My thoughts on information theory
“Information is the fundamental nutrition of all organizations. If fact, those who feed on it thrives, others are without doubt left behind.”
This site is the center point of my aim to collect my own, and indeed some others’, thoughts on what I find as interesting developments in the field of information theory. To be clear, although IT tools is simply an undisputable necessity when working to realize any form of information value today, it is not the epicenter of this site’s content. On the contrary, here I try to take a pure management perspective on the non-IT information challenges such as usability and impact and bottom line financial value. You will read the term information assets numerous times in my texts for the simple reason that it is time we start taking “this something” for its real value, namely highly valuable assets in which companies willingly, but far from always with deliberate purpose and understanding, have invested heavily. It is time for return on investment.
When, once upon a time, I was considering different options for a PhD program in Physics, theoretical physics kept intriguing me. Time and circumstances however rendered it to become Surface Science instead, but I never left the fascination for the theoretical aspect behind. After ending my PhD studies prematurely (Yes, I am a Solid-State Physics PhD dropout) due to an overly excited industry recruiter I ended up in a significantly less academic environment that nonetheless was tremendously interesting and developing.
Over the years I have realized that the information management challenge, and its opportunities when addressed properly, already then had caught my interest and that I, somewhat unknowingly, developed it into a toolbox I fairly successfully used for many years to come. It was however not until after my MBA program (yes, that I did complete) that my time in research combined with experiences from the armed forces and my then most recent mix of some rather complex projects in military as well as civilian high tech industry environments, that it all started to synthesize into a methodology I have since nurtured and developed step by step. The equation on the start page of this site is just a mathematical expression (yes I still miss the theoretical physics albeit for those former colleagues, this is merely a kindergarten expression) of the model that have multiple layers in it when put to practice. Still, information assets are indisputably among the most valuable assets a company possess so it is time for industry and practitioners to start applying hard core theory to that aspects of management as well and not just to the tech-side of the coin.
Finally, back to my trauma with theoretical physics. One of the most brilliant minds I have ever had the opportunity and pleasure to work with was one of my undergraduate study group friends at Lund university. He, unlike me, completed his PhD (in theoretical physics and in less than three years – I told you he was clever) and he celebrated by adding the title “Quantum mechanic” to his phone book listing. For younger readers, a “phone book” was thick and heavy paper-based information vehicle that prior to the internet was the sole source of information (phone numbers) that enabled human beings to connect real time unless they were neighbors. Had there still been phone books, I would by now have listed myself as “Information Theorist” but that is too late. I will have to settle with the satisfaction to be among the few who have known the world’s only (probably) “Quantum Mechanic”
So, this site is my attempt to contribute to global industry growth in terms of profitability and efficiency, purely based on the practical application of information theory. You will find the “study content” under Insights and you can also visit my different on-line accounts (icons below) but they tend to rout back to this site in one way or another.
Under Services you find a structured summary of how I typically (90-95% of the cases) work with my customers nowadays but, rest assured, as long as there is a question about how to better leverage the business value of information in an organization, form and structure of engagement is not my key concern. In such case, to quote a well-known sports garment maker, I’ll say let’s “Just Do It!”.
