CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Human Nature, Mysteries and Facets
Human Cognition Strengths and Weaknesses
Precision Use of Language
Recognizing and Addressing Problems
Begin with the End in Mind

0807 -
0807 -    ..
0808 - Summary/Objective
0809 -
080901 - Follow up
080902 -
080903 - Rod and I discussed the difficulty of correct duplication of what is
080904 - said in a meeting, particularly one in which capturing the record is
080905 - not given any real importance.
080907 -  ..
080908 - I have a little sign that I like that says:
080909 -
080910 -    I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said,
080911 -    but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I
080912 -    meant!
080914 -  ..
080915 - This clearly adds to the problem!
080917 -  ..
080918 - This leads ot a discussion in this record of difficulties in
080919 - communication, the failure to teach many basics and to train human
080920 - abilities, the recognition of problems as needing to be addressed,
080921 - and the failure of people to do what they know they should.
080923 -  ..
080924 - These are all human and cultural failings and the attempt to convince
080925 - people of the value of SDS runs directly counter to all of them. This
080926 - is one of the reasons that progress in promoting SDS is so slow.
080927 -
080928 -
080930 -  ..
080931 - Duplication is a Communication Skill
080932 -
080933 - Duplication, hearing what was said, is a vital communication skill
080934 - which we are never taught.
080935 -
080936 - In fact, we are taught very little about communication at the
080937 - fundamental level of sending and receiving messages, duplicating what
080938 - was sent, and properly acknowledging the receipt of the information.
080940 -  ..
080941 - Even the many courses that purport to teack cimmunication skills are
080942 - often based on what to say rather than how to say it or how to
080943 - listen.
080945 -  ..
080946 - These higher level abilities are important as well, but without
080947 - training in the basis skills, we all hae to get along on just what we
080948 - absorb.
080949 -
080950 -
080952 -  ..
080953 - Many Basic Skills are not Taught
080954 -
080955 - There are many basic skills that are taught mostly by osmosis,
080956 - hoping that the child will "soak it up" rather than being part of any
080957 - formal training. This is an error.
080959 -  ..
080960 - It is part of the syndrome of "starting in the middle" or of the
080961 - belief that there are things that people know just because they are
080962 - people.
080964 -  ..
080965 - The list is tragically long, but here is a part of it:
080966 -
080967 -    •  Communication -- we learn to talk and we are able to hear, but
080968 -       we are only poorly taught to speak and listen.
080969 -
080970 -       Language is considered sufficiently important that we are
080971 -       trained in it beyond what can be picked up from living. We are
080972 -       taught to read and write -- at least the mechanics.
080974 -        ..
080975 -       Unfortunately, many of the basics are missed even here, as
080976 -       putting anyone through Applied Scholastics training will
080977 -       demonstrate.
080979 -        ..
080980 -    •  Perception -- beyond the rudimentary use of our senses, few of
080981 -       us are ever trained in the use of the senses. The ability to
080982 -       look at a room and report on eveything in it or to see a deer
080983 -       hiding in the brush, or to hear the rustle of an animal moving
080984 -       through the grass are taught only to a very few.
080986 -        ..
080987 -       Ther was a series of books about a character called Doc Savage
080988 -       who was trained from a very young age in the use of his senses
080989 -       and in physical development. They are fun adventures though
080990 -       they do not incorporate much in the way of his elevated
080991 -       abilities directly.
080993 -        ..
080994 -    •  Memory -- we are exposed to some memorization drills, though
080995 -       fewer now that was common earlier, but we get no training in
080996 -       how to use memory.
080997 -
080998 -
081000 -  ..
081001 - Human Sensory Capacity is Underestimated
081002 -
081003 - Consider some examples of the sensory abilities demonstrated by
081004 - people with trained senses. Some of these people have heightened
081005 - natural ability, but training is still an important part of their
081006 - skill. Some of these skills involve memory training as well as
081007 - sensory training.
081009 -        ..
081010 -    •  A skilled conductor can hear exactly which instrument in the
081011 -       orchestra is out of tune and how.
081013 -        ..
081014 -    •  A wine connoisseur can identify a wine by type and vintage. A
081015 -       coffee taster can identify a cup of coffee he tasted years
081016 -       before by batch. Students trained in identifying tastes can
081017 -       determine what juices are in a juice mix. A good chef can taste
081018 -       a sauce and list the ingredients in it.
081020 -        ..
