Have you ever put something important in a special place, and not been able to find it? Of course, we all have. Sometimes it may be because we have too much stuff; other times, because we have been too clever by half. But should American businesses in a highly competitive global economy permit or encourage such foibles? Not if they hope to stay up with the competition. The reality, however, is that most organizations struggle with information management — keeping far more information than is useful, and paying too much to store and manage it.
First, a bit of context. Beginning in the 1970s, many organizations launched document retention (aka destruction) programs. These programs included a policy requiring disposition pursuant to a schedule, and usually led to the establishment of a small records retention team. Techniques of library science were applied, and detailed taxonomies or document classifications were developed to identify the kinds of information the organization generated. Legal and business process teams then analyzed how long a document should be held, i.e., measuring a document’s useful or necessary lifecycle in years determined either by legal requirement or business need. All was well — for about a decade.
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