CONTACTS 
0201 - SM-ALC/BC McClellan AFB            916 643 2819 or 5070
020101 - Mr. Henry Goswick

SUBJECTS
SDS Theory, SDS Marketing, Perceived Value
Thinking Through Writing
Disallusioned by Technology, Usability Engineering, Design Objectives

1205 -    ..
1206 - Summary/Objective
1207 -
120701 - Henry called to follow up our discussion at ref SDS 2 line 072001. He
120702 - had some helpful comments on my letter, ref DIP 1 0000, transfmitting
120703 - ref OF 3 0000, covering SDS theory and implemention challenges.
120704 -
120705 - He will support an SDS demonstration with facilities, if it is
120706 - requested by other management elements at the Base.  He recommends we
120707 - contact:
120708 -
120709 -                M. Harris                   916 643 6045
120710 -                Project Management Branch
120711 -
120712 -                Nick Ponticello             916 643 3336
120713 -                Resources & Plans Branch
120714 -
120715 -
120716 -
120717 -
1208 -
1209 -
1210 - Discussion
1211 -
121101 - Henry read the material issued at ref DIP 1 line 26, including ref SDS
121102 - 2 5940.  Following are his comments on automated integration theory
121103 - presented in the SDS & POIMS scope statement, ref OF 3 0000...
121104 -
121105 -    1.  General
121106 -
121107 -        Henry supports the POIMS objective to improve management
121108 -        productivity by investing intellectual capital.  He feels SDS
121109 -        addresses some of the difficulties in making personal computers
121110 -        practical for managers, as explained in:
121111 -
121112 -            Investing Intellectual Capital, ref OF 3 0582.
121113 -            The New Vision - Getting Ahead, ref OF 3 6528.
121114 -
121115 -
121116 -    2.   ..
121117 -        Discouraged - Limited Success with Existing Software
121118 -
121119 -        In the past several years, Henry has made a significant effort
121120 -        to accomplish these aims using various commercial applications
121121 -        (e.g. Wordperfect), see our prior dicussion on 930323 in the
121122 -        record at ref SDS 2 8425.
121123 -
121124 -        Productivity gains have not met expectations.  He is currently
121125 -        using a mix of conventional pen and paper methods, with a
121126 -        personal computer.  This history is con- sistent with POIMS
121127 -        theory,
121128 -
121129 -            Limits of Technology - Falling Behind, ref OF 3 line 103.
121130 -
121131 -            [On 950927 Dave Vannier at Intel reported giving up on
121132 -            notebook computers to support management and going back to
121133 -            his manual notebook. ref SDS 6 7732]
121134 -
121135 -
121136 -        ..
121137 -   3.  SDS Uses a New Technoloy, POIMS
121138 -       Past Failures Limit Understanding of SDS
121139 -
121140 -       Henry feels POIMS integrates important features available in
121141 -       other programs.  He mentioned past and/or present use of
121142 -       automated access to notes on prior related events to plan future
121143 -       action, and support current endeavors, as explained at:
121144 -
121145 -            Convert Plans into Action, ref OF 3 line 133.
121146 -
121147 -       I suggested new technology is sometimes difficult to appreciate,
121148 -       unless it is experienced, particularly for those who have tried
121149 -       unsuccessfully to implement automated integration, as Henry
121150 -       reports. (see below, ref SDS 0 5936)  Making an idea work is one
121151 -       definition of new technology.
121152 -
121153 -            The automobile failed with steam engines, until it was
121154 -            implemented with a gas engine.  SDS is the better engine
121155 -            for management productivity.
121156 -
121157 -       We considered how writing on a computer is a new form of
121158 -       intellectual discovery, as related in the analyis of writing on
121159 -       930112 from dialog on Prodigy. ref SDS 1 9405
121160 -
121161 -       Henry generally agreed with this idea.
121162 -
121163 -       I explained how the SDS record structure and integration of the
121164 -       management cycle with time and contact management, significantly
121165 -       enhances innate capacities, as explained under:
121166 -
121167 -            Think, Remember, Communicate, ref OF 3 line 290.
121168 -
121169 -       I mentioned the dialong on Prodigy in the "Writers Forum" where
121170 -       this concept was discussed at length, ref OF 2 0000, from the
