Perhaps, just perhaps, we’ve taken Buzz Lightyear’s “to infinity and beyond” a little too seriously with our data. At least according to the recently released 2010 Information Management Health Check Survey, “infinite retention results in infinite waste.” While there may be some truth in this, the digital hoarder in me yells surely not. Either way, it brings up several questions: What data should we keep? What’s the best window for data retention, 30 days or 300 days? Is there a right answer?
Posts Tagged ‘tacit knowledge’
Fact or Fiction: “Infinite Retention Results in Infinite Waste.”
Monday, August 23rd, 2010The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Monday, August 9th, 2010Whoa, I can now add certified conference guru to my resume! The interesting thing is that at all these various industry events, one hot topic is always “fostering collaboration to document all the rich information that is often stored within the minds of employees, but not documented elsewhere.” That’s a mouthful, but not quite as big as the task it presents.
Nicole Haggerty, Associate Professor at the Ivey Business School defines tacit knowledge as “deeply embedded experimental knowledge within people’s heads that is difficult to express out loud.” Wikipedia goes on to say that “the concept of tacit knowledge refers to a knowledge which is only known by an individual and that is difficult to communicate to the rest of an organization.” Research shows that this same tacit knowledge accounts for 80% of an organizations knowledge. We need this knowledge—but it’s locked away in the heads of our employees. It would seem that we’re at an impasse.
