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Solving the Information Overload Problem By Paul Cripwell Editor's Note: In this article, the author describes a strategy for dealing with information overload that builds networks around human resources and "information engineers."
Everything has to start somewhere and in this article let us begin with the commonly accepted premise that things are changing, and that, by-in-large, change is good and leads to progress and prosperity. In order to determine that change exists one must have information about what the change is. What was it like before? What will it be like in the future? The answers to each of these questions provides the information we need to determine what a particular change is, and how it will affect us. Information is therefore an underlying feature of the constant change that is around us. The word "information" has been around for a long time, and has taken on many connotations and subtleties of meaning. In many cases it has been severely overused; Information Technology, Information Age, and Information Systems. But what exactly does it mean, and what is a definition and understanding that we can all work from as a common based. The Concise Oxford Dictionary provides the following definition: Information: n. Informing, telling; thing told, knowledge, (desired) items of knowledge, news; information retrieval, tracing of information stored in books, computers, etc.; information theory, quantitative study of transmission of information by signals etc. Not a very good start in today's context. Let us tighten up this definition a little by adding the connotation that information lies between raw data and acquired knowledge. It is a stepping stone from the data in the world around us, to the application of concepts, ethics and morals in the decisions we make. Regardless of what we need in the way of information for making a particular decision there is a constant barrage of factors pushing information upon us. Looking strictly within the enterprise the sources are many and varied; from financial considerations, marketing plans, sales projections and technical requirements and capabilities. Each one of these areas is gaining from the information available to make decisions, but at the expense of requiring more information to make any decision. One must also look outside the enterprise for information. In years gone by it arrived by newspaper, magazine, radio and TV in what seemed to be a manageable amount. Today the streams and variety of media seem to be wider and pumping faster with the Internet (WWW, etc.) leading the way. It may be true that we need more information to make better and more informed decisions in today's business world, but the information coming through is far greater than what is required. Hence the creation of Information Overload. In the remainder of this article I will present a method of handling this information barrage while still maintaining the ability to make informed decisions with the best possible information.
You, as an individual within an enterprise, have a unique set of life experiences and education which you apply to your occupation. Take stock of these in an information flow context with respect to your part in the enterprise. Which ones do you wish to continue to remain up-to-date? Which ones can slide a little behind? Are there some streams of information that are just using up your time without any payback to either your personal life, or your career? Note the information flows that you must keep up with in order to maintain your level of expertise for your occupation, as well as those flows that will maintain the competitive edge of the enterprise. Consciously discard the information that is coming in from other flows, since either it is of limited value to your career or enterprise, or there is someone else in the enterprise that is maintaining their level of expertise. For those flows which are important, determine the most appropriate method of remaining up-to-date. This will mean dedicating time at work to keep up with occupational information. With each individual in an enterprise working towards the common goal of maintaining the competitive edge, it follows that the enterprise should encourage their staff to pursue this activity. This encouragement can be in many forms. The most obvious one is the allocation of resources to training, but there are other more subtle ways, and probably less costly. Here are a few examples:
The above suggestions fall into two distinct categories; gathering information and sharing information. The achievement of competitive advantage is gained through the availability of both activities. With your own information flows in order, you can proceed to the next step.
By cutting out specific information flows you have consciously deprived yourself of up-to-date information in certain areas. This does not mean you no longer need the information, but that you are not tracking it yourself. Since you still need the information you must find an alternative source. Finding alternative sources of information is not that difficult, and can be readily accomplished by looking around the enterprise. Using activities directed towards sharing information - from coffee to soccer - one can identify other professionals in the enterprise that are maintaining their own level of expertise is a related field. Talk to these people and find their interests and consequently their personal network of information. Log this information as: Here is the person I need to talk to about . . . . The actual information you get from them can be stored or discarded as you see fit, since you can always return to the source when necessary. This new core network now contains a list of people that have access to the most up-to-date information in their own particular interest areas. Notice that you have reduced your information load by replacing information on things with a single person's name. With the core network in place you can proceed to the next step.
As a technical professional you have probably created a network of other technical professionals, each with a different expert area, or focus. Unfortunately, as technical professionals, this is not the complete picture necessary to run the enterprise, or make it profitable. Over time your company has probably accumulated specialists in PLCs, networks, CAD/CAM, computer programming, telecommunications, etc. Whatever your enterprise is focused on, chances are you have the in-house expertise to handle it. But is this all you need? Just outside your technical expertise is another group of professionals equally devoted to the enterprise; finance, sales, marketing, administration. These are the people responsible for getting your wonderful product or process to your customers and keeping the enterprise in business. They have their own areas of expertise, their own network of professionals, and their own stake in a profitable company. As part of your external network of experts you do not have to understand everything they do, but simply that they are there. Log this information as: Here is the person I need to talk to about . . . These people form part of the external network to provide information and services that you really don't want to know anything about. You turn to them for help and assistance when the time comes, much like turning to ask your core network colleagues. There is one other piece of the external network that is frequently overlooked, corporate memory. Here is a major source of information about what has happened in the past. Remember the axiom about history: Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it. You may not realize it but you have created a substantial network of people, contacts, and information sources from which you can draw information on an as required basis. Remember you will be retaining the information about the person or location, only. With this network in place one can significantly reduce the incoming information load and make it manageable. One can operate comfortably in this new milieu until something new comes along; change. Since the premise of this article is that change is constant one must have a mechanism in place to see the change coming and adjust your personal, core and external networks accordingly. Here is the key to recognizing change without creating information overload. You need to add one more person to your network. This person will fulfill certain duties and use their talents as required. The duties are related to the uncovering of new information and information sources that MAY be of importance to the enterprise. On a regular basis they will inform you of what is new, or could be happening. This can be weighed in a business or personal context for the enterprise to decide the appropriate action. The talents of such a person are somewhat unusual. They must be able to understand and process vast quantities of information and present it in a useful form. They must be able to find the new sources and extract the information. They must be able to redo everything with the expectations that things have changed and everything could be different. With these talents in mind I have given the title: Information Engineer. There are three directions in Information Engineering. Any enterprise may need one or more of these directions depending on their size, internal resources or volatility of technology in their products/processes.
