About ten years ago I re-named our pursuit, after reading
Peter Drucker's discussions [3] about knowledge workersknowledge
organizations and knowledge industries . It seemed that a better
term for the work would be Augmenting the Knowledge Worker .
From this new perspective, a natural image emerged of a Knowledge
Workshop as the place where a knowledge worker does his work and where,
if we extended his tools, his means of collaborative communication, his
working methods and his organizational roles, we could speak of an Augmented
Knowledge Workshop . 3C
For the purposes of this discussion, let us put aside
concerns for how much processing power and storage capacity should be built
into the workstation, or where any particular programs or data should reside.
4A2
Let us instead consider the following principles,
relative to supporting high-performance workers and integrating their capabilities
into the larger organization: 4A3
Figure 1. The workstations, computers and data
bases for most large organizations will look something like this, and will
connect to the outside world via at least one public network. 10A Figure 2. A user at a given terminal will "see"
this kind of connection, looking "through" his UIS at his "local workplace"
and beyond to the other, special tools that may be located anywhere on
a connected network. 10B The UIS takes care of all command-language dialog
and all connection protocols. It also provides a uniform interface between
the tool and the terminal to ensure that the user will (as nearly as possible)
get the same treatment on a variety of terminals. 4B2A
It interacts with an individual's user-profile file,
to provide interface styles tailored to the needs and preferences of that
individual. 4B2B
It provides a reach-through service to non-AUGMENT
systems, and can optionally translate between the command language of a
foreign-program modules and a command language designed to meet the user's
particular needs. The user's command languages as translated for a number
of different "foreign" systems can be designed for mutual consistency,
to provide an important coherence in language and function. 4B2C
It provides an adaptation to different terminal characteristics,
allowing users to access their work from different terminals, and enabling
application programmers to develop their software as though it were to
serve a virtual terminal. 4B2D
2. A Procedure-Call Protocol (PCP) to
provide for effective communication between processes on the network. (Reference
[7] gives a thorough, detailed treatment of this "PCP approach".) 4B3
This protocol makes possible the implementation in
each host of an application-independent, network run-time environment making
remote resources accessible at the functional level essentially as though
via a procedure call within a one-host application system. It greatly enhances
the application programmer's flexibility; makes remote resources usefully
accessible to other programs (not just to human users); significantly eases
the problems of evolutionary changes within the network; and immensely
improves the flexibility with which tools and services can be provided
to the user. 4B3A
3. A Core Workshop the user's own Local
Workplace a basic collection of tools and services that a knowledge
worker generally needs, regardless of his professional specialty. 4B4
The user feels that this is his "office," where in
a familiar, consistent and effective environment he can do most of his
editing, studying, information management, mail management, etc. The AUGMENT
Backend was designed to provide these core functions (and in addition has
many features which reward a practised user with significant gains in speed
and flexibility). 4B4A
The model in the user's mind is that he does most
of his work here, and will reach through this home workshop
to access other tools and services. There is special payoff for effective,
flexible capabilities in this core workshop, where the user will spend
a large proportion of his on-line time and can steadily acquire more of
the available techniques toward higher performance. 4B4B
4. Other Special Tools! with their own
file conventions, operating systems, etc. 4B5
A rich and ever-growing mix of data bases, application
programs and special services will want to be "reachable" in a coherent
manner by ever-more of the knowledge workers in a larger organization especially
the higher-performance workers. It is important to support the evolutionary
integration of these services into coherent, composite tools systems. AUGMENT's
implementation enables application-support programmers easily to provide
customized mixes of function and command terminology for special classes
of users even for an individual user. 4B5A
The general case, to be expected and probably encouraged,
will find a variety of different hardware elements (terminals, personal
computers, minis and large main frames, etc.) and a mix of software (different
vintages, vendors, file conventions, terminology, user languages, help
conventions, etc.). 4B5B
The main UIS module is the Command Language Interpreter
(CLI) , interpreting each action by the user and responding with screen-action
feedback or calls to the Backend tools for service, according to the particular
Command Language in effect. 4C2
Figure 3. When using the Procedure Call Protocol
to interact with a backend tool, the User Interface System (UIS) will employ
three special software modules and three special control files. 10C For any given user, there will be one User Profile
file attached to the UIS to specify the particular set of options which
that user desires in the action of the CLI e.g. style of command recognition,
amount and type of feedback, formatting defaults, initialization status,
escape-code assignments to particular keys, etc. 4C4
It is an administrative decision whether or not a
particular user is provided with commands for changing his profile file.
