Information delivery is an issue because we all need to get the right information at the right time. People have many different preferences, so it is not easy to reach a majority of people with any information delivery system for each situation..
I was listening to a talk on information delivery late last year and the speaker was giving a variety of examples of how difficult this can be, because people. My favourite example was that of giving directions via GPS during an auto trip. Some people want to read the directions. Other people want the directions read to them as they drive. And then, there are others that just want to see the map – people who entirely want it visually. And yet others want some combination of these.
This is just one small example, but I think you can imagine that getting information out is truly a challenge. If you’re working on a project, right now, most of you have the problem that you are trying to find ways to get people outside the project team to read updates on the project – sometimes because you need feedback from them. Or, it might be that you are looking for information and not finding it in a format that you find useful or compelling.
Let’s be honest about this – we all know we’re supposed to blog, read e-zines, and do everything digitally, but there are still items many people prefer to have on paper and I still see many people printing things that are sent digitally to them. Then, there are some things we would never bother to do that with – things we quickly skim on-line and think no more about.
In the end, it’s not about what method we “think” we should use because we think it’s the latest-and-greatest, but what method actually gets people to read the information or act on it – what’s important is that the delivery method we select will help us achieve our goal.
Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/