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Brainpower Networking Using the Crawford Slip Method

by H. William Dettmer

179 pages; Black coil; catalogue #03-1278; ISBN 1-4120-0909-X; US$25.50, C$30.50, EUR20.15, £15.00

The Crawford Slip Method is the most powerful idea generator ever invented. It's fast, efficient, low-cost, flexible and can be done anywhere with any number of participants.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book Invented in 1925 by Dr. C.C. Crawford, professor of education at the University of Southern California, the Crawford Slip Method is an idea generator without equal. It's an easy-to-use, effective group survey tool that enables the collection of ideas from audiences of almost any size rapidly and anonymously. Brainpower Networking Using the Crawford Slip Method explains how to focus the creativity and expertise of people with knowledge of a subject on the problems and challenges associated with solving them. This book provides step-by-step guidance for anyone to mobilize collective brainpower to identify and solve problems at any level, from the personal to the highest levels of large organizations. By following the simple, easy to understand, fully illustrated instructions in this book, system improvers can be effective with the Crawford Slip Method in a matter of days, or even several hours. The book is logically organized into chapters that lead the reader through: A brief history of the method A general description of various applications How to create the "target" for slip writers How to prepare for a slip-writing workshop How to motivate slip writers How to conduct the slip-writing workshop How to sort and classify written slips How to convert sorted slips into a useful form Appendices provide examples of actual slip-writing targets for various specialized purposes that the reader can use exactly as provided to get started with the Crawford Slip Method.

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About the Author H. William Dettmer is a professional management consultant. His clients include Fortune 500 companies such as Lucent Technologies, Weyerhaeuser, NEC America and Ericsson Cellular, as well as the U.S. Navy and the Department of Commerce's Management Extension Partnership. He learned the Crawford Slip Method directly from C.C. Crawford in the 1980s and has applied it to solve complex problems, develop strategy and plan its implementation. A retired Air Force pilot, Dettmer is a student of maneuver warfare and the philosophy of John Boyd. He holds a Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California and is the author of four books on constraint management: Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (1997), Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance (1998), Manufacturing at Warp Speed [with Eli Schragenheim] (2000), and Strategic Navigation (2003).

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Sample Excerpts

In 1925, C.C. Crawford, then a new professor at the University of Southern California, created a method of collecting and organizing research data to help him in writing his post-doctoral research. This method involved the use of small slips of paper, each with a single statement or fact written on it. Crawford took his research notes on these slips of paper, which, for a project the size of a doctoral dissertation, began to accumulate in the thousands.

But Crawford also devised a way to organize this mass of slips into a coherent ìknowledge base,î and the fact that each datum was on a separate slip enabled him to rearrange the pieces of the knowledge puzzle into the configuration that was most useful for his research topic. In retrospect, this was probably the first relational database.

Crawford went on to refine this research method. He used it to organize and write more than just a dissertation. With his slip-writing method, he eventually produced seven linear feet of books on his bookshelf, all written or co-authored by himself.

But along the way, Crawford also discovered something else about this method of using slips to collect and aggregate data. He found that it was an exceptionally efficient, effective way to draw knowledge from people, as well as from books and periodicals. He learned how to apply this characteristic of the slip method to solving problems in a wide variety of specialized areas.

Over the next 67 years, until his death in 1992 at the age of 94, Crawford refined his ìslip methodî into a powerful, focused tool for brainpower networkingócapitalizing on the idea that many heads are better than one. To this day, there is no equal to the Crawford Slip Method in drawing out, collecting, and organizing the knowledge of groups of people so completely in such a short period of time. Hereís an example.

In November 1989, Dr. Robert M. Krone and I used the Crawford Slip Method to draw out the collective opinions of more than 500 people at the First Total Quality Management Symposium, hosted by Martin-Marietta in Denver, Colorado. In fewer than 10 minutes, we obtained nearly 2,000 ideas, written on slips, on the question, ìHow can we make the second TQM Symposium even better than the first one?î The 2,000 ideas, each one contributed by a participant, required less time to write than a traditional critique form. And the collection of ìshotgunnedî ideas, once they were functionally organized, provided far more useful information on what to keep doing in the future, what not to do again, what to change next time, and what might be added. This 10 minute writing session resulted in 27 pages of single-spaced recommendations, functionally organized, for how to conduct the next symposium.

The preceding example points out a need to distinguish between knowledge and opinion. What we got from the TQM symposium participants was opinion: what they liked, what they didnít like, and what they thought should be done in the future. This is, of course, very valuable information in many circumstances. For instance, consider the value of having a way to collect customer opinions about products or services rapidly and anonymously. But as one contemporary barroom philosopher once said, ìOpinions are like backsides; everybodyís got one.î Not all backsides are well-formed and beautiful, and some arenít good for much except producing gas.

So it can be with opinions. As a means of networking the brainpower of people, the Crawford Slip Method is probably without equal. But as with computer algorithms, it can be a ìgarbage in - garbage outî kind of thing. A collection of slips, even if they contain opinions, is much more valuable if it comes from people who truly know something about the topic in question. The opinion that comes from an expert in some area is closer to factual knowledge than one that comes from someone who is only peripherally involved.

The potential of the Crawford Slip Method to improve quality, productivity, and overall system performance should be fairly obvious. Deming himself observed that the expertise in doing a job well resides with those closest to the work. Crawfordís method offers a fairly simple way to tap the brainpower of those who know the most about a situation, and survey them rapidly, anonymously, and completely. So as you read this book, if Iíve succeeded at my mission, you will easily be able to visualize ways in which you might use the Crawford Slip Method to advance your personal and organizational objectives. Youíll see the various modes in which you might use this powerful brainpower networking tool. But always keep in mind that this is a qualitative tool, not a quantitative one. And the quality of what you get out of it is only as good as the quality of what the people you survey with it put into it. If you ask a bunch of ìbacksidesî how a problem should be solved, be prepared to receive ìgasî as an answer. But if you choose your audience based on what they know, the ultimate product could be pure gold.

H. WILLIAM DETTMER
Port Angeles, Washington
July 2003
gsi@goalsys.com
Introduction

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Catalogue Information

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