ID2100 - Rethinking Information Systems and Technology
What every executive should know ...

 

Despite what we tell ourselves ...

 

... Information Technology has always been
poor information management.

 

There's Much More to Information than Meets IT

There's Much More to Information than Meets ITLearning to Think about InformationHow Information WorksMaking Information Work

 

Preoccupied by how technology works the IT industry pays little attention to how information works and doesn't know it, assuming without question ... or evidence ... that standard practice IT is good information management.   It is not!

We feel the pain but don't easily see the cause because success is measured by how we use technology, not by how we use information (like judging a house by how we use a saw instead of by how we use lumber)

Conventional IT is, in effect, upside down, force-fitting information to how technology works instead of fitting technology to how information works.

 

Turning information management right side up ...

 

 ...making technology fit how information works instead of
force-fitting information to how technology works ...

 

... multiplies information capabilities while cutting
information management costs by well over half.

 

 

 

Learning to Think about Information

There's Much More to Information than Meets ITLearning to Think about InformationHow Information WorksMaking Information Work

 


Looking at information management by how information
works instead of by how computers work.

 


 

What the IT industry has never understood >

Most of what most IT people think and talk about is informationally incomplete, irrelevant, or destructive.

Example:

It is impossible to manage information to its
full potential with databases!
 

Databases automate pencil and paper concepts and their limitations, not information, severely constraining information possibilities and potential. 

Mind-stuck in techno-think and substantially untrained in how information works we don't notice that the following IT traditions limit, diminish, destroy, and/or ignore information possibilities, keeping us trapped in perpetual information failure.

Accounting Systems
CRM, ERP, SAP
Databases
Spread Sheets
Word Processing
Operating Systems
Enterprise Modeling
Information Architecture
Normalization
Object Orientation
System Development
Data Mining


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we could and should (but don't) accomplish with information.

 

 


 

When information is more important than technology >

Planning solutions by how information works instead of by how technology works vastly improves how we use both, slashing costs by well over half.

 

 

There are huge differences between managing information, managing data, and managing computers. Knowing one does not mean we know the others. 

IT Double-Think :

Conflicting concepts ... conventional thinking that obstructs useful consideration of information.  Resolving contradictions between what we do with technology and what we accomplish with information.
Data vs Information
Process vs Function
Design vs Discovery
Technology vs Information
Goals vs Purpose
Efficiency vs Efficacy
(Effectiveness)
Artificial vs Real Thinking
Results vs Capability


Information Functions:

All information "systems" are functionally identical. 

No system has ever required we invent a new way to use information ... that we invent new information functions. 

The difference in systems is not in what we do with information, but in how many of which functions are needed to inform a particular situation. (Just as all houses are functionally identical with differences being how many of which functional components ... doors, windows, walls, etc. ... are included.)  Conventional IT focuses on technical procedures without identifying or understanding information functions.



Planning Change:

Conventional systems are designed to handle changes in data.  A true information management system handles changes of ...
Data
Needs
Technology

 

... without having to update, recreate, or change a system, (Just because technology changes, for example, doesn't mean information usages and needs change.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Information Works
There's Much More to Information than Meets ITLearning to Think about InformationHow Information WorksMaking Information Work

 


Replacing information intuition with conscious understanding.

 


 

Information Topography >

How information naturally fits and reflects the real world (as distinct from how it fits computers, databases, or legacy pencil and paper solutions).

What we need to know about to know about something.


Information Types:

All situations are comprised of the same information types. We get better information management by solving types instead of situations; in effect solving all situations once and for all.
TYPES
Super-contexts
(4 types)
Contexts
(10 types)
Sub-Contexts
(7 types)
Facts
(11 types)
SUB-TYPES
Objective
(7 sub-types)
Subjective
(1 sub-type)
Non-Linguistic
(3 sub-types)


Information Origins:

We obtain information through:
Determination
Chronology
Derivation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Information Mechanics >

The natural laws ... the "physics" ... of information.

Information Precedence:

The order in which we obtain information
Primary
(Determination)
Collateral
(Chronology)
Secondary
(Derivation)


Information Dimensions:

Information functions in four dimensions; two definitional and two chronological.
Definitional Dimensions
(Information at a point in time)
Chronological Dimensions
(Information over time)
Occurrences
Facts
Effectivity
Applicability


Information Vectors:

"Paths" followed through informational dimensions to derive secondary information from primary and collateral information
Immediate
Summary
Distribution
Effectivity
Composite
Balance
Comparison
Applicability


Information Correlation:

Correlations are determined by how information fits within contexts and sub-contexts
Occurrence
(within
sub-context)
Group
(between
sub-contexts)
"Hierarchy"
(within
context)
"Relationship"
(between
contexts)


Supercession:

In the artificial world of conventional "information" systems "old" data is replaced with "current" data, to create a contrived representation of "now."  In the real world new information does not replace but supercedes old, allowing us to know what is, what was, and, in some cases, what will be all at the same time.  (Just because information is no longer current does not mean it is no longer information.)


Delta Computation:

In many circumstances when variables change proper computation is not just the calculation of a formula, but is the difference between the current result and the result the last time it was calculated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Information Work
There's Much More to Information than Meets ITLearning to Think about InformationHow Information WorksMaking Information Work

 

 

Planning information and planning technology require
different knowledge, skills, and perspectives.

 


 

Information Cartography >

Mapping the information content ... the information topography ... of a business so information can be used for any purpose instead of locking it down to the limited procedures and usage of legacy systems.  Keeping a system current simply means keeping the map current.  

 

 

 


 

Information Engine >

An information intelligent tool ... a vehicle ... that has everything we can do with information already built in allowing for the implementation, maintenance, and evolution of complex information systems with no software development ... without having to re-engineer the vehicle just because the information terrain and map change. 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

For More (and better) Information Contact:

 

Dick From

Informationalist

 

inquiry@id2100.com
1-206-459-7493

 

 

 

 

 

 



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