A big chunk of my work these days is developing and refining workflows to get things done within a team. And within that, a disproportionately large subset is defining communications workflows. By “communications workflows” I mean figuring out what needs to be communicated, by and to whom, and when.
These communications tasks — both internal and external — are essential for every business and nonprofit. They’re also time-consuming and complex.
What a “communications workflow” looks like for individual businesses, nonprofits and solopreneurs varies widely, but a common thread is that there are always more details and decisions to make than you would expect. Even my tiny 4-person business needs several process documents to clarify things like how we develop and distribute social media posts; how we communicate with various lists via email; how we reach out to clients for post-project feedback, etc.
At its core, what I’m describing here is the challenge of information-sharing.
I find myself engaged in this work all the time, both for clients and with my in-house team at P-Brain.
I also do a lot of running and walking along Albuquerque’s acequias, the irrigation ditches that long ago created a vast and intricate community infrastructure. Running along these ditches feeding water from the Rio Grande to farms and pastures in the North Valley, it occurred to me that information flows are not that different from water flows.
Lessons from Acequia Culture
In New Mexico, there’s a generations-old governance system for irrigation ditches, run communally and headed by a mayordomo/a. Living in Albuquerque, you’re used to seeing them all around, especially near rivers like the Rio Grande that runs right through my neighborhood. It seems they are taken for granted as a feature of the landscape. But there’s long history and extensive culture around them, and it seems to me at least a few lessons to learn regarding the nature of precious things that flow.
Besides having general knowledge about how the acequias work by virtue of living here, I’ve read some history and administrative-type docs outlining the system of maintaining and using acequias. A few months ago I watched a video that I can’t find the link for now, but was hosted by the New Mexico Humanities Council and featured a speaker who shared some fascinating details about acequia culture and history.
It really struck me how much of what he discussed could be applied to information networks. Like, in pre-industrial times, digging new channels or upgrading existing water systems was traditionally one of the first public works projects for fledgling communities. I’d argue a similar task is essential for modern ventures: setting up your communications channels. Deciding where folks will share information with each other — email? Slack? Google Docs / Chat? Notion? — is one of the first things that needs to happen when people start collaborating.
Other acequia traditions like following natural water pathways as an engineering guide are useful to think about in an info management context. Creating info systems that cater to the members’ preferences is likely to have a better outcome than to try to force information in a direction it isn’t naturally being used.
Democratic governance is a traditional value in acequia culture, but in my observation this does not guarantee transparency; plus historically acequia governance has been intensely male-dominated, some would say patriarchal. Having never been part of a ditch community I can’t say; in any case developing truly inclusive democratic management would be important to prioritize. Same for info system management.
Just as communities tend to cluster around water, so do they form around information. The trick is to find the most efficient way to get that precious resource distributed equitably and sustainably.
What are your tricks in info management? I’d love for you to share them with me!