Information Traction: Find It, Consume It, Apply It (Part 3 of 4)

We continue our series about information traction – a term I have adopted to better describe the cycle of how to find, consume, digest, and apply information directly to the need at hand. While information is more abundantly available than ever before in our history, what to do with the information quickly became the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

IBM coined a phrase – consumability. Consumability refers to the ability to consume and digest complex and voluminous amounts of information by reducing the outward-facing complexity to those consuming the information.

Shifting Paradigms:

For instance, the mechanical operation of a car has changed very little over the past 50 years. Generally speaking, you still open the door, sit in the driver’s seat, and start the car.

What has changed, however, is the reliability and features available in the automobile of today. With increased safety requirements, more complex owner requirements, and longer commute times, the thought behind a trip in a car has become both science and art.

We as consumers simply want the car to work. We  hop in and expect to be able to go where we want – when we want. Most of us don’t care about how the car does what it does as long as it performs as expected.

The example of the car does not illustrate a major shift in paradigms; The manufacturers did not wish to break consumer confidence by introducing radical new ways in which to move from one place to another. They simply wanted to make commuting safer and more enjoyable by reducing complexity and decreasing barriers to consuming their product.

The Least Common Denominator:

Herbert E. Meyer succinctly stated,

And the most important thing we’ve learned is that information is like water. It’s vital to our lives; we cannot survive without it. But if too much pours over  us – we drown.

In his paper titled, How to Analyze Information, Meyer goes on to outline seven crucial steps to analyze, or consume and digest, information:

1. Figure out where you are
2. Be sure You’re Seeing Clearly
3. Decide what you need to decide
4. Determine what you need to know
5. Collect your information
6. Turn the information into knowledge
7. Make your judgment

Each of us make decisions in our lives, many times throughout our day. We have to make judgment calls on which way to turn, how fast to walk, when to use the restroom, and when to leave work. All of this takes evaluating many distinct data points for each and every decision.

What separates the wheat from the chaff is the ability to convert information into knowledge – and go on to apply it. Simply because you are armed with the same information as another does not dictate how you might interpret it into knowledge, nor will it determine how you choose to act with this knowledge.

Everyone can make a decision, but not everyone’s results speak highly of their analysis of the data at hand. Like water, we consume information. However, we must then digest it for it to be of use to us. By distilling the information to its basest form we are able more easily recognize patterns, identify the relationships, and filter out irrelevant information as waste. After the digestion has been completed, we now have, at our disposal, a usable energy source to fill our intellectual fuel tanks.

Up next, we conclude our series on information traction, and review why you don’t have to be the strongest or smartest to survive – and thrive.

Read the entire series here: Information Traction: Find It, Consume It, Apply It

---

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. To learn more about Ken, visit his about page. You may also find Ken on FriendFeed, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

---