4C4A
The Virtual Terminal Controller (VTC) module
lets the rest of the UIS operate as though serving a standard, "virtual"
terminal, translating back and forth to/from the signals of whatever "actual"
terminal is connected. 4C5
The characteristics of the particular terminal are
packed into the special "Terminal Characteristic" file one such for each
different type of terminal that may be interfaced. For most of the modern
terminals, this file is selected and installed automatically from interactions
between the UIS and the terminal. 4C5A
The UIS Process Communication Interface (PCI)
allows the CLI to interact with the Backend tools making service requests
and receiving the results as though it were making sub-routine calls in
a "virtual" application-system environment. 4C6
In the general case, the UIS PCI would translate
the UIS signals back and forth to/from a "universal procedure-call protocol"
suitable for network interchange; a particular Backend tool (application
system) would employ a version of the PCI that translates in turn back
and forth to/from that tool's internally employed procedure-call protocol.
4C6A
Figure 4. When interacting with a backend tool
not equipped for procedure-call interaction, the UIS can employ either
programmed interaction via its Reach-Through Interface (RTI), or provide
the user with a direct, transparent connection. 10D Seemingly inefficient, yet this "programmed-interaction"
reach-through mode provides for an effective translation between the command
language of that foreign tool and the UIS Command Language where the latter
may be designed with verbs and nouns etc. to fit the special usage and
to be compatible with the rest of the grammar, vocabulary, and conceptual-model
characteristics designed to serve this class of users as their coherent
knowledge workshop. 4D3
This enables the coherent integration of many older
systems, many of which will live on for years. 4D4
As an alternative mode of interacting with a foreign
system through its terminal I/O, the UIS can connect the foreign-system
link directly to the Virtual Terminal Controller (VTC) to provide
interaction as though the UIS were "transparent." 4D5
Figure 5. When employing their respective UISs
in the shared-screen conferencing connection, two or more users can collaborate
closely on whatever job the "showing user" has going. 10E At his option, User A can pass control to User B,
thereafter what everyone watches are the effects of commands from User
B's terminal and VTC acting through User A's CLI upon A's active jobs and
files. 4E3
In its usual employment, this conferencing mode is
used in conjunction with simultaneous telephone dialog. It will work between
any two users connected by a network path. (Reference [8] gives a fairly
complete description of an earlier form of this "shared-screen teleconferencing.")
4E4
B. Methods: To be effective, tools
must be used with well-polished work methods 5A1B
C. Skills: It takes practised skill
to exercise a competent blend of tool and method 5A1C
D. Knowledge: True craftsmen depend
upon much integrated "shop" knowledge 5A1D
E. Language of the Craft: Craftsmen
need an effective language to discuss, teach, plan and collaborate among
themselves (i.e. to do their "shop talk"). 5A1E
F. Training: To develop an effective
group of craftsmen in a planned way requires explicit training, in all
of the above elements 5A1F
G. Organization: Role differentiation
and organizational structure are necessary for integrating craftsmen effectively
into an organization. 5A1G Over the centuries there has been an immense amount
of invention involved in the cultural evolution that brought the Human
System to its present state. But its evolution took place with what will
have to be described as a very primitive Tool System. 5B2
To take advantage of the absolutely radical, emerging
Tool-System inventions, it is inevitable that evolution of the Human-System
will begin to accelerate. In my view, this is strongly to be encouraged,
since the power derived from the Tool System can only come from the way
it is harnessed to human endeavors via the Human System. 5B3
So, the ultimate capability of the larger Augmentation
System , and therefore the performance level of the knowledge workers
and knowledge organizations of the future, will improve only through the
co-evolution of these two sub-systems. A disastrous default mode
would be for the perceptions of the technologists and the market-oriented
product planners to steer the evolution of the Tool System, and leave the
Human System to adapt in its trail. There is no practical worry that the
evolution of the Human System will drive that of the Tool System; it is
inconceivable that the Human System could be served by analysts, inventors
and entrepreneurs with the same fierce intensity as for the Tool System.