081021 -    •  A trained tracker can see pressure release points in a track
081022 -       that most people can't even see. A trained aircraft spotter or
081023 -       bird watcher can make an identification from just a flash of
081024 -       sight that most of us would miss entirely. These same observers
081025 -       can identify the sounds as well.
081027 -        ..
081028 -    •  Memory experts have done such things as memorizing the New York
081029 -       City phone book and can give a number given a name or a name
081030 -       given a number -- a feat considered impossible for most of us.
081032 -  ..
081033 - And this list doesn't include talents that are cosidered savant --
081034 - you have to be born with them:
081035 -
081036 -    •  Instant calculation
081037 -
081038 -    •  Instant calendars
081040 -        ..
081041 -    •  Eidetic memory in various forms -- photographic, phonographic.
081043 -        ..
081044 -    •  The ability to play any music from hearing it once.
081046 -        ..
081047 -    •  The ability to hear an entire symphony in the mind before
081048 -       writing it down.
081050 -  ..
081051 - Professionals constant demonstrate abilities that are way beyond what
081052 - is considered achievable by ordinary people. This is what all circus
081053 - performances do. A professional knife thrower can place knives right
081054 - next to any part of a girl on a spinning wheel, and do it
081055 - blindfolded, or hit a spot on a target from only the sound of the
081056 - assistant wrapping on it.
081058 -  ..
081059 - A professional instinct shooter can draw pictures by placing
081060 - succesive shots with the precision of drawing a continuous line.
081061 -
081062 -
081064 -  ..
081065 - Channels of Ability
081066 -
081067 - It is possible to develop some abilities to very high levels and have
081068 - no idea how the ability is even possible.
081069 -
081070 -    •  I once took a course that involved looking up every word in the
081071 -       material in a dictionary -- several thousands of words in all.
081073 -        ..
081074 -       Some dictionaries are better for names and places, some are
081075 -       better for small words, some ar better for words with foreign
081076 -       roots. So, I had 4 or 5 different dictionaries, including one 2
081077 -       volume set.
081079 -        ..
081080 -       After some time looking up words, I realized that I was no
081081 -       longer paging through dictionaries. I would look at a word,
081082 -       reach for the correct dictionary, open it at the correct page
081083 -       with the thumb of my left hand, and point to the word with the
081084 -       index finger of my right hand.
081086 -        ..
081087 -       I noticed this only when I missed bya page one time. I
081088 -       continued to do this for the remainder of the course, but do
081089 -       not do it any longer as the need hasn't arisen.
081091 -        ..
081092 -       I have no model within normal experience to explain how this
081093 -       can be done, much less how I learned to do it.
081095 -        ..
081096 -    •  A friend worked at sorting items on a conveyor belt into
081097 -       appropriate bins and developed the ability to do this at
081098 -       incredible speeds.
081100 -        ..
081101 -    •  At a part time job in college, we were folding cards that came
081102 -       from a computer. The cards came in boxes, and we needed to fold
081103 -       them in half and put them back in the box.
081105 -        ..
081106 -       One evening as we were about to leave, there was one box
081107 -       remaining. The others wanted to leave it, but I said I would
081108 -       fild them if they would put rubber bands on the bundles and put
081109 -       them in the box.
081111 -        ..
081112 -       I gave the stack a preliminar fold so that the stack formed a
081113 -       'V' standing on the desk, and proceeded to fold the entire box
081114 -       at a speed that even I didnt't believe. My hands moved with
081115 -       machin-like speed, the right piking a card and completing the
081116 -       fold, the left adding the card to the folded pile and then
081117 -       handing it to someone to bundle.
081119 -        ..
081120 -    •  A keypunch operator at General Tire could punch or verify 80
081121 -       cards a minute of arbitrary input -- FORTRAN programs or
081122 -       numeric data and carry on conversations at the same time. I
081123 -       have worked wtih typists who can do similar things.
081125 -        ..
081126 -    •  At one time I was able to spot errors in a FORTRAN program as
081127 -       the listing was running on a 300 line per minute printer.
081129 -        ..
081130 -    •  I saw an exper with an editor that provided variable speed
081131 -       scrolling go throug an assembly language program at a rate that
081132 -       was just a blur to me and pause every now ant then, point to a
081133 -       place and state the number of machine cycles that could be
081134 -       saved by a modification to the code at that point.
081136 -        ..
081137 -    •  Many people have mastered the ability to read object decks
081138 -       directly, which involves the ability to interpret the cards
081139 -       visually and then to match the bits to the machine
081140 -       instructions.
081142 -  ..
