Accessing key data from within a minefield of data
It is very easy to see the impact of having information arrive too late or being of poor quality, but an area often overlooked is capacity. Humans and computers will have limits to processing capacity. Therefore, for critical decision makers we should also be concerned about the volume of information and how this can reduce cognitive capacity.
For decision makers to make critical, accurate and timely decisions they need accurate and timely information to assess the situation and analyse the available options within the appropriate context and timeline.
Psychologists have recognised for many years that humans have a limited capacity to store current information in their memory.
Psychologist George Armitage Miller argued that:
People can only process about seven separate elements of information at a time, and that under overload conditions, they become confused and are likely to make poorer decisions based on the information they have received as opposed to making informed ones.
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