“My experience indicates that most managers receive much more data (if not information) than they can possibly absorb even if they spend all of their time trying to do so. Hence they already suffer from an information overload. They must spend a great deal of time separating the relevant documents. For example, I have found that I receive an average of 43 hours of unsolicited reading material each week. The solicited material is usually half again this amount.”

—  Russell L. Ackoff

Source: 1960s, Management misinformation systems, 1967, p. 148.

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Russell L. Ackoff photo
Russell L. Ackoff 70
Scientist 1919–2009

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