Use the minimal amount of data to keep all parts of a system
aware of one another. If you operate a parts warehouse, for
example, your system needs to be knowledgeable of each part's
location every minute. That's done by barcoding everything. But
it needs to go further. Those parts need to be aware of what the
system knows. The location of parts in a warehouse should shift
depending on how well they sell, what kind of backlog a vendor
forecasts, how their substitutes are selling. The fastest-moving
items (which will be a dynamic list) may want to be positioned
for easier picking and shipping. The items move in response to
the outside--if there is a system to spread the info. Get
machines to talk to one another directly. Information should
flow laterally and not just into a center, but out and between
as well. The question to ask is, "How much do our
products/services know about our business?" How much current
knowledge flows back into the edges? How well do we inform the
perimeter, because the perimeter is th