081143 - There are endless examples of experts in all areas performing at
081144 - levels that are simply incredible by ordinary standards.
081146 -  ..
081147 - The conclusion is inescapable -- the human body and brain is vastly
081148 - more capable than we presently know and use.
081150 -  ..
081151 - Some of this ability is learned, and can therefore be trained.
081152 -
081153 -
081155 -  ..
081156 - Foreign Languages
081157 -
081158 - Studies have shown that if the basic souds of a particular language
081159 - are not learned quite early, it is a much more difficult task later.
081160 -
081161 - Yet, in some areas where there are many languages spoken, children
081162 - grow up speaking several languages without difficulty, keeping them
081163 - separate and using an appropriate language with the various people
081164 - they meet.
081165 -
081166 -
081168 -  ..
081169 - Different abilities have different optimum ages
081170 -
081171 - As more study is done on child development, it is increasingly clear
081172 - that there is a general patter of ability and age or at least
081173 - maturity. As there is an optimum to learn the sounds of a language,
081174 - there appear to be optimum times for developing all sorts of other
081175 - skills.
081177 -  ..
081178 - Many sorts of mental difficulty, including dyslexia, have been
081179 - treated successfully by having the individual go through cross
081180 - crawling, a stage of crawling that is often abridged through the
081181 - desire of the parents to have the baby walk. This is discussed in the
081182 - tape set Mega Learning.
081184 -  ..
081185 - For example, the understanding of gravity progesses through several
081186 - stages where the child will no longer accept demonstrations of:
081187 -
081188 -    •  Objects floating unsupported
081189 -
081190 -    •  Objects hanging on the side of another unsupported
081192 -        ..
081193 -    •  Objects overbalanced by being too far over the edge of another
081195 -  ..
081196 - Some rudimentary results can be found in any book on raising children
081197 - -- what to expect when. These tell you when the child should start to
081198 - crawl, talk, walk, etc.
081200 -  ..
081201 - I don't believe that these results have ever been gathered and used
081202 - to facilitate the training of children -- enrich the environment to
081203 - facilitate what they are at an optimum point to learn.
081204 -
081205 -
081207 -  ..
081208 - Enriched environments
081209 -
081210 - Studies have also shown that enriched environments, at least within
081211 - limits, improve development in bothe animals and humans.
081212 -
081213 - Cats raised in an anvironment with only vertical features or only
081214 - horizontal features are unable to see the other kind.
081216 -  ..
081217 - Visual stimulation is important to human children, which prompts
081218 - figured wallpaper in thenursery and colorful mobiles over the crib.
081220 -  ..
081221 - Variation in the environment is also important, Movement, rearranging
081222 - the furniture, painting the walls -- all of these things can help.
081223 -
081224 -    Of course we discar all of that when we go to the workplace --
081225 -    everything there is essentially uniform and unchanging.
081226 -
081227 -
081229 -  ..
081230 - Different Times Used Different Talents
081231 -
081232 - Different times and different cultures used different talents.
081233 -
081234 - Oral traditions among all peoples made heavy use of memory to
081235 - transmit history.
081237 -  ..
081238 - Epic songs and poems sometimes took days to recite.
081240 -  ..
081241 - Wise men and women passed on massive amounts of lore from the history
081242 - and legends of the people to hunting and healing skills.
081244 -  ..
081245 - It is reported that scribes in medieval England could write
081246 - copperplate script as fast as a man could talk.
081248 -  ..
081249 - Shorthand at 120 wpm and typing at 80 wpm were routine qualificationf
081250 - for secretaries until they were phased out in favor of the tape
081251 - recorder and the computer.
081252 -
081253 -
081255 -  ..
081256 - Difficult to Capture Fully Accurate Record
081257 -
081258 - The discussion that prompted this concerned a CNN program that
081259 - reported Presidents of the United States using secret tape recordings
081260 - in order to have a record of cnversations in the Oval Office. They did
081261 - this because they needed a record, and using a secretary or a visible
081262 - recording device caused people to react differently, less candidly,
081263 - than without. Since what they wanted was discussion that wasn't
081264 - impeded by any more self-consciousness than necessary, the tape
081265 - recorder was the solution they chose,
081267 -  ..
081268 - There is a problem, however, in the transcription. A similar problem
081269 - exists with court reporters. What is heard is not always what was
081270 - said, and what was said isn't always what was meant. Such things as
081271 - tone of voice, body language, and mutual context of the speakers can
081272 - dramatically influence the transcript created even by an individual
081273 - who was there.
081275 -  ..
