{"product_id":"9781101543764","title":"Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information","description":"You're sitting in a windowless conference room. Twenty minutes into  the meeting the presenter finally makes it to slide four of a thirty two- slide deck. At least you can read this one, unlike the others, which were  crammed with numbers, graphs and charts. You look around, wondering if  anyone else is following the presentation.\u003cp\u003eJust about everyone these days suffers from information overload the  24\/7 explosion from our computers, smartphones, media, colleagues, and  customers. Information is essential to making intelligent decisions, but  more often than not, it simply overwhelms us. It's like trying to drink  from a fire hose.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe question isn't how to stop all those e-mails, meetings, conference  calls, and fat reports; that's impossible. The question is what to do  with them. How do you find the truly essential nuggets of information and  use them with confidence?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe solution proposed by Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone sounds  deceptively simple: Learn how to ask the right questions at the right  time. Whatever field you're in, asking smarter questions will expose you  to new information, point you to connections between seemingly unrelated  facts, and open new avenues of discussion with your colleagues.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe authors explain the seven questions that can help you bring a big- picture perspective to problems that often leave others buried in  irrelevant details. And they show through real-life case studies- including Trader Joe's, Starbucks, Kodak, Microsoft, iRobot, and IBM-how  their method can have a dramatic impact. It really is possible to convert  the fire hose of information into useful insights.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eConsider a nonbusiness example: the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption  that sent a giant ash cloud toward Europe. Tens of thousands of flights  were canceled and five million passengers stranded, leading to billions  in economic losses. Europe's best scientists generated oceans of data and  carefully modeled the cloud's dispersion pattern. But no one could answer  the essential question: Was the concentration of volcanic ash in the air  enough to damage a jet engine? Without that key answer, all the carefully  gathered facts were useless to the decision makers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce you adopt the seven questions, you'll start having more  productive brainstorming sessions. You'll answer critical questions  faster and find unexpected solutions to important problems. And you'll  get better at communicating to your colleagues with more clarity and  focus, turning down the fire hose that other people have to cope with.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47133357572336,"sku":"9781101543764","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781101543764_p0.jpg?v=1763687360","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781101543764","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}