Data

The exchange of information is usually not treated like a transaction. There is a lot information that is exchanged informally. This information can contain a lot of value. Sometimes it’s  mutually valuable, other times the value is imbalanced. Even when information is traded as a financial transaction, the value doesn’t Read more…

There is a Japanese concept called Poke Yoke that in oversimplified terms means  mistake proofing by design. This is a brilliant and reassuring strategy  when it works as intended…But it is massively frustrating when it doesn’t. I don’t think I am the only person that has ever tried to force Read more…

Too many organizations focus their information strategy around departments and job functions…and while this approach seems rational, I wonder if it is a totally backward model information centric organizations. The brilliant Peter Marks of Design Insight once wrote about the irony of supposedly customer centric organizations that were so structured Read more…

As a society, we have more classifications and hierarchies than we know what to do with. But the thing is that these can also be refined even more. Sure hierarchies and classifications are useful. But every new hierarchy or classification creates exponentially more complexity. And because the complexity is hidden, Read more…

Knowing how to use a computer and how to manage information effectively are two very different things. Using a computer or a digital device has become an extremely common capability. Everyone with a smart phone is using information technology, but is information being effectively communicated. But knowing about how to Read more…

On the whole, we don’t know how to deal with information, but we all think we have a way of managing information. The fascinating thing about information is that it is both personal and communal. There is big information. Everything out in the public domain in some shape or form. Read more…

Do  you  ever  feel  like  you are  just  force  fitting  what  you  want to  do into  digital  form Digital  offers  many  advantages. But  many  of these advantages are  illusory The  ability to quickly copy, alter  and  exchange  information  its digital form is pretty remarkable, but the advantages  dissipate  when everyone  Read more…

Love may be blind, but data is certainly not blind. But data doesn’t always help you to see. It may help you hear if you’re willing to listen. Data produces all kinds of noise. There is always something in the data that doesn’t fit. Like the gloves in the OJ Read more…

There’s monitoring and then there is monitoring…. Dashboards have become very popular tools for monitoring and measuring all kinds of activities. Based on the metaphor of the car dashboard, these dashboards are supposed to give you the information that you need at a glance. The flawed assumption is that dashboards Read more…