Book of PHIGs – Introduction Draft

A while back I mentioned that I was going to try to write a book. Well, I’ve started it at last. Between losing my job and spending time at the cabin I’ve not really been motivated or focused. I’ve been spending my time looking for work, but also enjoying rural life at my cabin. I have also found that this writing thing is a lot harder than it looks. Anyways, here’s a draft of the introduction to my as yet untitled book of PHIGs. Let me know what you think.

I used to think that people were an organization’s most important resource, but I don’t think that’s the case any longer. You see, some things have changed over the years: 1) Organizations put more time and effort into making sure they have the right information than whether or not they have the right people; 2) Missing key information causes more consternation than when a key person is missing (vacation, prison, dead, etc.); 3) Organizations will happily jettison people they think are no longer required, but hold on to useless information for eternity; 4) Organizations don’t pay the people that manage information nearly enough.

If a person unexpectedly leaves their job the organization copes and moves on. If key information vanishes right before a planning cycle … different story. So why do organizations suck so bad at managing information like the asset it is? I don’t know and I’m not going to try to figure it out. This book is more about helping organizations stop sucking at managing information. As for better pay for information management people … fight your own battles people.

What is Information Governance?

Information governance is all the rules, regulations, legislation, standards, and policies with which we need to comply when we create, share, and use information. Governance is mandated internally and externally. Done correctly (i.e.: holistically), information governance allows organizations to conduct business better and meet all their information related obligations while minimizing risk. Done incorrectly (i.e.: in a silo’d manner), information governance may help organizations met obligations and reduce risk, but business efficiency is sacrificed.

Why do Information Governance?

“We can find everything we have, we just don’t know if we have everything we’re supposed to find.”

The above was a statement made by a director at my first ever Enterprise Content Management gig in 2006. Back then I don’t think the idea of Information Governance (IG) went far beyond IT security and perhaps Service Level Agreement (SLA) management. Even today, IG is not really thought of in an holistic way, applied to managing all aspects of an organization’s information assets.

In order to make the most effective and efficient use of information, it needs to be properly managed and governed from cradle (creation / capture) to grave (destruction / archiving). Holistic information governance makes organizations info-efficient by providing the means to keep what’s needed and legally dispose of what’s no longer necessary. Holistic information governance results in faster, better decisions, reduced information related risks, reduced ediscovery costs, and reduced information storage costs.

Principles of Holistic Information Governance

The first thing you need to understand as you read the PHIGs is that no distinction is drawn between records and non-records. From a business execution perspective the difference is irrelevant, from an evidentiary perspective it’s minimal since any information you have can be used against you in proceedings.

Whether the information is structured, semi-structured, or unstructured (there`s no such thing) makes no difference. Format and storage location are similarly unimportant to the PHIGs, as are the devices (personal or corporate) used to create or edit the information. The only thing that matters is whether or not the information is needed by the organization to either conduct business or meet obligations.

The PHIGs are really based on understanding how an organization uses information to conduct business. Understanding has to happen at the micro (department, process) level and at the macro level to be truly useful. Not all information is equal for all organizational stakeholders; therefore it cannot be governed the same way across the entire organization.

The PHIGs are not an information approach to information governance; they are a business approach to information governance. The intent of the PHIGs is to help organizations analyze their information assets and apply the right level of governance based on how the information is used / needed to conduct business.

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