de Stricker

Step stools and post-it notes

On a lighter note this week:  Freepint solicited an article for a "paperless office" theme issue and, based on standing on a step stool in my office, I did a whimsical piece on the continued utility of paper (in small amounts) - http://www.freepint.com/issues/010207.htm#feature

After submitting the piece, I kept thinking about the challenge of imparting information in a format-unpredictable environment.  Just as an example:  How would you tell the next owner of your condo that "owing to the kitchen renovation, access to the electricals for the dishwasher is at the back wall of the guest room" without affixing a (plastic encased) note in the circuit breaker cabinet? Any PDF and paper manual you were to prepare for new owners - I have in the past - will get lost or become inaccurate over time.  I have hopes my plastic encased note will survive for the duration (if it ever is lost, the future owners and their electricians will figure it out, but time wll be wasted).

Translation to our work:  Haven't we all encountered "Oh, we changed the process and now instead we ..." information that got lost in the mists of email and did not get to the equivalent of a plastic covered notice? 

Unlike a discontinouos condo resident change, most work places are fluid and continuous in personnel so that practice information is passed on.  But it's not a given.  I'm sure some knowlege workers have felt, as they started their jobs, just like the condo owners who had to seek out help to obtain the water shutoff valve tool the previous owners never knew they needed!

So from the step stool:  How can we help others by alerting them appropriately, via paper or acrylic signs if need be, to information they might not see on the screen?

Such cold comfort to be proven right

A survey of middle managers in the US and the UK published by Accenture on 4 January 2007 tells a chilling tale that should be required reading in any organization:  Read the 3-page summary at http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4484 ... and weep, then share it widely: Managers "spend more than a quarter of their time searching for information necessary to their jobs, and when they do find it, it is often wrong".  59% "said that as a consequence of poor information distribution, they miss information ... every day because it exists somewhere else in the organization and they just can not find it".  It's a bleak picture indeed, one I have observed again and again: "Information is becoming a burden on knowledge workers and will remain so until companies consolidate and streamline the stores and sources of intelligence." Keep up the good work, Accenture; this message deserves attention.

Telling it like it is

In a recent blog post, Dave Pollard comes right out and "nails" what ails the information profession.  It's well worth a visit and a reflection: http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/12/20.html#a1732  I took the opportunity to thank him for the piece and look forward to hearing more as he examines the matter further: What can be done to overcome what I call the "obscurity challenge" - the fact that in spite of our efforts to demonstrate value, many senior managers and executives remain unaware or unconvinced that information professionals are critical success factors in the successful operation of their organizations?