Complex information represented not simply, but appropriately

Last month, I presented a course on information management to managers of railway maintenance crews. I wanted to make the point that presenting information visually can be a powerful way to make it 'speak'.

In the morning, I asked participants what they knew about the federal budget of the United States. This drew a blank. They managed crews maintaining the railway networks. What could they know about the US budget?

Later in the day we discussed the federal budget of the United States.  It was an informed discussion, informed by a poster Death and Taxes: a visual guide to where your federal tax dollars go.

The poster enabled us to discuss something immense and complex with little prior knowledge. Sure, it does not answer every question, but it enabled us to see enough to ask further questions.

The poster demonstrates the power of presenting complex information not simply, which results in dumbing down, but appropriately. 

The poster was created by Jess Bachman. You can view it at http://www.wallstats.com/deathandtaxes/

Teams and sports analogies

When I worked in office teams, there was always an annual team-building session. At each session, a facilitator would use one (at least and often more) sports stories to tell us how to 'play as a team'.

What gripping stories! What dramatic examples! All made sense at the time. All forgotten soon afterwards. Well, not forgotten, so much as failing to change team behaviour.

I am not against sports analogies. They can be a powerful, if hackneyed, way to tell the people in teams how to achieve the team's goals.

I believe one of the major reasons the sports 'story' didn't translate to my teams was 'cycle time'.

By this, I mean that a sports team plays a match each week during the season. Each match is followed by the coach's debrief. Performance is reviewed. The coach outlines what needs to stay the same and what needs to change. The impetus for change and renewal is a weekly cycle.

Some of the teams in which I was involved had an annual cycle time. Performance was measured annually. The bonus was paid annually.

A short cycle doesn't mean the changes are always effective, however, it does mean that the impetus for change and renewal occurs more frequently. There are more opportunities to improve because 'by next Saturday we will' is more compelling than 'by this time next year we will'.

A classic example is when an employee postpones his resignation by several months in order to be paid the previous year's bonus.

So, if your team has a long cycle, shorten it. I believe it's an important factor underlying the performance of sports teams. Failing to grasp this point renders many sports analogies ineffective in changing team behaviour.

The convenience and immediacy of pencil and paper

A pencil and an A3 pad are essential bits of kit to capture and develop thought.

The surface of the page allows pictures, words, diagrams, doodles, scribbles, tentative marks and bolder lines to express ideas.

Other tools can interfere with the flow. 'What should I say?' or 'how do I express?' blocks writing. 'Which program?' or 'how do I get it to?' have a similar effect when using a computer.

And while you can draw on a computer, pencil and paper are more nuanced.  They allow barely realised and even unconscious thoughts to come to the surface of the page.

Many aspects of life are intangible, making them hard to express using words. IT projects often fail because of fundamental misunderstandings between those commissioning, those executing and those using the end-result of the work.

An essential supplement to the communication of written specifications and the spoken exchange of ideas is: 'draw what you mean'.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the MyInformationCoach blog.

My information coach provides personal coaching services to give people access to the training, techniques and tools to save time and stress less.

The blog will outline some of the ideas underlying how you can improve the way you handle information in your life.