081276 - The courts try to minimize the proble by:
081277 -
081278 -    •  Using trained people to do the recording.
081279 -
081280 -    •  Emphasizing that the record is important by referring to it
081281 -       rather than memory for quotes.
081283 -        ..
081284 -    •  Having portions read back for confirmation. I assume that there
081285 -       are other real time checks on tht quality of what is captured.
081287 -        ..
081288 -    •  The same reporter who capture the notes (using a mechanical
081289 -       shorthand) transcribes the notes so that memory can help fill
081290 -       in any blanks.
081292 -        ..
081293 -    •  The published record is made available to the participants and
081294 -       they are given an opportunity to challenge iit if there are
081295 -       deemed to be errors.
081297 -        ..
081298 -       This process is a formal one to prevent challenges from making
081299 -       substantive changes in what was said so as to alter the facts.
081301 -  ..
081302 - Rod made the powerful point that this review of the record is
081303 - something that SDS supports, and is a more powerful tool than he had
081304 - realized. This aspect of SDS wasn't intended so much as a way to get
081305 - an accurate record as it was to allow people to add to the record
081306 - after the fact.
081307 -
081308 -    I have used this review to good effect a few times where I allowed
081309 -    the reviewer to soften his statements from something like "X hates
081310 -    the idea of Y" to "X disagrees with approach Y".
081312 -  ..
081313 - We agree that the need for an accurate record is as important in
081314 - business as it is in the court, and could actually keep busineeses
081315 - out of court. In addition to the review is the connection to history,
081316 - requirements, objectives, and policy that is made by the analyst
081317 - while constructing the record.
081318 -
081319 -
081321 -  ..
081322 - Problems Not Recognized and Addressed
081323 -
081324 - There are some related phenomena that this report brings to mind.
081325 - There is often a failure to recognized a situation as a problem that
081326 - needs to be addressed in a more complete way than by just living with
081327 - it or by using the first "solution" to present itself.
081329 -  ..
081330 - We used to have a tabletop reverse osmosis water purifier. It held
081331 - 2.5 gallons, and we emptied it into a 6 gallon plastic jerry can. We
081332 - were always having one of two things happen: either the purifier kept
081333 - on putting water into the jerry can and voverflowed, or we would try
081334 - to put a third container into the can and it would overflow. We were
081335 - constantly getting water on the floor, and sometimes substantial
081336 - amounts.
081337 -
081338 -    Once Joyce looked at it as a problem to be solved, it took about 2
081339 -    minutes. She tied a piece of yarn to the handle of the jerry can
081340 -    with a key on each end. By moving a key from one side to the
081341 -    other, we always knew how many loads were in the can. The secod
081342 -    trick was to tur off the water supply to the purifier while
081343 -    emptying it into the can.
081345 -     ..
081346 -    The problem of water on the floor from the puifier simply vanished
081347 -    except for very rare occasions when we messed up on the protocol.
081348 -    The problem had been with us for years, sometimes causing water
081349 -    damage, and the solution was quick and complete minutes after we
081350 -    recognized it as a problem that needed to be addressed and did so.
081352 -  ..
081353 - I find this to be a very prevalent practice in the world -- complain
081354 - about some less than desirable situation without ever treating as a
081355 - problem for which a solution should be found.
081357 -  ..
081358 - The situation with inaccurate memories of meetings is one of those
081359 - that we have come to recognize all too well. There are all too often
081360 - of who said what when and what the real plan or policy is as a
081361 - result, but nobody treats this a a problem that should be solved.
081363 -  ..
081364 - If it were treated as a problem to be solved, there are already
081365 - sotutions that exist and have for hundreds of years. Simply running a
081366 - meeting using the universally recognized correct procedure of
081367 - published agenda, read minutes, old business, new business, review
081368 - action items, publish minutes would handle a major piece of the issue.
081370 -  ..
081371 - It is, admittedly, more difficult to do this with existing tools than
081372 - with SDS, but the fact of the matter is that it is being done in
081373 - courtrooms all over the land, and that it used to be done with
081374 - business meetings as a matter of routine, and used to be done using
081375 - paper with next to no automation of any sort.
081377 -  ..
081378 - If the problem were addressed at all, better approaches could be
081379 - found than the current one of simply living with the problem and the
081380 - ongoing havoc that it creates.
081381 -
081382 -
081384 -  ..
