Houston, We Have a Problem

Too much noise.  That’s the problem.  The TV?  Too much noise.  Commercials?  Noise (except during the Superbowl).  The subway?  Noise.  Instruction manuals in 10 languages?  Noise.  Phone trees and tech support queues?  Noise.  My last web search?  Yep, lots of noise there too.

Haven’t thought about it that way before?  Well, let’s do so now.  What do you spend most of your life doing?  If I set aside critical upkeep / maintenance kinds of activities like sleeping and eating, then most of my life is broken down into two areas:  achievement and recreation.  I work and I play.  I get things accomplished and I enjoy the life that that accomplishment brings.

And in either case, as an American, I spend a lot of time sorting through my options.  If I’m trying to get the job done (whatever the job is), then I need answers.  Either I know them, or I have to find someone who does.  Okay, I’ll settle for what that guy wrote down, as long as it’s a pretty cut-and-dried deal.  Otherwise, even that won’t do, and I need the guy himself.  And recreation is the same.  Which national park should I go to?  Where’s the best vacation spot?  Which hotel should I stay in?  What restaurant will I enjoy most?  Which movie would be worth my time?  What book should I read?  Need I go on?

So, we’re looking for answers.  And the fact that more and more information is available to us every day makes it harder and harder to find them.  Let me be clear.  It’s EASY to get answers, but I submit it’s getting harder to find GOOD answers.  Everyone’s got an opinion.  There’s a blog on every subject you can name.  News runs 24 hours a day.  The TV has 4 billion channels.  According to Yahoo’s Yellow Pages, my town (28,876 people) has 503 car dealers, 413 banks, 372 hotels and 503 restaurants … and that’s just the “sponsored” lists for their “top” searches.  Forget the more obscure stuff.  Oh, and did I mention that of the 4 “top searches”, 2 of them give me sub-trees after the first click instead of search results?  I mean, that’s just crazy.  We know the information’s not accurate, but we settle for it because there’s no better alternative.  And this is just one example.

It all adds up to noise.  Everyday a new restaurant opens and it makes it harder to choose, not easier.  Pick your analogy and it works.  Good information is getting harder to come by as total information increases.

Stay tuned in.  We’ll be talking answers soon.  And I’m going to want your opinion!

Technorati tags: value, noise, world wide web, knowledge management