Recent news coverage of a tragic event prompts a train of thought which cannot help but conclude that information is still the most valuable commodity...

The word tragedy is much over-used these days, but when a man loses his life in avoidable circumstances, then the word is fully justified.

I was following, last week, the unfolding story of the friendly fire incident, the video of which provoked so much media coverage. Now I don't intend to stretch the analogy too far - but it did set off a train of thought about the value of information.

The pilots concerned were custodians of millions of dollars worth of hardware and software. Their air-controller, similarly, was able to communicate over great distance and move the pieces of the chess game around. Having absorbed all the video and comment, however, I was left with the feeling that finally, it was poor information that caused the incident.

Let's not confuse information with data. Data there was aplenty. I was bewildered (as I'm sure most non military pilots were) by the complex head-up display in the aircraft. The air-controller clearly had data too, which he communicated - exacerbating the problem. No; lack of data wasn't the problem. The data, however wasn't correlated, interpreted and presented in an easily understandable fashion to the one man who needed it: the man who had to make a decision.

It's a far cry from the heat of combat in the middle-east to the comfort of an English boardroom. But I wonder what keeps company directors and managers awake at nights. I bet it's not lack of data per se. But I bet that lack of interpreted data, presented as easily understood information is right up there as a concern. The best information needs to be at the fingertips of the person who needs it: the person who has to make the decision.

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