If you asked me to name the big-three-challenges in the world of work, without a second thought I’d rattle off this list:
- Information Uncertainty (questions of relevance)
- Information Overwhelm (too much, too fast)
- Instability (incessant content flowing without context)
With few exceptions, most organizational systems are designed to control the movement and flow of information. Organizational systems do not do well in the face of uncertainty, overwhelm, and instability.
What happens when a working world designed for information control meets a new world reality that requires a high tolerance for information ambiguity?
We’re living it. The answers remain to be seen but the question is central to the quest of innovators and entrepreneurs. If it is accurate that 90% of the world’s data was created in the last 2 years, the challenge we face is much more complex than we realize. What do entrepreneurs offer to the people and systems currently being bowled over by a tsunami of information yet charged with trying to control it?
In the face of upheaval, the first action in every human tale is to try to hold on to what is known. Progress is a process of moving through simplistic backward-looking-control-solutions until finally arriving at the only remaining option: a forward step into the unknown.
It’s one of the reasons I joined the team at KnowNow. We understand that innovation aimed at information control is backward-looking. This tsunami is not going away. Taming it is impossible. A solution can be both intentional and without a fixed destination.
We understand that a forward step, a real step into the complex unknown must be aimed, not at control, but at relationships. Focusing software solutions on the dynamic, fluid space between people and the unique movement of their ideas and information will also support emerging organizational systems capable of thriving in the new reality of information ambiguity.
As Director of Professional Services, David Robinson creates solutions at KnowNow and Factor10x. Visit know-now.io for more information or to apply for KnowNow early Beta.