Re: A Safety Case LO2343

Andrew Moreno (amoreno@broken.ranch.org)
Mon, 7 Aug 1995 16:28:08 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO2328 --

On 5 Aug 1995, Carol Anne Ogdin wrote:

> Responding to Lo2328, where Andrew Moreno said, in part...
>
> > One comment I'd like to make is that any monitoring of system
> > behaviour should be kept extremely, extremely simple, possibly
> > in the form of paper checklists. I was told that having the
> > write checklist at the right time was 98% of genius. Anything
> > computer based other than plain text files is probably not
> > simple enough to use and probably won't be used.
>
> Perhaps 20 years ago!
>
> Many companies are using forms-based e-mail, custom-designed
> forms for Lotus Notes, and other "computer based" solutions
> to collect higher-quality data with higher compliance. There
> are several reasons for this:

<Lot of good reasons snipped>

> >From my experience, I'd say someone who's using paper for data
> collection (from more than one person; in that case, I'd make an
> exception) instead of using a message-reliant application [MRA;
> you'll see the term more in coming years] is depriving themselves
> of a rich resource.
>
> "Things should be as simple as possible...and no simpler."
> (wasn't that Einstein?)

Hi Carol,

I haven't seen any demos of Lotus Notes so I haven't got a feel for it's
interface, but I've read and heard a lot of good things about it in
various business magazines.

I guess it could be a great replacement for paper if the user interface
was really simple and elegant. There would be no paper lying in in/out
boxes on people's desks and no or very little lag time (it get's round the
'system faster.) There is also a procedure built into each form sent.

I agree that there are more options available for people using this kind
of groupware. Information that would normally be lost into the "round
file" can be saved for later perusal which can give people more insight
into organizational processes/systems and their respective leverage
points.

I think groupware enabled organizations can outsource the maintenance and
fine-tuning of these group applications to maintain their strategic focus.
The purpose of a simple interface is to maintain focus on the goals
(shared vision) rather than on the interface itself.

--
Andrew Moreno
Andrew Moreno <amoreno@broken.ranch.org>