Duane Bowker is one of the inventors of AT&T TrueVoiceSM. The following is an excerpt from an AT&T hand-out provided by Mr. Bowker describing his invention:
"AT & T TrueVoiceSM is a method that greatly improves the quality of long-distance transmission by a) selectively amplifying lower speech frequencies to compensate for the low frequency attenuation introduced by typical telephone transmitters and receivers and (b) increasing the overall loudness of the voice to a level more typical of local telephone calls. The low frequency emphasis makes the person's voice over the telephone sound more like the way that person's voice would normally sound in a face to face conversation. The low-frequency emphasis, in essence, widens the bandwidth of the end-to-end telecommunications channel at the lower end of the spectrum where many talkers have significant amounts of speech energy. The increase in overall loudness makes the speech easier to hear on long distance connections and brings the speech level of typical talkers much closer to that which is considered optimal by most people. The loudness compensation is only applied to softer connections and will not make already loud connections too loud."
Click here to read more about AT&T TrueVoice.
At Bell Labs, where Duane Bowker works, every successful project eventually becomes a team effort. Duane created the idea for TrueVoice with his colleague, Jim James. They knew each other well, had worked together for a long time, were both cognitive psychologists, and did not need to divide labor. But when it came time to implement the idea, Duane became the product champion--he sold the idea to the rest of the company and helped organized the teams that took a rough prototype and turned it into a new technology. For example, Duane and Jim initially thought that the way to improve transmission was to work with the transmitter and receiver, but a group working on long-distance lines convinced them that was the place to make improvements, and then set about doing it.
What follows is Duane's advice, mixed in with some of our own:
(1) Goals: Typically, a group project begins with a set of goals like the ones described in this packet. However, the goal often leaves room for innovation--in this case, the group has to improve on any of a number of existing devices and needs to decide which direction to take. Duane suggests using brainstorming, in which group members write down and air ideas without any criticism (no one can say anything negative)--it creates a climate where people can listen and share freely. Eventually, these ideas need to be focused--but one still has to maintain an attitude of mutual respect.
(2) Resources: Groups also typically begin with limited resources--in this case, a set of materials. If a group needs to get more, they have to work together to convince management. A group that has a strong consensus makes a much better case for additional materials than one where some members don't know what is going on, or disagree with others about the group's direction.
(3) Division of labor: In a bad team, nobody knows who does what. A good team divides the labor into micro-tasks. These tasks should be suited to the expertise and interests of individual members, as much as possible.
(4) Schedule: Groups begin with a schedule imposed from the outside, but effective groups also develop an internal schedule that sets goals for the completion of micro-tasks. For example, while two people are building a transmitter, another two can be writing a caveat.
(5) Rules: Groups often find that they need to set-up a set of rules or guidelines for participation and decision-making. For example, one of the dangers of dividing labor is that an individual working on one part of the device may get out of touch with an individual working on another--and the components will not work together. One way around that is to get the group together at regular intervals and discuss progress.
(6) Leadership: Having a leader like Duane who serves as a product champion is great, provided the leader listens and makes sure the rest of the team is 'on board'. A group can make it a rule that everyone gets a chance to talk at meetings, to avoid one member becoming too dominant; groups can also pick a moderator who is not the champion to ensure that alternatives are considered, but the discussion does not bog down--one has to make decisions about what to do and move ahead.
Unless otherwise noted this page and all its contents and subdocuments are copyright 1994 by Michael E. Gorman