Taming The Information Tsunami

Microsoft Press used to be reserved for Microsoft reference titles, training guides and exam crammers, plus the expected array of self-publicising Microsoft product pushers. This has changed in the last year or so, and an increasing number of books are appearing that cover a broader range of subject matters. A good example of this is Taming The Information Tsunami, by Bill Bruck.

Bruck has plenty of real-world experience, holding prominent positions such as chief knowledge officer, professor of psychology, and director of institutional research. These days, however, Bruck is best known for his lectures in the areas of electronic workspaces and virtual interaction.

And these are exactly the topics covered in this book, which attempts to merge the 'how to' of most computer books with the 'why do' of most business strategy books. The aim is to produce a single entity that aspires to enable the 'knowledge worker' to become a more effective user of technology and thus more productive as a result. Basically, you can divide the book into four sections; namely, finding and using information, creating and sharing knowledge.

It's refreshing that you don't get another outpouring of corporate knowledge management hyperbole and jargon wrapped up as a strategic overview. Instead, Bruck presents the reader with commonplace real-world problem-solving scenarios, based inevitably around Microsoft technologies (including Office XP), and provides ready-made solutions easily adapted and applied to fix them. It's a welcome pragmatic approach, logically structured around business goals rather than led by the nose of technology.

This brings me on to the glaringly obvious Achilles heel - Taming The Information Tsunami is only of use to the knowledge worker bound by the ties of Microsoft. If Bruck had taken the core principle of the book and its easy-going, informative style, and applied the principles to whatever software best suits each task - not just Microsoft products - I feel the whole thing would have been much more rewarding.

That said, if you're a confirmed Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer user looking to better manage your information and empower technology to work for you, it isn't a bad read.

Davey Winder