Part IV – “Point Papers”

Index to the Series:
Part I: Initiative, marketing, sales, project planning and program management skills
Part II: Auditing Skills
Part III: Operations 24/7/365
Part IV: “Point Papers”
Part V: Collateral Duties
Part VI: The “Git ‘er done!” Factor
Part VII: “Total Care”
Part VIII: Communications in the Workplace
Part IX: “Give a smart person with potential a chance”
Part X: Process Engineering, Continuous Improvement, Total Quality Management, Total Quality Leadership, or what ever you call it. The bottom line title: Making “it” better
Part XI: The Military’s Supply System
Part XII download Faith of My Fathers : “Red Blood or Red Ink”
Part XIII: Constructive Plagiarism

Communications skills. For all the words we have, and the many languages available, many problems seem to boil down to problems with getting our point across.

One thing I was called upon to do regularly when I was in the middle and upper ranks was to write “Point Papers.” Not all the people I worked with had to do this, but it was s particular skill exercised when in staff assignments, large and small.

What is a point paper? A point paper is a single sheet of paper, used to encapsulate complex issues and what the best course of action was for the purpose of communicating this to executive level leadership. It generally consists of three sections:

1) Background
2) Discussion
3) Recommendation(s)

Once completed, the document was usually reviewed by several other people in the chain of command and then corrections or changes were made before presentation to the commander. The goal at this final presentation was usually to be in and out in about 5 minutes, having skillfully communicated the essential points of the issue, and a supporting the best course of action to be taken. Sometimes the requirement was to present more than one alternative plan, but at other times, to present what was best from your research.

The skills developed in being able to get good at writing point papers involve being able to absorb the available information on an issue, determine the genesis of the situation, communicate what state it is in now, then evaluate the best way to tackle the situation for success, and to condense this to the point a senior manager knows what is required in order to make the right decision and get back to the other tasks at hand. In many cases, there was usually a time constraint on the person doing the research and writing, due to the operational needs at hand. A good point paper writer is a quick study and has an eye for significant detail, a great analytical mind, as well as the ability to be brief.

Need someone like that? Scan resumes for assignment to major staff position in any service, then ask if they’ve had the pleasure of drafting point papers.

Part III – Operations 24/7/365

Index to the Series:
Part I: Initiative, marketing, sales, project planning and program management skills
Part II: Auditing Skills
Part III: Operations 24/7/365
Part IV: “Point Papers”
Part V: Collateral Duties
Part VI: The “Git ‘er done!” Factor
Part VII: “Total Care”
Part VIII: Communications in the Workplace
Part IX: “Give a smart person with potential a chance”
Part X: Process Engineering, Continuous Improvement, Total Quality Management, Total Quality Leadership, or what ever you call it. The bottom line title: Making “it” better
Part XI: The Military’s Supply System
Part XII download Faith of My Fathers : “Red Blood or Red Ink”
Part XIII: Constructive Plagiarism

In this part, which is actually a continuation of the story in Part II, since it relates to how I found out this is a desirable skill in the outside world.

Not only did Cantor-Fitzgerald like what they saw in the pilot they hired, after he had a few weeks on the job he noticed something was lacking in the understanding of the shift workers. The computer center needed to run 24/7/365 to support the world-wide operations. It seemed the day shift was pretty well staffed up, but the “after hours” shifts really didn’t handle casualties well. If the systems burped, they pretty much got out the paper and put their feet up, waiting for the day shift to show up and get things back into operation again. This guy saw that as pretty inefficient for a major corporation, with satellite offices around the planet.

He called me and asked for me to find him some chiefs (Chief Petty Officers (E-7 to E-9)) to be hired as after hours shift supervisors. He’s the key: he didn’t need them to understand computers, as much as he needed someone who knew how to keep things rolling, to be able to work through casualties, so that the “system” was available to the users. Certainly computer knowledge was desirable, but not essential, to the requirement.

Who better than a bunch of experienced ship engineering senior enlisted people to manage the tasking? This isn’t to say that others don’t acquire the skills, but the entire careers of “snipes” (that’s the polite term for the people who spent days on end below decks ensuring the rest of us had water, air conditioning, converted power, sewage services, compressed air, heat, ventilation, firefighting capabilities, and a variety of other things that seem so inconsequential, right up until the time they go dead, to paraphrase a like from “Top Gun”) is spent making things operate around the clock, and fixing breakdowns fast.

While I spent most of my career “above decks” (polite way of saying the non-snipes), I had a tour 21 months as an Engineer Officer. It corrected my prejudicial views of the engineers and I found out just how hard they work. I had been in operations and in charge of communications and tactical information management prior to that assignment. I thought those areas were 24/7, but that was mostly only while at sea. The engineers never take a day off, even in port, therefore, the people with a ship engineering background get my vote for the most experienced in making it happen day in and day out, night, day, snow, sleet, hail, in hurricanes and glass like seas, in port, out to sea or even in a dry docked condition.

As a result of this working environment, there is a certain set of thought processes that develop around these conditions. In addition to the mental process, the Navy has refined methods to train to handle the proper normal operation of large and expensive equipment, as well as how to quickly respond to casualties, to keep the equipment damage to a minimum, and to ensure personnel safety. That entire system, the “Engineering Operating Sequencing Systemâ” (EOSS) has its roots in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and is still in use today. The ships had been poorly maintained due to lack of funds and operations were basically run off hand written notes and word of mouth stories. We lost many people and spent a lot of taxpayer money on the repairs as a result of the poor “process control.”

The EOSS success spawned a corollary in the “upper deck” world, named “Combat Systems Operational Sequencing System” (CSOSS) in the late 80’s, which became widely deployed on ships by the mid-90s. As the upper deck equipment became far more sophisticated and equipped with compressors, power converters, heat exchanging units up in topside spaces, the resulting costs of casualties was excessive. I saw one report from a ship’s captain that said the expected “wear and tear” breakdowns seemed to almost disappear. He couldn’t quantify the cost savings, he just knew his equipment was operational most all the time, and he could only attribute that to the only significant change in how business was done, and that was the implementation of CSOSS.

Do you someone who needs a operations supervisor for a 24/7 shop? Go find a retired “snipe” and just see how much better things go. If the applicant is an AEGIS trained fire controlman or electronics technician, don’t hold it against them, but they are a good choice as well.