Search: A Failure to Communicate
September 12, 2008
At lunch today, the ArnoldIT.com team embraced a law librarian. For Mongolian beef, this information professional agreed to talk about indexing. The conversation turned to the grousing that lawyers do when looking for information. I remembered seeing a cartoon that captured the the problem we shelled, boiled, and deviled during our Chinese meal.
Source: http://www.i-heart-god.com/images/failure%20to%20communicate.jpg
Our lunch analysis identified three constituencies in a professionals services organization. We agreed that narrowing our focus to consultants, lawyers, financial mavens, and accountants was an easy way to put egg rolls in one basket.
First, we have the people who understand information. Think indexing, consistent tagging for XML documents, consistent bibliographic data, the credibility of the source, and other nuances that escape my 86 year old father when he searches for “Chicago Cubs”.
Second, we have the information technology people. The “information” in their title is a bit of misdirection that leads to a stir fry of trouble. IT pros understand databases and file types. Once data are structured and normalized, the job is complete. Algorithms can handle the indexing and the metadata. When a system needs to go faster, the fix is to buy hardware. If it breaks, the IT pros tinker a bit and then call in an authorized service provider.
Third, we have the professionals. These are the ladies and gentlemen who have trained to master a specific professional skill; for example, legal eagle or bean counter. These folks are trapped within their training. Their notions of information are shaped by their dead lines, crazed clients, and crushing billability.
Here’s where the search system or content processing system begins it rapid slide to the greasy bottom of the organization’s wok.
- No one listens or understands the other players’ definition of “information”.
- The three players, unable to get their points across, clam up and work to implement their vision of information
- The vendors, hungry for the licensing deal, steer clear of this internal collision of ignorant, often supremely confident souls
- The system is a clunker, doing nothing particularly well.
Enter the senior manager or the CFO. Users are unhappy. Maybe the system is broken and a big deal is lost or a legal matter goes against the organization. The senior manager wants a fix. The problem is that unless the three constituents go back to the definition of information and carry that common understanding through requirements, to procurement, to deployment, not much will change.
Like the old joke says, “Get me some new numbers or I will get a new numbers guy.” So, heads may roll. The problem remains the same. The search and content processing system annoys a majority of its users. Now, a question for you two or three readers, “How do we fix this problem in professional services organizations?
Stephen Arnold, September 12, 2008
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