081385 - Starting in the Middle
081386 -
081387 - There is a related phenomena that appears to be nearly universal, and
081388 - that is "starting in the middle'. The idea is that since we are in
081389 - such a hurry, we can get done faster if we just skipp all of that
081390 - time wasting suff up front, such as deciding on goals and making
081391 - plans, and just cut to the action -- start in the middle. Since
081392 - "everybody knows" what we need to do and understands the plan anyway,
081393 - there is no reason to waste time with all that nonsense.
081395 -  ..
081396 - All too often the result is that the outcome is not suited for the
081397 - intended purpose or is not what was desired or doesn't solve the
081398 - proble since none of the requirements or even desirements were ever
081399 - defined and no agreement was ever established on what the goals were
081400 - really.
081402 -  ..
081403 - There is a reason that all SDS records begin with a "Summary /
081404 - Objective" section. The wording is actually backwards as objectives
081405 - precede action and summaries follow it, but it still corresponds to
081406 - the "Plan, Perform, Report" cycle in POIMS, ref OF 1 15BF.
081407 -
081408 -
081410 -  ..
081411 - Precision Use of Language
081412 -
081413 - One of the difficulties with communication is that the current
081414 - culture has little or no concept of using language with precision.
081415 - This skill is also taught only by limited exposure.
081416 -
081417 - For most people, the idea that language can be used with precision,
081418 - that words have definite meanings, and that statements should strive
081419 - to be clear and unambiguous is totally absent.
081421 -  ..
081422 - As discussed above, utterances are less than crystal clear under the
081423 - best of circumstances. This is exacerbated by the failure even to
081424 - attempt to communicate clearly.
081426 -  ..
081427 - That this is common in casual documents or in circumstances where
081428 - precision is not really warranted is one thing. To find it in
081429 - requirements documents and technical specifications borders on the
081430 - unforgivable, and is certainly unprofessional. Still, it appears to
081431 - be the norm rather than a rare occurrence.
081433 -  ..
081434 - The legal field is often held up as an example of unambiguous
081435 - language, but that is far from true. The work that goes into
081436 - interpreting contract or legislation after the fact shows that these
081437 - documents are anything but unambiguous. They are often
081438 - incomprehensible.
081440 -  ..
081441 - On the plus side, there is at least an effort made. The terms are
081442 - defined prior to use. Conditions of applicability are spelled out.
081443 - Language attempts to convey precise meaning. That the effort often
081444 - fails indicates that the solution used in the legal field is far from
081445 - perfect.
081446 -
081447 -
081449 -  ..
081450 - Don't do what we know we should
081451 - Refusal to Know What We Have Already Found Out
081452 -
081453 - "Refusal to know what you have already found out" is one workable
081454 - definition of stupidity, and we all do it all the time.
081455 -
081456 - We see this all the time in our refusals to do what we know we
081457 - should.
081459 -  ..
081460 - The fact that we fail to run meetings as we know we should is but one
081461 - example.
081463 -  ..
081464 - The activity of Developing complex software systems is extremely
081465 - demanding of precision. Although it is a young discipline, it is
081466 - plagued by the fact that, mostly, people do dnot go about it as they
081467 - know they should. Partly as a result, the process gets revised
081468 - periodically in the hope that people with use the new process.
081470 -  ..
081471 - In business, changing a process that isn't being followed to a new
081472 - one that also won't be followed is standard practice.
081474 -  ..
081475 - Hubbard says that in order for a policy to be in place it is
081476 - necessary to:
081477 -
081478 -    •  Have the policy,
081479 -
081480 -    •  Get the policy known
081482 -        ..
081483 -    •  Get the policy followed.
081485 -  ..
081486 - This is a simple, yet profound, observation, and it is violated
081487 - throughout business in all sorts of ways.
081489 -  ..
081490 - It is expected that people know how to do things, and will do them in
081491 - the same way as other people when there is nothing written down to
081492 - explain the process or, if it is written, they don't have access to
081493 - it, or are not reaquired to follow the process.
081495 -  ..
081496 - The pattern always seems to be to change a process that isn't being
081497 - followed instead of debugging it to find out why not. The chance that
081498 - the new process will be followed any more than the previous one is
081499 - vanishingly small since the group often can't gaet *any* process
081500 - followed correctly.
081502 -  ..
081503 - The legisature is famous for this. Pass a law. It isn't obeyed. Pass
081504 - another law. Repeat endlessly. The result is more laws than any
081505 - establishment can manage, and quite beyond the possibility of any
081506 - single individual to know. Then we wonder why there are laws that
081507 - aren't followed.
081509 -  ..