Inbound is defined as bringing information into an enterprise. With respect to information engineering this is necessarily new information and is distinguished as being in an area unrelated, or distantly related to the enterprise. The purpose of IE in this direction is to bring new information into an organization. Not only is this information new but the discipline/technology/industry (area) from which the information is drawn is unrelated to the organization. The information gathering exercise is directed at areas that are unknown to the organization, but are in areas that have potential impact on the organization, its products, or processes. In this direction IE can be considered more art than science. The starting point for searching is necessarily vague and dependent on the person conducting the search. Even when one ignores the current products and processes of a given organization there is still a virtually infinite number of search topics of potential relevance. So selecting a starting point is frequently based solely on "gut instinct", hence the art. Conducting the search is more technology driven than ever before. Whole libraries and millions of pages of text can be searched with the touch of a button, or click of a mouse. Geography is no longer a consideration. Documentation at MIT is just as accessible as company project histories from Singapore. The technological capabilities have, unfortunately, lead directly to a severe case of information overload for anyone attempting massive searches on a worldwide scale. At this stage a combination of focused attention and information engineering techniques can be the difference between success and drowning. During any wide spread search from a given starting point a large number of potential paths will surface. Not all of these can be researched adequately. In fact IE does not expect a "completed" search of anything. The paths that are selected for further investigation are usually done so from a combination of "gut instinct" and serendipity. While reading through this process for Inbound IE it is important to consider the end product of an IE search. The purpose of IE is not to deliver a final answer as to what decision should be made (in a business context) but what additional information may have to be considered in the process of making the business decision. Therefore the end product is a list of potential areas and some indication of the level or type of impact of each area on the particular organization. Knowing how to look for information is fast becoming a valuable talent, some would say even more valuable than the information itself.
The outbound direction is how you disseminate information to those outside your enterprise. In the entrepreneurial spirit this is marketing. IE Outbound is less restrictive in its application and includes all organizations that wish to convey information to the public, either for profit or philanthropy. While outbound IE may be considered more marketing than science, it still contains a large component of technology. Thanks to the World Wide Web it is now possible to put your information in a place where a lot of people can read it. What should you put there depends on a long list of factors, though from an IE viewpoint we limit the factors to those which control the ability of the public to find your information when they need it. This can be referred to as "pull" technologies, as opposed to the marketing aspects which are dominantly "push" technologies. During any Outbound IE project the question to keep upper most in mind is whether your "customers" are more receptive to information being dropped in front of them, or more receptive to information that they go and find. Here the question of how the organization is perceived by its clientele may be a prime consideration in how the information is delivered. Historically the "push" technologies and the organizations (profit-oriented corporations) dominated the landscape with advertisements on billboards, TV, and mailers. With the advent of the World Wide Web it became possible for anyone to display information in "pull" technology form, for anyone else to read and use. The approach in Outbound IE is to take the customers' viewpoint. How do they want the information presented, prepared, etc.? In the technology of the World Wide Web, it is more difficult to imagine your customer profile. Not only has your potential customer/client base increased significantly but the technological capabilities of all these new clients is also unknown. Outbound IE projects are directed towards asking and answering questions about your organization's current client profile, and then working into the hazier world of your potential client's profile. At this stage the Inbound IE techniques can be used in reverse to determine how best to present your organization's information in a way that will attract new contacts either as collaborators or customers.
The All Around IE direction is related to the dissemination of information within your organization. If you are a sole proprietor, you know everything that is going on within your organization and don't need this direction. If your are part of a small organization, it is quite possible that you know everything that is going on within the organization so high powered IE is just not appropriate. If you have created your own core network of technology professionals but have still not covered the entire enterprise then you will need All Around IE assistance in the continued development of new products and services without duplication of effort. The All Around IE project can create a core network of networks. The professional staff in this super-core network know enough about the content in the core networks to identify commonalities or points of contact. These points of contact are then brought together in a forum suitable for the free exchange of views and ideas, with the ultimate purpose to determine if a new product or process can be developed. The prime consideration for an Information Engineer in any of these projects is the ability to ingest large quantities of information and identify the key nuggets that might produce results -- to envisage potential relationships in seemingly unrelated areas. |
Why do we need information?