Should we go back to paper-based KM?

Let’s be clear: I am not a Luddite or neo-Luddite, or at least I don’t think I am, and I certainly am not suggesting you start to smash the machines. Even so, the Luddites make some good points, in particular, their belief that technology is neither inevitable nor uncontrollable. Similarly, their belief that we should be careful in choosing which technologies to use and which to avoid seems pretty sound.

Increases in volume of information stored means trouble ahead

The software systems available to knowledge and information managers are truly awesome. For example, search engines from firms such as Coveo, Sinequa, Microsoft, SearchBlox, and Algolia are leagues ahead of the search engines available 20 years ago. At the same time, the volume of information these engines need to search through and make sense of is an order of magnitude greater than it was 20 years ago. And therein lies the problem, taking us back to the “less is more” maxim. Put another way, it’s time to dump the junk.

Back in the day, the work of filing clerks was not simply to file and amass cabinets full of documents, it was to manage those cabinets and folders carefully. They were curators who ensured only accurate, up-to-date, and relevant information was readily accessible. Today, we employ very few people to do that work, and even fewer are empowered to decide what stays and what goes. The tendency is to keep everything forever, a recipe for trouble.

It is a disaster hidden in plain sight, first visible in soaring storage costs, poor performance, and wasted IT spending. These are all things we have been content to put up with over the decades. Still, as AI (particularly GenAI) penetrates deeper into the enterprise, there will be a turn for the worse ahead. However, if we revisit the Luddite belief and substitute the words “data” or “documents” for “technology,” we can conclude that data growth and chaos are neither inevitable nor uncontrollable. It may seem counterintuitive or even a little scary to eliminate ROT (redundant, outdated, and trivial) data and information. Still, it is the fastest and most effective means to bring order, accuracy, and increased value to information and KM practices.