Information Changes When It Becomes a Report

Executive Field Note 048

Something happens.

Someone observes it.

It becomes data.

The data becomes a category.

The category becomes a report.

The report becomes a presentation.

The presentation becomes a decision.

At every stage, information becomes more usable.

And less like the thing that originally happened.

This is not necessarily distortion.

It is compression.

But compression always has a cost.

Executive Question:

What disappeared between the event and the report about it?

Published by Executive Insights. A publication of Axiom Research Press