Anne's comment about the "ROI of Sanity" had me thinking about what would happen if we achieved the various wishlists for email management that Glen and Susan put forward. Those features would certainly make an impact, but to what degree would they achieve a measure of sanity?

At the risk of being labeled an information hippie, let's look at creating an Information Peace Coefficient (IPC) that can be applied to business cases. This analysis would give us a sensitivity reading on how likely we are to achieve results from such initiatives. Here is the proposed formula:

(Change Management Strategy * Process Efficiency) / Information Risk = IPC

All of these factors are expressed on a 100 percentage point subjective scale, with 100 being the highest factor. So what do each of these mean?

Change Management Strategy denotes the degree to which you have considered human and organizational factors in addressing your email or other information management challenges. As you look to implement new techniqes or tools, the people in your organization must be ready to capitalize on them to achieve your projected benefits. At the high end of the scale (80-100), you are indicating that you have defined these requirements and implemented an appropriately sized Change Management program.

Process Efficiency typically is a benefit component of business cases, such as in reducing the amount of time required to search for a specific item. This factor indicates the degree to which you have defined the processes you are impacting and your willingness to modify or redesign them to gain efficiencies. A score of 80-100 for this factor indicates a reasoned, aggressive approach to revamping the core impacted processes.

Information Risk can be thought of as the degree to which your initiative will mitigate risks associated with current practices. Litigation risk might be at the front of your mind, but also consider the aspects of financial, quality, reputational, and time risks. A score of 80-100 in this area would be indicative of a thorough risk mitigation plan that addresses all these aspects.

The Information Peace Coefficient is expressed as a percentage that can applied to your proposed benefits. Let's assume you have assessed yourself at 50 for Change Management Strategy, 80 for Process Efficiency, and 80 for Information Risk. The formula yields:

(50% * 80%) / 80% = 50%

Now, let's assume your business case projects a return on investment of $200,000. If we apply the IPC of 50%, there is the potential to achieve only half of your stated benefits, or $100,000. As I mentioned above, this is a subjective assessment but should provide a quick quality check on the comprehensiveness of your approach.

We have waged war on information (just look at Information Warrior!). Isn't it time to give Information Peace a chance?