121171 -       record on 930112. ref SDS 1 9405.
121172 -
121173 -
121174 -   4.  New Technology Must Be Experienced
121175 -
121176 -       Henry liked the idea of SDS as a "...seamless integration of the
121177 -       primary management cycle:  plan, perform and report," which is
121178 -       called in POIMS technology:
121179 -
121180 -            Integrated Scheduling & Reporting, ref OF 3 line 224.
121181 -
121182 -       This is a new concept and functionality that is only possible
121183 -       with computers.  Since it has never existed before, you have to
121184 -       see it to grasp the power and elegance.  It requires a new kind
121185 -       of information format conducive to computer technology, rather
121186 -       than paper and pencil, which is the paradigm of most software
121187 -       applications for personal computers.
121188 -
121189 -            ..
121190 -           Transitioning to a New Paradigm
121191 -
121192 -           I believe productivity gains have been limited for managers
121193 -           because developers have filtered the power of automation
121194 -           through the prism of conventional formats, see for example
121195 -           review on 940527 of article about software design that
121196 -           avoids mimicking manual methods that arose because better
121197 -           capability was not available. ref SDS 4 7777.
121198 -
121199 -           They provide "documents" and "calendars" as isolated
121200 -           entities because that is the way they exist in a manual
121201 -           world, rather than give the user what is really needed:
121202 -           knowledge, ideas, process and time, as an integrated
121203 -           continuum.  Now that people are familiar with computers, it
121204 -           is time to start applying computer power in a powerful way.
121205 -
121206 -               [On 950927 discussion with David Vannier at Intel on his
121207 -               "Dream" computer that has his calendar and information,
121208 -               ref SDS 7 8943.]
121209 -
121210 -        ..
121211 -   5.  Challenges of Automated Integration
121212 -
121213 -       Henry cited following problems he has encountered in applying
121214 -       computers to the craft of management, which leads to loss of
121215 -       faith in ability of computers to improve management, per above.
121216 -       ref SDS 0 9865
121217 -
121218 -            ..
121219 -           Too Much Detail
121220 -
121221 -           Rolling unperformed tasks in a schedule forward, results in
121222 -           bunching up of a lot of detailed tasks that become burden-
121223 -           some to manage:
121224 -
121225 -              Solution:  Organization & Access
121226 -
121227 -              Several issues arise from this concern.  One is:
121228 -
121229 -                     Controlled Visibility, ref OF 3 line 260.
121230 -
121231 -              SDS allows grouping a series of tasks for a particular
121232 -              "Subject" or objective, to be treated as one, see organic
121233 -              subject structure. ref SDS 0 3345
121234 -
121235 -              This reduces a lot of details to the single question, of
121236 -              whether to work on the task, or not.
121237 -
121238 -                  If you have 5 calls to make and 3 things to do on a
121239 -                  particular matter, they are all a sub-element of a
121240 -                  single task.
121241 -
121242 -              SDS "linkage" allows details to be accessed in varying
121243 -              degrees from a single point of entry.
121244 -
121245 -                  Information needed to perform the work, is linked to
121246 -                  the task "plan" rather than piled up in varius stacks
121247 -                  that burden the mind, and mask critical priorities.
121248 -
121249 -              Schedule maintenance must be flexible and fast, so tasks
121250 -              can be re-ordered, grouped, and moved by mere personal
121251 -              volition, when too many tasks show up on one day.
121252 -
121253 -
121254 -              Managers Set Priority
121255 -
121256 -              Managers need to know what needs to be done, so they can
121257 -              choose what to do, i.e. prioritze.  When tasks bunch up,
121258 -              as Henry mentions, management discovers remedial action
121259 -              is needed, as explained in:
121260 -
121261 -                  Planning & Scheduling, ref OF 3 line 179
121262 -
121263 -