5C2
The practical worry is that there won't be enough
perception of payoff from investing in explicit, conscious invention and
evolution in the Human System, and that we will drift toward the above
default mode. 5C3
It is something of a bind -- our culture hasn't really
developed an acceptance for cultural progress to anywhere near the extent
it has for progress in the technological and material sense -- and without
a solid perception and acceptance that conscious evolution of such as this
Human System (primarily a cultural matter) will pay off, we are not likely
to become particularly effective at it. So it would seem that we need to
invest an extra degree of attention and resource toward developing the
perception that this Human System is not only acceptable but has a very
high payoff. THEN we probably could get moving toward a balanced co-evolution.
5C4
And there is also a very important, second-order answer.
The most effective strategy that I can think of, toward developing the
perception and acceptance of "progress" in the Human System, is to invest
in pursuit of truly high-performance for selected knowledge-work roles.
The best roles for this purpose would be those that would expose important
stakeholders to the EXPERIENCE of truly high performance, by BEING THERE
when that high performance is being exercised on activities relevant to
their workaday world. 6B
As a general strategy then, we would aim for specially
equipped and trained teams to be connected into the workshop networks of
large organizations, to perform roles that lend themselves best to early
pursuit of especially high performance, and where there would be an appropriate
visibility, identification, and sense of relevance for the organization's
trend setters. 6C
If this hypothesis were to be proven valid, it would
be of immense importance for a problem-laden society to have acted on it.
It doesn't seem that we would have to risk much to test it out over the
next decade. A very small proportion of what is being invested in the "easy
to learn" level of Office Automation, if explicitly directed toward pursuing
high augmented-human performance, would have a notable effect. 7B
Architectural features such as described above seem
necessary anyway to support the natural evolution of Office Automation,
even without any special emphasis upon high-performance workers. A salient
point is that these features also can support the accelerated evolution
of individuals and groups, who can still work effectively with the rest
of the organization, but where through their own efforts or through planned
investment by the larger organization they have extended more rapidly than
the rest the development of their augmentation categories -- tools, methods,
skills, etc. 7C
And what is also important about these features is
that they provide for the harmonious co-existence, within the same organizational
environment, of knowledge workers of all levels of performance. The high-performance
organization of the next decade must make do with many degrees of aspiration,
talent and training, and must accommodate a wide spectrum in its workers'
performance levels. 7D
And it is also important to note that architectural
characteristics of the organization's knowledge workshop will have a notable
effect upon the co-evolution rate of that can be achieved. 7E
Workshop Architecture
4
General Features
4A
It seems inevitable that, as depicted in Figure 1, there
will be a combination of local, high-speed networking (Electronic PBX and
Local-Area Network) together with higher-level networks (private and public)
which will interconnect workstations and the many tools and services within
an organization's whole workshop . The effect will be as though
there is a giant communication bus, where some elements seem far away (i.e.
a slow or expensive communication path) and some seem very close (i.e.
a fast and cheap communication path). 4A1
(See Reference [4] for a full development of such principles,
and for the foundations for the architecture described below.) 4A3E
Basic Organization
of the Architecture 4B
The over-all architectural approach that we adopted has
four major components, as shown in Figure 2 and summarized below. They
are all operational today as part of Tymshare's AUGMENT system. 4B1
1. A User Interface System (UIS) to handle
the interface between the user's terminal and the interactive programs.
