Managing information

Up 8.1 Soccer score 8.2 To catch a plane 8.3 Supertanker 8.4 Management accounts

When I first started to consider the problem of what information people need, I decided to try and find a simple piece of information and look at who used it and why.  I chose a soccer score:

NOTTINGHAM FOREST  3   DERBY COUNTY 3

Who might be interested in it and why?

 

 

  

 

 

All of the people interested in the information, except the last person who never goes to a match, make decisions based on it. Hence I deduced the link between information and decisions. The armchair supporter might look at the TV to find out the result but never uses it to make a decision.  How many people who demand information are armchair supporters?

However, note that some of the people interested in the score would also require other information, such as previous scores, before coming to a decision.  Thus, for them, the information above is incomplete.

What about the accuracy that the users require?  The Football Association and media need the exact score but the police only need to know who lost.

When do the users require the score?  The media and police require it immediately the game has finished, but theoretically the F.A. don’t need it until the end of the season, when they decide who is to be promoted or relegated to other divisions.

What about the armchair supporter?  Well if he/she lives near the Nottingham Forest ground and doesn’t want risk getting stuck in traffic on the way to the shops, he/she needs to know the score before the match starts.  But the accuracy needed is only to know if Nottingham Forest’s name comes first on the score line, since this denotes the “home” team.  An interesting example of how gains in getting information quickly have to be balanced with a loss of accuracy.

8.1 Soccer score