The theory

Have you noticed that information must always be produced as soon as possible?  The speed that information is required seems to depend on the seniority of the person requesting it.  Is there a contradiction here?  Yet, the more senior a person is, the more they should be looking into the future and making strategic decisions. Since strategic decisions are often arrived at over a period of several months, during which information is gathered to support the decision, that information is not required urgently.

Surely decisions are always required urgently? Not necessarily ― other required information may not yet be available, (i.e. it isn’t complete); the decision may not take effect for many months; or more urgent decisions must be made. There is also the possibility (probability?) that the information will lie on the user's desk for some time before they look at it.

Thus we can deduce the second “Principle of Information Management” (PIM).

The implications

The relationship between the position of the information user in the organisational hierarchy, and the speed at which they are provided with information, often results in information being made available in totally the wrong places at the wrong time.

For example: who needs to know when the next delivery of toys is due?   The shop assistant, faced with a customer who has just travelled miles only to find they are out of stock, or the merchandise director?  The shop assistant probably has to phone “Head Office” and even then will be lucky to get an answer,  the Merchandise Director probably has the information at her fingertips but doesn’t need it to make an immediate decision (or any decision).

The application

Provide, or request, information with an urgency related to the urgency of the decision, allowing for the need to understand the information before making the decision.  This will almost certainly result in providing information for people at the “sharp” end of the organisation (i.e. the people dealing with customers or clients) before providing it for the strategists.

On so onto the final principle...