Managing VM/CMS systems for user effectiveness

Appropriate management actions can significantly enhance the effectiveness of an interactive system from the user's point of view. During more than ten years' experience with interactive systems at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, we have made management decisions that extend the capability of these systems to work for the user by enabling sensible decisions to be made about the user's own time, and by selectively adding to the systems facilities that enable the user to spend less time compensating for system limitations and more time on the problem. Increased emphasis has been placed on using the computer as a tool to extend the users' memory as well as their logic power. Our computing systems are adapted by experienced users, via EXEC'S, so that the effectiveness of man-machine communication ingreases with time. This is of special benefit to the inexperienced user who then takes advantage of the experienced user's evolutionary growth. The ways in which we have dealt with issues of availability, distributed change management, data management, in-line documentation, response time, expansion factors, specialized function, and effective user-to-user communication have been the key to our success. VM/370 and CMS are the primary vehicles that our users have found to be effective for their rapidly evolving interactive environment.