In “Business @ the Speed of Thought,” (Chapters-Indigo Link), which I mentioned some time ago (Information is the Good, the Currency, and the Era) and which Bill Gates wrote a decade ago, the examples given are pointedly not information technology businesses.
Of course, Gates is talking about information systems and the logistics of information management; but Gates is a pretty big picture guy, and there’s a reason he chooses GM over Xerox, and McDonald’s over Electronic Arts. Information technology is a tool in information logistics and information management. Gates is not yet explicit in this distinction, though he may be later. (I haven’t finished the book yet – I had something really big come up. More about that later.)
But the importance of recognizing information logistics as what programmers would call an abstraction, and information technology as one of several interdependent means of implementation is implicit in the work. This is similar stuff to what I developed, through my consulting business (Costin Media), into Information Dynamics Intelligence™ (IDI).
I’m not going to plug Costin Media and IDI too much though, as the business is necessarily on hiatus at the moment. A month ago, I began articling at a small general practice law firm. This means lots of things, paramount among them: 1) In 11 months, I will be a lawyer; and 2) I can’t have a job outside of my articles as per Law Society rules, so I’m not pursuing any consulting work.
At the firm where I’m working, I deal a lot with wills & estates, family law, and small business. “But wait!” you say. “Where’s the intellectual property and information technology?”
And I answer, “Everywhere.”
First of all, our entire precedent system is computerized. When I’m drafting a will for a client, a significant proportion of the work is done through a system of variables and on-screen forms that reflect the client interview process. Does this turn lawyer’s work into “plugging in data”? No. It takes information from our practice manuals and paper precedents, integrates the senior lawyers’ vast experience, and uses information technology to better manage the client information-gathering and the document drafting processes.
The machine improves my access to knowledge – both the knowledge of the lawyers who are my mentors, which is voluminous, and my own knowledge as well.
I said that intellectual property is everywhere too. This is what I find interesting:
Even small businesses have IP concerns. Whether it’s as simple as trademarking their product name and slogan, or fighting over their web site domain name, or copyrighting and licensing their marketing materials, every business has intellectual property. As more and more people become consultants either privately or in small teams, they create published materials (often self-published through the web and the neighbourhood copy shop), which leads to further copyright and licensing matters.
What happens when a hobbyist photographer with a massive flickr® account passes away? Does her will contain provisions to handle the IP resident there? Flickr has elaborate IP schemas available, and a Canadian’s copyright lasts fifty years beyond her death (Copyright Act, RSC 1985 c. C-42, s.6). If the beneficiaries of her estate see commercial potential in her library of work, do they have a right to license it for the profit of the estate? Did the lawyer deal with it in the will? It may be a property of greater value than the car or the family jewellery. Jimi Hendrix’s estate has certainly fought for and profited from his copyrighted legacy!
As you can see, the importance of information management is not limited to the information manipulation industries. This is what Gates is trying to say in his book before he gets into specific strategies. He is showing that the ability to abstract information patterns in logistical scenario is key to the wholesale management of that scenario.
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