Information flow: what it is and what it means

The information flow is the system made up of four components that govern the transit of inputs through the working day: the entry points (the channels through which email, messages, documents, meetings and notifications arrive), the filter (the criteria that decide what deserves attention and when), the decision (the concrete action: reply, delegate, archive, delete) and the archive (where information goes that needs no immediate action but may be useful later). The information flow is not about the content of communications: it is about their time and channel architecture.

Distinctive: time and channel architecture
Distinctive: transit of inputs
Essential: four components
Essential: entry points
Essential: filter
Essential: decision
Essential: archive
Constant: is not about the content of communications

Glossary

Information flow

A system of four components — entry points, filter, decision, archive — that governs how inputs move through the working day.