081510 - Self improvement courses have been around forever, and with the advent
081511 - of cassette tape and CDs, there are more then ever. Virtually every
081512 - one of them teaches some variation of Covey's "Begin with the end in
081513 - mind"
081514 -
081515 -      1.  decide on the outcomes you want,
081517 -           ..
081518 -      2.  plan how to get there,
081520 -           ..
081521 -      3.  execute the plan,
081523 -           ..
081524 -      4.  observe the outcomes,
081526 -           ..
081527 -      5.  modify the plan and approach to get the outcomes you desire,
081528 -          which leads back to the first step.
081530 -  ..
081531 - See the discussion on Action Cycles on 031020, ref SDS 18 0001.
081533 -  ..
081534 - This basic strategy has been known essentially forever, and is the
081535 - basis of all software development processes, and yet only a very small
081536 - percentage of people actually practice it. Estimates are that nl 2% -
081537 - 3% of all people have written goals, and fewer than that have and
081538 - follow a plan for achieving those goals.
081540 -  ..
081541 - So, one of the mysteries of the human condition is why we so ofte
081542 - fail to do what we know we should do. There are likely numerous
081543 - individual reasons, but there are also likely to be general ones as
081544 - well. I will leave that for another discussion.
081545 -
081546 -
081548 -  ..
081549 - Implications for SDS
081550 -
081551 - One of the keys to one of our ongoing discussions can be found in the
081552 - distinctions among the following:
081553 -
081554 -    •  Needs, whether recognized or not -- there is clearly a need for
081555 -       many of the capabilities that SDS provides
081557 -        ..
081558 -    •  Situations that are acknowledged -- people complain all the time
081559 -       about this condition or that and that would seem to constitute
081560 -       an acknowledgement of need, except for
081562 -        ..
081563 -    •  Needs or situations recognized as problems to be addressed and
081564 -       resolved.
081566 -  ..
081567 - Much of the complaining that people do is tantamount to complaining
081568 - about the weather -- people complain but there is no serious belief
081569 - that anything can be done about it, and so no action is contemplated,
081570 - much less taken.
081572 -  ..
081573 - Every so often, someone will look at a situation and decide that
081574 - something can be done about it and sets out to solve it. Whether the
081575 - attempt at a solution is successful or not, the fact that the
081576 - situation has become one that is considered subject to change by human
081577 - action is momentous.
081579 -  ..
081580 - For every successful development in history there was someone who
081581 - decided that it was possible to do something about the situation and
081582 - set about doing it. Whether that first individual ever resolved the
081583 - issue, somewhere there was sufficient impact for people to begin to
081584 - believe that the situation could be made different by human action.
081586 -  ..
081587 - So far, so good. We see examples all around us.
081589 -  ..
081590 - However, we continually do the same thing!
081592 -  ..
081593 - This record calls out several human and cultural behaviors that we
081594 - confront all the time, and yet it treats them as matters which must
081595 - be endured because they cannot be cured.
081597 -  ..
081598 - Now, maybe the situations can't be cured, but until we look at them
081599 - as problems to be addressed, we will never know.
081601 -  ..
081602 - I have said, and I think that we have finally agreed, that SDS as a
081603 - piece of software derives its power from the fact that it facilitates
081604 - a set of good proactices, and that it is necessry to adopt at least
081605 - some of theos practices to derive real benefit from the use of SDS.
081607 -  ..
081608 - We are discussing the possibility of teaching people about SDS in
081609 - managment seminars. By tieing SDS back into a set of management "best
081610 - practices" we have both a hook for project management seminarsand the
081611 - key to getting people to understand that the problems that plague
081612 - management should be addressed, and that indeed they have been by SDS
081613 - to a great degree.
081615 -  ..
081616 - From our own perspective, we need to make as certain as we can that
081617 - we "do what we know we should" with respect to SDS and the needs that
081618 - we see that it fulfills.
081620 -  ..
081621 - In order for people to understand the value of SDS, they first need
081622 - to recognize the needs that it addresses, and then to understand that
081623 - things can be different than they are.
081625 -  ..
081626 - I am afraid that this means we have a larger ducation task before us
081627 - than we have been thinking. We need to define the practices that make
081628 - SDS valuable, the needs that it meets, and then develop ways to show
081629 - people that those needs can be addressed.
081631 -  ..
081632 - In order to do that, we need to address the facets of "human nature",
081633 - or at least of human behavior, noted above and see what can be done
081634 - about resolving the issues instead of simly compaining about them.
081635 -
081636 -
0817 -