MSIM 2011

Our education goes to '11. 
« Back to blog

The Information Management Elevator Pitch Redux

Elevator_buttons
Photo by jaded one - http://flic.kr/p/3JDXL

I just came across some notes I took at this year's orientation for Mid-Career MSIMers. "The Question" came up, as it inevitably does in these kinds of gatherings: What is information management? Here are a few snippets I pulled from the answers back in September.
  • "The answer needs to be crafted to the person asking the question." - Mike Crandall
  • "It depends; who are you creating value for? It depends on what YOU want to do with it." - Mario Sanchez
  • "Information management is a bridge between users and technical implementers, between aspiration and reality, between what's unrealized and what's possible." -Unknown
  • "We focus on the critical social, psychological, human side of organization systems." - Bob Mason
  • "We're in the communications business, and our tools are processes as well as technology. We manage the ecology of information." - Bob Larsen
  • "I achieve results efficiently." - Jason Robertson
 After a year and a half of study, lots of collaboration, life changes, maturing (a little bit), and a fair bit of rumination on the subject, what are your answers today to that question? What's your elevator pitch these days for information management?

Comments (3)

Feb 06, 2011
Terrence Nevins said...
It's the discipline that strives to create the moment where new insight is obtained by using data that is sufficient in scope, integrity,scale and conformity to solve social and business problems in ways that are ethical, appropriate and actionable.Information Management is a journey we've been on since Web 1.0.
Feb 07, 2011
Stuart Maxwell said...
Great stuff, Terrence. I love the imagery around creating the space for insight to happen.
Feb 08, 2011
Jason R said...
I largely agree with Mario in that I find my pitch to vary each time I recite it. It really depends on the audience I am speaking too and the angle I am trying to convey or get to. However, I do find several keywords in almost each iteration such as taxonomy, UX|HCD, metadata, XML, and data visualization.

I had a meeting today with a senior director and he conveyed his need to create a team catalog of intellectual property - processes, architectures, systems, models, methodologies etc - things that enable the team to succeed. He suggested we must 1) execute flawlessly before we can 2) grow the business and then 3) create new frontiers.

To me, a significant part of managing information is figuring out how to take data and turn it into actionable information that is value-added to the entity that needs\wants it.

Leave a comment...