Taking information out of your head
... and into a system you can trust
Doing so will free up energy and attention to focus on what’s important to you. Whether you are a manager, an entrepreneur, an investor, a technician, a creator coder or carer, information is coming at you faster than you can process and recall with ease.
Digital information is building like a giant wave, and it’s not slowing down!
In this letter I’ll describe how we got here and what I’ve learnt on my 40 year journey with digital information. Then I’ll describe and show what I’ve developed that has been helping myself and others, and how you can learn more.
The information revolution
Since we began digitising information, the cost of storing it has fallen year on year, and now find ourselves forced to handle unprecedented volumes of information in the course of our day to day lives. The volume of digital information is no longer limited by how many clay tablets can be processed, parchment scrolls illustrated, or books printed. These, and now computers are all ways for humans to get information out of their heads and into systems they can trust.
While the means for doing this have evolved, it has mostly been the job of a few skilled people in society, to record information for the rest of us to consume. But now, anyone with a computer can create, record and share information for others to consume, remix and share again in another form. In just four years SubStack (writers) now number if the thousands, and YouTube (creators) bring us 37 million channels to choose from.
Computers have forever expanded our ability to create, make use of, organise, and access information anywhere. But it’s snuck up on us and many of us haven’t adapted well!
I’ve been helping people with information systems since the start, and have observed them struggling to know where to file and where to find information. It’s a massive frustration and waste of time. A McKinsey report found that people working at computers, spend an average of 23% of their time searching for files and information.
So while the information revolution represents a great opportunity, it is also a great challenge.
40 years
I’m not a digital native because the technology didn’t exist when I was born. But neither do I consider myself a digital immigrant, because I’ve been there from the start. Maybe I’m a digital elder, because I was already an adult when information technology was born. Anyway the point is that studies have shown that even though younger generations are early adopters of digital tools, and are familiar with lifestyle technology, they have serious gaps in their knowledge of workplace technology.
My computer journey began in 1982, and in the following year I was using email. These 40 years of entrepreneurial activity, and coaching others to get the best out of their information technology have allowed me to notice the traps, and how to avoid them.
Part of my early journey with computers was learning how to code Dbase II plus on an old DOS prompt machine.
The good thing was that every evolution of database software over the years was like a new magic moment. As information volumes increased so too have the number of tools which have evolved to better manage it. A few years ago we started seeing consumer grade software that let us structure free-form documents as records in a database - this was like the holy grail for me.
I understood the power of databases and their ability to hold large amounts of information, yet on demand, quickly and easily, surface only what’s relevant. I’d been dreaming of being able to get my documents out of endless multi-tiered folder hierarchies and into a database.
But before we dive into how this might look, I want to touch on some design fundamentals.
The simplicity / complexity balance
While we might tend to prefer complex solutions over simple ones, because complexity carries an aura of authority and expertise, there is a benefit in keeping the simplicity / complexity balance.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff offers these excellent examples of where simple wins out.
Keep it simple, stupid. Allegedly coined by aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson, the KISS principle makes simplicity a key goal in design by stating that most systems work best if they are kept simple. One day, Kelly Johnson handed his team of design engineers a handful of tools, with the challenge that the jet aircraft they were designing must be repairable by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions, only using these tools—forcing them to keep the design stupidly simple.
Less is more. Famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who is considered one of the pioneers of modernist architecture, always kept repeating this aphorism to whoever would hear him: less is more. His approach was to arrange the necessary components of a building to create an impression of extreme simplicity, sometimes repurposing some elements so they would serve several purposes.
Simplify, then add lightness. One of the leaders of the minimalist movements, Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars, urged his designers to “Simplify, then add lightness.” Designer of the world’s first ever stressed monocoque racing car, built with an entire chassis in aluminium sheet, Colin Chapman strived to use as few parts as possible in his cars. Today, many product designers still use the magic of subtraction to innovate.
Despite associating complexity with expertise, innovation, and authority, I suggest that more than ever we need tools that are simple, user-friendly, and offer the greatest benefits with the least amount of cognitive load. Tools that do the clever stuff in the background.
Show and tell
Over the past two years I’ve been refining a project-centric information framework I’ve named CORA ~~ Capture • Organise • Refine • Action
This describes the phases information goes through in order to move from:
“Oh that’s interesting/important” > “Aah it feels good to get that project completed”.
The framework is based on three principles
Information is stored in just four connected locations
Connections are made (simply) between information
Timely reviews ensure that what's relevant keeps floating to the top
The four connected locations
AREAS of responsibility in life and work
these are the high level categories, and they rarely come to an endPROJECTS where the work gets done
new projects are started often and archived on completionRESOURCES needed to inform actions
used repeatedly and occasionally archivedTOOLBOX for building collections of information
that support areas and projects
Some key concepts
Information is stored in ‘pages’ that can contain any kind of content
Pages live in connected databases
Pages can be formatted and structured for easy consumption
Do you want to transform how you manage information
The number of people now using CORA is growing, and their feedback has encouraged me to keep refining it. I’ll share some of their words and stories in future letters.
In getting people started with CORA, I’ve focussed on the coaching. I provide as much as is needed to not only to become skilled in getting the most out of CORA, but also to develop habits, mindsets, and tools that help you be productive, less stressed and confident you know what the next action is, and where the relevant information is to get that action done.
Watch this 5 min teaser video
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This is where you can tell me about the nuances of your information processes, and ask questions about CORA and its possible suitability in your context, and learn how the coaching and implementation work.
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Summing up
The Tsunami of digital information is not subsiding, and decision fatigue is likely to get worse. You have already built up a data asset, but there’s a risk of having it decay and lose value if it’s not tended and nurtured.
Now is the time to embrace the digital revolution and all it has to offer. Doing so will help future proof your business, through being able to onboard new members of your team in a fraction of the time, and massively reduce the time spent looking for information and increase the time spent doing the important work.
As you use the information tools that are now available, you will become adept at always knowing what the most important project and next task is, and you will be getting more of the right things done, while following your unique path.