Organization Makes IT Work
LANDWAVE INFORMATION DESIGN
Digital life is more than information, more than automation, more than connection. Digital life fuels a different relationship with the world. Remarkably, we find ourselves overloaded and the promises underutilized, personally and professionally, despite the ubiquity of information technology. Why? IT works for those who are organized. Organizing yourself and your operation remains the key activity to benefit from information technology. For three decades, I have been sorting out digital life both internally and for my clients.Don't Get Lost
It happens to all of us. New software - and even software upgrades - disrupt our workflows. For the most part, we all hold up and benefit from the improvements. Over time though, multiple cycles can take their toll. Even seasoned professionals experience slippage of the fundamentals of your equation: your information and your workflows. As much as we integrate, these are independent of your software. They are the part you are responsible for. Your information and processes are your secret sauce.
Mapping Your Information Ecology
Getting and keeping you organized requires definitive, comprehensive maps of your information flows. What are you trying to accomplish? What information makes that possible? Where does this information come from? Who is it going to? Is it right? Are you sourcing information from outside your organization? How well does it synch with your in-house data? These are some of the questions that you have to keep track of when you are running a large information system. By the time we're done, you'll have everything your teams need to get the most from technology investments. Are we building bureaucracy? I don't know. Are you? Is that a bad thing? If rigidity and ineffectiveness is your fear, consider your current position with your tech. Being organized doesn't necessarily equate to being inflexible or ineffective.Sensible IT
Decoding Information Tech Usage
Your IT teams need a little direction. What is it you want to do with IT? When you're operating in high performance environments, you need to know where you are, diagnose troubles and evaluate tradeoffs to make effective decisions. Your IT teams have broad spectrum knowledge of what's possible and how to solve a variety of problems. Are they the problems you need solved? Automating supply and financial processes, enabling coordination and collaboration, enabling access to in-house and the wider world references are all default IT applications. But more is possible - if you're prepared. Relationships & Causality What forces are at work on your problems? If you could see the mechanisms, processes and dynamics acting on your problems, how would that change your decision making? What's happening with the supply chain, the finances, the service delivery, beginning to end? High fidelity information displays illustrate your exploration of cause and effect. Orders of Magnitude Is the problem dominating your time responsible for only 2% of the outcome? The right displays along with strong analysis can show hidden large forces and cumulative effects of small ones. Impacts The red one or the green one? Previsualization gives you leverage when comparing options before you commit larger resources. Progress Are we there yet? Feedback mechanisms tell you how your decisions are working out. Now you can stick out your tongue at your dad when he responds, "We'll get there when we get there!" Quality Control Diagnostics Is your data accurate? How do you know? Do you have duplicate records, dates or manufacturers represented in different ways across multiple systems, tables or records? How would you know? How much trouble does this cause? Sensible reports and displays allow comparative analysis and make errors stand out.Working Together
Collaborating With Landwave
I'VE HAD SO MANY TITLES it's meaningless now. For purposes of our discussions, we can start by calling me a senior information design analyst. I'm still asking, "what does that mean?" PROJECT METHODS get you organized in cycles of listening to your needs and surveying how to achieve them. WORK PRODUCTS cover the gamut from documenting your current practices to modelling workflows to software roadmaps and deployment quality assurance. User interface modelling, form and report design, chart and illustration mockups are all part and parcel of our daily activities. CONTRACT ARRANGEMENTS In general Landwave subcontracts to prime information technology, management consulting, human resources, design, construction fabrication firms or education institutions. MY TEAMS Information design problems are handled mostly in-house. As assignments warrant I engage specialists from a variety of disciplines. PRICING AND SCHEDULING Detailed proposals help you and I establish specific responsibilities and outcomes. When the scope is unclear, and a more fluid approach is required, we can begin with short term assignments to test drive my services. This allows sufficient time to get fresh insights on your issues and formulate responses you can use.They Did
Information Design At Work
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500 Offices That Count
- When people are counting fast, consistent terms matter. Information wrangling at the Census
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I Know Exactly How Many People It Takes
- People based diagramming putting the "map" in enterprise architecture mapping.
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Stop Talking In Circles
- The beginning of dis-organization is using the same terms for different things. We let 16 different parties tell their story using the same terms.