(References [5] and [6] provide a detailed description of the implementation
and utilization of the UIS.) 4B2
Elements of
the User Interface System 4C
In Figure 3 are shown the main software modules (circles,
ellipses) and support-file items (rectangles) involved when the User
Interface System supports a user's access to a tool that is adapted
for direct, "procedure call" service. The AUGMENT Backend is designed this
way, and can work with full capability when the UIS and the Backend are
separated by a network connection. This is true for any application system
that has a procedure-call interface, regardless of the programming language
and run-time environment, providing a suitable PCI module is implemented
in its host computer to translate between the PCP and the particular procedure-call
protocol for that application system. 4C1
There are likely to be many UIS-Grammar files lying around,
each being a compact, specially coded specification of a particular Command
Language. When attached to the CLI, a particular Grammar file determines
the command terms and the feedback on the terminal screen, as well as the
service-call and data-transfer interaction with the Backend tools. 4C3
Foreign-System
Reach-Through 4D
Figure 4 shows the special provision for reaching through
to "foreign" systems that do not provide a procedure-call interface i.e.
systems that can only be utilized by character-stream I/O as from a terminal.
The Reach-Through Interface is a special module that can be programmed
for the specific character-stream interactions of a given tool for eliciting
from the tool the equivalent results as expected by each procedure call
sent to that tool by the CLI. 4D1
In such a case, the UIS can interact with the Backend
tool as though it (the UIS) were a terminal effectively translating between
the CLI and the flow of characters back and forth to/from the tool, to
call for service and to receive the results. 4D2
Shared-Screen
Conferencing 4E
Figure 5 shows an interconnection mode, between two instances
of UIS modules, whereby both terminals can share the screen content of
one of them. Each VTC module converts the virtual-terminal screen image
to the correct form for its connected terminal, so this shared-screen conferencing
will work for dissimilar terminals. 4E1
This mode is established in response to a suitable set
of commands by the participants, and in principle any number of users can
have such a connection made to their UIS modules so that User A can in
real time show the dynamic workings of his screen to them all -- no matter
what command language and tool system he is using. 4E2
The Over-All
Augmentation System 5
The Categories
of System Elements 5A
Here, from my framework, are the major elements involved
in "augmenting" our knowledge workers and their organizations. For this
purpose, a "craftsman" metaphor seems directly applicable -- considering
that our knowledge workers must be very much the professional craftsmen.
5A1
A. Tools: Craftsmen benefit from balanced
collections of well-designed tools 5A1A
Tool System
and Human System 5B
For discussion sake, call Category A the Tool System
and the aggregate of Categories B through G the Human System . We
can immediately note that new technology, no matter how dramatic, contributes
directly only to the Tool System. 5B1
Co-Evolution
5C
The optimum design for either the Tool System or the
Human System is dependent upon the match it must make with the other. There
is a high degree of mutual dependence. But it seems that the Tool System
is or soon will be "out of control" in the sense of our being able to design
its target state, say for five years hence. And we possibly never will
know how to "design" this Human System. So to be pragmatic about it, we
can at best work in a "guided-evolution" mode for each of the sub-systems.
5C1
So, Why Talk
About High-Performance Knowledge Workers 6
There is a first-order answer to this question. It makes
sense, at least from my viewpoint, to aim for a balanced distribution among
the knowledge workers in an organization, in terms of the level of knowledge-work
performance targeted for different roles. In this view then, a certain
proportion of research, development and implementation investment should
be made toward making really significant improvements. This would involve
special attention for such roles, over both the Tool System and the Human
System. 6A
Conclusions
7
We can reasonably hypothesize that a startling degree
of improvement may be obtained in the performance level of knowledge organizations
and their individual knowledge workers. And further, that in order to obtain
this we must attend to changes in both the Tool System and the Human System.
7A
Acknowledgements
8
The concepts and the system described above have evolved
over more than two decades, greatly aided by the research sponsorship of
a number of organizations. Until 1978, at SRI International, research sponsorship
by The Air Force Office of Scientific Research provided three years of
critical conceptualization and planning support, from '59 through '62;
DARPA's Information Processing Techniques Office, NASA, and the Air Force
RADC contributed significantly until 1978, when SRI sold its rights to
the system to Tymshare, Inc. There, while bringing it into the commercial
market, the company has supported further conceptual and development work.
During this more than two decades, probably a hundred different people
have contributed directly, very significantly affecting the architecture
and its implementation, and probably even affecting the way I see these
things. 8A
References
9