Information Management - It is actually your job....

The term "Information Management Officer (IMO)" isn't exactly an exciting/sexy term. In some organizations - like the Army - it is something that 'operators' avoid at all cost. It is not uncommon for the most junior/random person to be made the IMO. They will typically add no value - because they don't know/understand the organization and will be ignored in meetings. Do you know who would add value?

You - and Information Management is actually your job.

Some may be surprised - but in the Army, as per doctrine, the IMO role is actually the Chief of Staff's job. This makes sense as they are responsible to ensure information and decisions are streamlined for the Commander. If information is lost or impossible to find, how can the organization function properly? Managing information is not just an entire 'Army's' problem. It is the Division, the Brigade, the Unit, the Sub-Unit, the platoon and the section. Every team needs to manage their information properly. The person that knows what information that you need best - is the leaders and those people around you trying to do the work!

Don't suffer through trying to find information or get a decision for hours. Instead, work out the business process to automate and make your teams lives easier.

Example?

Traditionally the Army likes soldiers to write memorandums (memo) to request things. If the soldier wants to change their annual leave dates to go to their brothers wedding they would have to find the following:

• Step 1. Find a memo format and a computer to work on (there is usually 6 for every 100 soldiers - most of those are being used by the Officers and NCOs).
• Step 2. Find the file number for the memo (the file number has been useless for a decade anyway).
• Step 3. Find a printer in the building so you can print the memo (there is two in the building).
• Step 4. Take the memo to your boss - usually a NCO - so they can check it and give you corrections. The memo might sit on the desk for a while. The memo might be sent back to the soldier to correct for the following issues: missing information, formatting issues, wrong file number (as if it was actually used), etc. Soldier starts at Step 1 to remedy this issue and start the process again.

This process could take weeks/months. Memos can get lost or sit on a desk for weeks. Sometimes the memo then needs a cover letter to explain the memo. This process has to be changed. The good news is that this doesn't have to go to the CIO to solve. Why not - and this is revolutionary - allow the soldiers to send their requests by email...

You would give them the format they should use: aim, factors, discussion and proposal. The soldier could type it on their phone from their personal email and then the leader's recommendations could be part of the email forward. The email could read:

The aim of this request is that I would like to take leave outside the normal leave period. I would like to go to my brothers wedding and if I take both leave periods I will not have enough leave this year. I would like to work for a week during the unit's formal summer leave. I understand that the rest of the team will be on leave and I would not have any supervision. I would like to work for the unit or base orderly room and yadda, yadda, yadda....

This could be forwarded and tracked by email from the boss, to their boss, to the bosses boss. It could be approved in a few hours with a "enjoy your brother's wedding" and CC'ed the right people so that it is tracked properly (maybe in SharePoint workflow...).

In a perfect world - this should all be automated and improved by a central agency. In the mean time - all the operators and leaders need to take ownership of the problem. The value that you add is knowing the business process and how to make it better. Everyone should be trying to "get the right information, to the right people, at the right time, in the right place - preferably knowing why."

Work out what you can control and share your successes. Pick three pieces of information that would enable your team to drive decisions. That is where you add value. You know your organization, the business process and issues. Use that to your advantage. We wouldn't get an Army guy to redesign the cockpit for the next stealth fighter - but we definitely want to know how to make information management better with your team. Just don't pick the impossible problems like Dilbert below....

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