This is the seventh blog of a series regarding Information Management principles: Information can be transferred. The aim of this principle is to ensure information flows where it needs to flow. In practice you must ensure that the contents of a document or any other form of information is understandable by the consumer. The information should be complete, readable, unambiguous and not dependent on the author/owner for the interpretation and use of the information.
This does not mean the information should be simplified. You should make sure the consumer has the means to interpret without needing to get a PhD. This require you to know the primary audience for the information and check also if the audience can consume the information. In case of a consumer product or service you could get feedback quickly for example through the number of support calls, tweets or online reviews
However within an organisation you may not uncover this easily as most co-workers will find ways to get around the situation. Within an organisation you may get feedback through a rating system within your social network, through feedback from co-workers or
from analyzing incident / issue reports. Getting co-workers to provide feedback this needs to be stimulated and fostered continuously.
By ensuring that information can be transferred, you ensure that information is not a bottleneck within your processes, you prevent incidents and issues and keep costs down for your organisation.