Documents Are Not Knowledge It's the conversation about them that is important

These two short quotations have much in common and are worth reflecting on.

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

Credit: Dwight Eisenhower

Reports aren’t knowledge.

Credit: Peter Senge

Interestingly, in a 2014 World Bank report, it was found that out of about 1,500 reports produced in the years 2008 to 2012, 517 of them were never downloaded at all.

A report is just a collection of squiggles on paper or a pattern of bits in a computer. It is of no value at all unless read, talked about, and acted on.

It’s the thinking and conversations that go into making a plan or a report that are of  value. Furthermore, it’s the conversations and thinking triggered by the finalized report that makes the report itself valuable.

Conversation is king.

Content is just something to talk about.

Credit: Cory Doctorow

Bottom line: Documents are important, indeed essential, no problem with that, but they are not everything.

Most of Our Knowledge Is a Delusion

The Myth of Thamus and Theuth