When these things don’t work, why don’t they work. I’m not going to spend as much time on this, although someone said that John Milton in Paradise Lost gave the devil all the good lines. Maybe we should follow his example.

1. An over-reliance on technology

   Certainly one factor is an over-reliance on technology. An over-reliance. It’s a moderate balance that’s needed. “We put in Lotus Notes, therefore everybody shares,” says an executive. You think that’s jejune and sophomoric? Well, I still hear this all the time. My office is in Lotus. Lotus believes it themselves. So why shouldn’t the clients believe it? It’s wrong. 

2. The default to documents and systems

   The default to documents and systems is another one. “We measure systems and documents, therefore we measure knowledge.,” an executive will say. 
   Documents are documents. You can’t manage your business without them. Let’s not be foolish. You have to manage documents. But it is not the same thing as knowledge. Think about a subject that you know, all of you. Think about a subject you know about. Living in Washington, working in a federal agency, or chemical engineering. Name one. Think of a subject you really know. Then think how much of what you know you could write down. And there’s the difference between a document and knowledge. Think about it.