confusion."
071511 -
071512 -
071513 -
071514 -
0716 -