Businesses create and use information constantly. One team captures it, other teams group, filter or manipulate it, then that new information is in turn used by others. Lather, rinse, repeat. Whether it’s an automated process, a system user with a screen, or an individual with email or even pen and paper, information is constantly being consumed, produced and distributed. It’s like a factory where parts come in one end and get used to make other parts or finished goods, that are sent to customers ready to be used.
Or is it?
If you compared how your business works with information to a manufacturing assembly line, how close would it come?
Is there a regular production schedule? Are there clearly defined requirements for what information to start with? Is there a set of instructions that have been time tested as effective for putting the right parts together in the right way every time?
For most businesses the answer is no.
This site is focused on answering the question of why not? Why can’t your organization work with information in an effective, repeatable way? How can quality be improved so that all team members trust what they are given? What would it take to bring the techniques for making complex products like modern automobiles to make your business information flows faster, more efficient and higher quality?
In short, how can your business operate more like an Information Factory?