big data: a decision maker’s friend, phantom, or foe?

www.johngirard.net [email protected] 1

John P. Girard, Ph.D.

Technology, Leadership and Culture


IACIS Conference 2007

Inukshuk: Knowledge Management Model

Ena

bler

s

Leadership

Tech

nolo

gy

Culture

Internalization

Socialization Externalization

Combination Pro

cess

Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge

Measurement

Inukshuk:  “likeness of a person”

(essential component of KM)  Guide leaders  Every Inukshuk is different  Artifacts matter!


Defending Knowledge Management

Big Data = KM by another name?


Seek wisdom not knowledge …

Helping leaders make be�er decisions?

Lessons learned from an aging KM evangelist.


Is Big Data New?

www.google.com/trends/

Teradata, 1991

www.�nyurl.com/GirardBD

Prairie Business Magazine, 7(1) -‐ 2008

Is data mining synonymous with

Big Data?

No. Big data is the data set (or asset).

Data mining is the process (or handler).


The History of Big Data

Informa�on Overload

Informa�on overload occurs when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. (Speier et al, 1999)

Informa�on Overload

Informa�on overload is that state in which available, and poten�ally useful, informa�on is a hindrance rather than a help. (Bawden, 2001)

Personal Informa�on Overload

A percep�on on the part of the individual (or observers of that person) that the flow of informa�on associated with work tasks is greater than can be managed effec�vely. (Wilson, 2001)

Organiza�onal Informa�on Overload

A situa�on in which the extent of perceived informa�on overload is sufficiently widespread within an organiza�on as to reduce the overall effec�veness of management opera�ons.(Wilson, 2001)

Overload is not new!

The Roman Philosopher Seneca worried about informa�on overload nearly 2,000 years before it was cool. “What is the point of having countless books and libraries whose �tles the owner could scarcely read through in a whole life�me?” he wondered.

Michael Grunwald @MikeGrunwald Aug. 28, 2014



2/3 of managers complained of Informa�on overload (KPMG, 2000)

38% of the surveyed managers waste a substan�al amount of �me loca�ng informa�on (Wilson, 2001)

Managers “dwell on informa�on that is entertaining but not informa�ve, or easily available but not of high quality” (Linden, 2001)

43% of the managers delayed decisions because of too much informa�on. (Wilson, 2001)

The total accumulated codified database of the world, which includes all books and all electronic files, doubles every seven years and some predict this will double twice a day by 2010 (Bon�s, 2000).

What we knew a decade ago:



What is knowledge?

knowledge is "defined broadly to include information, data, communication and culture”

(p. 293)

Communication

Data

Information

Culture

Knowledge:

Concepts, experience, and insight that provide a framework for creating, evaluating and using information (p. 373).

Defining Knowledge Management

h�p://www.johngirard.net/km


KM 1.0

Knowledge

Information

Data

Data to Information

 Context  Categorize  Calculate  Correct  Condense

Information to Knowledge

 Compare  Consequences  Connects  Conversation

Types of Knowledge: Did we get the balance right?

Michael Polanyi

Easier to replicate

Leads to competency

Harder to articulate

Harder to transfer

Harder to steal Higher competitive

advantage

Contributes to efficiency

Easier to document and share

20%

80%

Explicit

Tacit Carla O’Dell

O’Dell, C. (2002, May). Knowledge Management New Generation. Presented at the APQC’s 7th Knowledge Conference, Washington, DC.


KM 2.0

Ikujiro Nonaka

Socializ

ation Externalization

Interna

lization C

ombination

TACIT

EXPLIC

IT

EXPLICIT

TACIT

Inukshuk: Knowledge Management Model

Foun

datio

n

Leadership

Tech

nolo

gy

Culture

Internalization

Socialization Externalization

Combination Pro

cess

Tacit Knowledge Explicit Knowledge

Measurement

Socializ

ation Externalization

Interna

lization C

ombination

TACIT

EXPLIC

IT

EXPLICIT

TACIT


What do decision-‐makers want?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH39xjXaLW8

TLC: Corporate Culture is Key

www.strategy-‐business.com/article/11404


Impact of Culture

Tribal Leadership

h�p://www.triballeadership.net/what-‐is-‐tribal-‐leadership/diagnosing-‐culture


TLC: Leadership

Including Ray Downey, Special Operations Command lost 95 men that day – totaling 1,600 years of experience. (emphasis added)

Open Leadership

Respect that your customers and employees have

power.

Share constantly to build trust.

Nurture curiosity and humility.

Hold openness accountable. Forgive failure.

http://www.charleneli.com/resources/new-‐rules/


Openness Audit

http://www.slideshare.net/charleneli/openness-‐audit

What did the leaders need?

“. . . there are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns — there are things that we do not know we don't know.”


Knowns and Unknowns

Unknown Knowns

Unknown Unknowns

Known Knowns

Known Unknowns

Comp Intell

HP

The Cogni�ve Hierarchy

Knowledge

Information

Data

Ackoff’s Apex Wisdom

Understanding

Knowledge

Wisdom:

The collective and individual experiences of applying knowledge to the solution of problems (p. 373).


The Cogni�ve Hierarchy

10 Years

Knowledge

Information

Data

Ackoff’s Apex Wisdom

Understanding

Knowledge

Big Data – Some Defini�ons

A term coined to reflect very large and very complex data sets. (Sultanow & Chircu, 2015)

Big data is a term for any collec�on of large and complex data sets that it becomes difficult to process. (Gordon, 2015)

Data set that is beyond the capacity of rela�onal database applica�ons. (Joseph, 2015)

Term for a collec�on of large and complex data sets that it becomes difficult to process with tradi�onal tools. (Klepac & Berg, 2015)

Large Complex Dif�icult

Strategic Data-‐based Wisdom in the Big Data Era


Complex: A Defini�on

Large Complex Dif�icult

“a group of obviously related units of which the degree and nature of the rela�onship is imperfectly known”

Knowledge Applica�on = KM 3.0

Knowledge

Information

Data

Wisdom

Understanding

Knowledge

Know

ledge

Cre

ation

“With 3,600 stores in the United States and roughly 100 million customers walking through the doors each week, Wal-Mart has access to information about a broad slice of America . . . The data are gathered item by item at the checkout aisle, then recorded, mapped and updated by store, by state, by region . . . By its own account Wal-Mart has 460 terabytes of data.”

14 November 2004

Hurricane


An Example

Big Data

What do we know about Big Data?


Big Data is Global


Big Data is NOT just technology



Focus on the desired end state …

The right technology

Branson’s secret weapon is carrying an old-‐fashioned notebook with him everywhere he goes.


h�p://melmeric.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/big-‐data-‐and-‐the-‐web.pdf

Size (and growth) Ma�ers

h�p://www.domo.com/learn/data-‐never-‐sleeps-‐2

2011 2013


It is NOT just about size

http://www.domo.com/

Size is not measured in terabytes but rather business

processes

The Size of Big Data

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B27SpLOOhWw


CEO: How much data do we need?

http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/infrastructure/3433595/boeing-‐787s-‐create-‐half-‐terabyte-‐of-‐data-‐per-‐�light-‐says-‐virgin-‐atlantic/

Decide later …


Is Big Data owned by the CIO?

The CIO’s task is to help the CEO/COO see …


What do you think?

KKMM 33..00

Slides available at: www.johngirard.net/xxxx

big data: a decision maker’s friend, phantom, or foe?

Data & Analytics