INFORMATION PAYOFF

Rating:
Summary: One of Five "Must Read" Books on Information Age
Review: Paul, former Chief Information Officer for Xerox and later Director of Defense Information, used this book to address the basic issues of employee productivity in relation to information technology. This is one of a very few books, including those by Carkhuff, Cleveland, Kelly, and Toffler, that I regard as fundamental-required reading for anyone with any authority over anything.

Rating:
Summary: One of Five "Must Read" Books on Information Age
Review: Paul, former Chief Information Officer for Xerox and later Director of Defense Information, used this book to address the basic issues of employee productivity in relation to information technology. This is one of a very few books, including those by Carkhuff, Cleveland, Kelly, and Toffler, that I regard as fundamental-required reading for anyone with any authority over anything.

Rating:
Summary: Where we came from, where we're headed in the e-world
Review: While this book is quite dated (1985 publication date, which makes it virtually 20 years old from time of its writing) it is a valuable book about business and the role of information in the lives of office workers.

Author Strassman equates "white collar work" with "information work." We used to say "I'm in advertising" or "I'm in manufacturing" but what the majority of people like you and I do daily, hourly is gather, process and distribute information.

Strassman also touches on measuring productivity in these terms. A great quote on optimizing organizational effectiveness:
" Effective work is enlarge in scope, variable in procedure...and subject to instant feedback."

Such wisdom can provide the business manager with insight on how to better organize his or her team in terms of information flow and action. This is a really fundamental book that is worth reading again and again, despite the fact it is a two decades old. Highly recommended.