The Value of Information
Are your systems working for you—or are you working for your systems?
by
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Personally, I believe that people should live highly actualized lives, automating wherever possible, to the point where the machines and computers are doing most of the heavy lifting. This philosophy extends into leveraging technology to improve the lot of animals, people, and the planet, writ large. Some days, I extend this thought and feeling to the entire cosmos. The Data – Information – Knowledge – Wisdom model (alongside) needed additional study, I thought. My thinking then was to extend the DIKW model with the constraints I thought and felt at the time. Figure 2.2 My original visual had six concentric circles for each of the transitions or progressions. But that didn’t cover it well enough. Further introspection of the model, led to my perspective with the labyrinthine puzzle. I’ve grown and evolved to a more gradual, and nuanced advancement with a blurred view of the transitions between these facets of life. It’s not like one phase abruptly ends and the next one spontaneously begins. I also think a labyrinthine progression is how it really happens. Sometimes you move ahead, and sometimes, you regress. Not just in thought, but also in emotional and spiritual growth. As long as the inner student is always learning, I believe the journey is worthwhile. My views on philosophy, cognitive science, information theory, and spiritual traditions, place my internal study and journey within both individual and societal contexts. By critically examining each stage, I see the transformative processes that structure human understanding and decision-making. The labyrinthine metaphor is used to illustrate the non-linear, often challenging nature of this intellectual and spiritual progression. I argue that true progress lies not only in accumulating knowledge but also in cultivating wisdom and transcending into enlightenment - a state of holistic integration, a state of compassion and clarity, a state where the spirit soars. I believe the DIKW model left unanswered human dimensions, and I’ve extrapolated that model as described above. I also think a labyrinth (much like the toy we had as kids) allows for the very real, and human journey of advancement, and regression. When one combines Awareness, Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, Enlightenment, the DIKW model, epistemology, systems theory, and the labyrinth metaphor; the world makes a lot more sense. My ever-evolving views on technology, and its advancement of the human race are a constant source of introspection, study, and learning. The diagram represents a layered and progressive journey from the raw state of Awareness through successive levels of transformation: Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, and ultimately, Enlightenment. Each layer in this concentric model signifies not only an epistemological shift but also a deepening of human understanding, perception, and decision-making. This progression can be thought of as a labyrinthine journey: while the destination (enlightenment) lies at the center, the pathway is non-linear and requires navigating through misdirection, complexities, and choices that test our capacity for discernment. As my friend, Rich put it, ‘Is there a catalyst for this (or should there be) - sort of a recognition of the need to go deeper/to understand more?’ These questions are profound, and apply to all of the levels of the progression in the labyrinth. I'm still pondering the idea of curiosity, and skill in contextualizing the landscape and the state of mind, to be the impetus to get to the next level. This progression from the outer perimeter to the core requires a catalyst that is mostly introspective. This introspection is driven by curiosity, the desire to improve, and the constant, innate need to ascend to a higher level of consciousness. These catalysts are not one dimensional either. In some cases, training can help. Learning more about data models can help elevate one’s knowledge about how to design and build effective data models, and systems that use those data models. In some cases, designing effective feedback loops can improve one’s understanding of information, and increase one’s knowledge of a domain. For example, expertise is achieved by knowing more and more about less and less. Specialization in any field requires knowledge of that field, its adjacent fields of study, and the proper contextualization of the question before us. Experts in any field, whether it is information technology, or medicine, are knowledgeable to a point, about adjacent fields. In the case of technology, management is adjacent to make sure that the technology is managed effectively using the body of knowledge that comprises management. Curiosity in an adjacent field of study can sometimes become a career in itself. It’s the commonalities and differences between these adjacencies that make life interesting. They also serve as a subconscious catalyst to ascend to the next level of progression. From a spiritual perspective, the catalyst to move from wisdom to enlightenment is driven by the desire and need to go deeper within oneself. I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details. – Albert Einstein
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About the Book
Data rich. Information poor. We have more data than at any point in human history. And most organizations have never been more confused. The problem isn’t just the data. We’ve built systems that serve themselves rather than the people who depend on them. We’ve let budget cycles replace imagination, politics replace architecture, software upgrades pretend to be genuine transformation. The result is a widening gap between the data we have and the decisions we can actually make with it. This is a practitioner’s reckoning with that gap. Drawing on decades at the intersection of business and technology — across retail, financial services, media, manufacturing, and consulting — Hari Hara Kumar offers something rare: a book that is neither a technical manual nor an executive platitude. It is a working blueprint. A playbook for anyone who has ever sat in a room watching a good idea get diluted into irrelevance, and wondered whether there was a better way. There is. It begins with a simple question — Why? — and builds from there: through context diagrams and use cases, through the human-machine boundary and the Plateau of Compromise, through technology strategy and enterprise architecture as philosophies of coherence rather than a tax on progress. Kumar shows how the journey from data to wisdom is not a linear climb but a labyrinthine one. The organizations that navigate it well share three things: they design with intent, measure what matters, and never lose sight of the people the systems are meant to serve. This is a book about technology. It is also a book about leadership, meaning, and the cost of getting things wrong. The ivory tower is where knowledge goes to die. the value of information is a way out.
About the Author
Hari Hara Kumar has played the roles of technologist, strategist, and writer across more than three decades of designing information systems that matter. Born in India and shaped by a lifelong curiosity about how things worked, Hari has spent his career at the intersection of business and technology—across retail, financial services, media, manufacturing, supply chain, and consulting. He has served as an Enterprise Architect, technology strategist, and trusted advisor to organizations navigating the gap between where they are and where they need to be. He is known for simplifying the complex. His work has always been guided by a single, deceptively simple question: Are your systems working for you—or are you working for your systems? the value of information is his first book—a pragmatic, philosophically grounded field guide for anyone who has ever suspected that their organization is data rich and information poor. It draws on his frameworks, blueprints, and hard-won lessons from the trenches of technology strategy and enterprise architecture—offering a path from confusion to clarity, from friction to flow, and from noise to knowledge. He is also the author of signal, noise & silence, a Substack publication where he explores the art of extracting meaning from a world drowning in noise. Minnesota is home now, and he believes—deeply—that great architecture is felt, not seen. Until the next signal…