SUBJECTS
Shared Knowledge, Protect Privacy and Security
Coordination, Collaborate
Conflict with Existing Methods
Competition, Cooperation, Innate Conflict
Conflict Between Competition and
Resistance to Integrating Work between
Balancing Competition, Cooperation Needs
Complexity of Management is Organized

2611 -
261101 -  ..
261102 - Automated Information Must Balance Coordination, Security Issues
261103 -
261104 - Henry has experienced problems of privacy and security with email
261105 - systems aimed at improving coordination.  A military base in
261106 - particular must place a high priority on security.  Henry feels this
261107 - greatly impairs the potential for automated information to provide
261108 - timely notice and build common understanding.
261109 -
261110 - A related problem is being flooded by messages that take a long time
261111 - to read.  We need a way to link summary to detail.
261112 -
261113 -
261114 -     Faster, Better, Cheaper Knowledge and Ideas
261115 -
261116 -     I believe the privacy v. coordination issue is a fundamental
261117 -     biological tension between competition and cooperation.
261118 -
261119 -     We exist as individuals, but our species advances through limited
261120 -     cooperation.
261121 -
261122 -     By definition, in organizations we must share information.  The
261123 -     only questions are with whom and when.
261124 -
261125 -        [On 950909 Deming and Hammer on TQM or reeningeering reflects
261126 -        cooperation v competition. ref SDS 5 5725]
261127 -
261128 -     Computers enable this to be done quicker and more accurately at
261129 -     less expense, i.e., faster, better cheaper.
261130 -
261131 -     In the same that way we decide to send a memo and what to put in
261132 -     the memo, we can decide whether to make public or retain our
261133 -     information private.  In SDS, the User owns the data, and decides
261134 -     what to make public in the same way that if you have a discussion,
261135 -     you can decide what to tell others about it.
261136 -
261137 -     Instead of receiving 30 or 100 separate messages that require all
261138 -     day to read, the discipline of hierarchy is required, along with a
261139 -     way for Users to bump into new information when they need it, as
261140 -     discussed below under Subject Index.
261141 -
261142 -        [See later efforts to use Internet/Intranets to support
261143 -        collaboration/cooperation, ref SDS 9 1607.]
261144 -
261145 -        [Similar conflict occurs in sharing CPM, Cost and design data,
261146 -        per ref SDS 3 5567.]
261147 -
261148 -
261149 -     One potential solution to the conflict between cooperation and
261150 -     competition is the prospect that if better cooperation yields
261151 -     greater rewards, then the impulse to compete is reduced.  When
261152 -     there is limited information and it is important to survival,
261153 -     competition is escalated.  But automated information makes it
261154 -     plentiful and consequently increases the pool of rewards, more
261155 -     cars, roads, houses, food, clothing, entertainment and so on, so
261156 -     that competition recedes.
261157 -
261158 -     Of course in the military context, the issue is skewed toward
261159 -     security by definition.
261160 -
261161 -
261162 -
261163 -
261164 -
261165 -
2612 -

SUBJECTS
Writing & Subject Indexing, 910418, 930118
Design Objectives
Subjects, Automated MBO
Subjects, Hierarchial Categories
Records, Flexible Size, Segmented
Retrieval of Information
Controlled Visibility

3610 -   ..
361001 - We discussed the challenge of identifying information for fast
361002 - retrieval when needed, per Henry's point above. ref SDS 0 3354
361003 -
361004 - At any point in time, only a small part of a body of information
361005 - memorializing a prior event (e.g. notes of a progress meeting), is
361006 - needed.  Later a different part of the same body of information is
361007 - needed.
361008 -
361009 -     Organic Subject Structure
361010 -
361011 -     SDS allows segmenting information into an "organic subject
361012 -     structure" so parts can be assembled with related information from
361013 -     other events, memos, letters, into a chronology of a subject.
361014 -     This avoids wading through mountains of unrelated information.
361015 -     Users can get just what they need quickly.
361016 -
361017 - Henry mentioned the difficulty of common identification.
361018 -
361019 - I agree with this point.
361020 -
361021 - People view the same information as belonging to different subjects at
361022 - different times.  This is an interesting "subject".  "The Paperless
361023 - Office", Byte, April 1991, p156, covered "subject indexing" on p 193
361024 - under the heading:  "The Dark Side of DIP."
361025 -
361026 -        [On 960325 Landauer's paper "Plato's Problem" provided some
361027 -        ideas. ref SDS 8 3339.]
361028 -
361029 -
361030 -     Solution:  Multiple Paths
361031 -
361032 -     The article in Byte says this is an epistomological issue of
361033 -     organizing knowledge, ref OF 1 7338, and cites a variety of
361034 -     stratagies to meet the challenge that are employed by SDS.  SDS
361035 -     adds a significant advance by automating the process of creating,
361036 -     maintaining, accessing and applying subjects.  More importantly
361037 -     the SDS record structure gives Users a variety of ways to bump
361038 -     into an "information stream." That's the way the mind works. We
361039 -     start thinking of different aspects of a subject and bump into
361040 -     what we need tangentially.
361041 -
361042 -
361043 -   [On 960629 evolution of the Internet using a "web" directory
361044 -   structure and graphical interface addressed this objective.  see at
361045 -   ref SDS 9 5555]
361046 -
361047 -   [On 961021 considered putting SDS record on Internet.
361048 -   ref SDS 10 3636]
361049 -
361050 -   [On 971105 developed project for SDS web site to deliver
361051 -   intelligence. ref SDS 11 1459]
361052 -
361053 -
361054 -
3611 -