Information is a Task
One of the greatest challenges organizations face is truly
understanding the importance of, and managing the completion of,
information-based tasks.
I am forever going on about managing the task, not the content
or the technology. Once I was speaking at a conference about the
importance of managing a website based on task success. A lady
put up her hand.
"This task approach sounds interesting but we don't have any
tasks on our website. We just have information."
"And what sort of website do you have?" I asked.
"A health website," she replied.
"Let's say I have a rash on my hand," I replied. "If I go to a
health website, I'm not looking for information. I'm looking to
get rid of the rash."
Many organizations have a strange attitude towards information.
Its creation is nearly always disassociated from its use.
Information is rarely seen as useful or purposeful. It's just
there because people need it. It doesn't help you do things.
It's simply there for you to read just in case you need some
information.
The fact that you need to read some information has no
connection with the fact that you need to do something.
Information gets created for information-purposes only. No
liability. No accountability. And the job of the people who
created the information is finished once they have created it.
They are not even responsible for its findability. Saying it's
up on the Web is enough.
This attitude has driven so many government websites to the
point of uselessness. The Freedom of Information Act definitely
has good intentions. An unintended consequence, however, is that
stuff that serves no useful function, is never maintained, never
reviewed and never deleted gets published in large quantities.
But it's there, this information, because it's important to have
lots and lots of information.
Organizations have a fabulous capacity to produce massive
quantities of low grade, aimless, pointless information. Much of
the information that should have a point is useless because it
is not useable. People don't understand it. They can't act on
it. It doesn't result in someone completing a task.
Why do people come to your website? What are they trying to do?
We must reconnect information with its purpose, with its
function. Information is supposed to be the communication of
intelligence or knowledge.
Telling me how to make a pancake is useless information to me
because I don't want to make a pancake. But if you tell me that,
yes, there is a flight from London Heathrow to Dublin at 8.10
pm, then I can use that.
We cannot judge information on the fact that it physically
exists in some content form. We must judge it on the results it
delivers. To understand what the results should be we must first
understand the tasks of the people this information is intended
for.
The world we work and live in is becoming more
information-based. What that means is that we complete more and
more of the tasks of our lives as a result of accessing
information. This information is active, driven, purposeful, and
measured. How is it measured? By whether it has helped people
complete the tasks that they have used this information to help
them complete.
Gerry McGovern
Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
