Illustrating the day-to-day battle

One frame from an old comic illustrates some lessons to keep in mind when battling time, fighting the paper war and coping with information overload.
Maps provide an excellent visual summary of a situation. Maps are useful tools in as much as:

• the value they provide exceeds the cost of their construction and maintenance. Value is reflected in time saved, insights gained and the quality of decisions
• the summary enables a focus on the pertinent issues and not detract from them. A good map enables an immediate view of different levels of details and their relationships
• they enable the situation to be rapidly modelled by users, and users remain cognisant that the map is a representation of the situation, rather than the situation itself
• the map can be easily updated and maintained. The generals have to guide the battle, not become immersed in map maintenance activities

Imagine if the generals :

• crowded round the radio in the background, listening to messages and traffic
• had to spend a day painting some new flags for the map or making some more trees

What effect would it have on the battle or on the decisions they made? Alternately, what effect would it have on your battles if you were constantly suffered from:

• inadequate maps (long written reports; information scattered between e-mails, written notes or computer files; long lists that are curtailed by the edges of your screen)
• distractions (e-mail; social networking sites)
• huge time costs in maintaining your systems (transferring information between formats, software applications and platforms; report writing)

Mind map software and other forms of summarising information are useful. If you leave it to others to provide the tools and do not assess the effectiveness of the tool, it's more likely than not to result in your becoming distracted from your "big picture".

In the context of this post, it means losing the battle.