Information systems have three main purposes: Record keeping Communication Forecasting And these purposes are interconnected. Record keeping helps with communication and forecasting. The problem is that not all information is of equal value. Information varies based on its accuracy, reliability as well as its ability to be encoded. Some information Read more…
Information theory is the underlying foundation upon which modern information technology is built. Two key concepts of information theory are: 1) Encode as much information in as little space as possible. 2) Confirmation that the information has been transmitted and received. The concepts are powerful, but they only apply at Read more…
In a manufacturing environment, inventory turns are a good proxy metric of the health of the business. The more inventory that flows through the business is an indication that sales and production are both going well. As jobs increasingly shift toward ‘knowledge work’ (despite the enormous contributions of Peter Drucker, Read more…
When you need an information system to manage the information that is in your information system, you know there is something fundamentally wrong. It is toooooooo much. Just because you are able to track a lot of different things in some overly complex information system doesn’t mean that you should. Read more…
Darkness is infinite. Enlightenment is far more limited. Information is much the same way. What is known is finite. What is unknown is infinite. And the infinite far outweighs the finite. The paradigm of information systems is generally to capture the known in as many ways as possible. And the Read more…
Information is a bit like sugar. It gives you a quick burst of pleasure and energy, but after the initial high, you are left feeling a bit empty and low. Yet, you still crave more. For example, Twitter is a repository of random fragments of information. The benefit is that Read more…
In some ways, information systems are the ultimate application area for design thinking. But you know what? I absolutely hate Design Thinking. It sounds pretentious. Fancy terminology for simple ideas that time forgot. And you know what is worse than Design Thinking, it is people that are doctrinaire about its Read more…
Walking on a trail the other day, I recognized a lot of problems with information. The trail map looks good. It makes sense, but the actual trail is often a bit more ambiguous than the map. The map is oversimplified and leaves out much detail. The actual trail is more Read more…
Today’s information management tools look attractive and have a facade that makes them seem easy to use. The problem is that most organizations really don’t know what they are doing with information inside these systems. Information systems exist to help different functions do their jobs… And while that may seem Read more…
Peter Thiel wrote an interesting book called Zero to One where he expounded on his theories on the mindset for growing a big business. This post has nothing to do with that book except for playing with the title… This is about the notion of zero incremental cost… There are Read more…