As times passes by, technology evolves and replaces older technology. Careers change, people retire, and reorganizations happen. Data once thought crucial, copied and kept in many different places, while systems contain forgotten knowledge, and more and more people lose track it. New and younger staff is hired, and older knowledge is perceived obsolete and out of date.

And yet, we store all data, we try to analyze for insight, and add new systems with unproven technology, and society changes faster just as much. The data walks the organization as zombies after a global disaster. And yet nobody seems to be worried, for the new tool will solve that all.

We seem to not remember the past, and do not have the time to document the present. Information Modeling is not just for the next system, it is valuable to hold on to knowledge that already is getting lost, faster than we can ever amend.

As soon as we dig for knowledge in existing systems, or from domain experts still working at the organization, we should not store that for storing purposes. We should document it for future retrieval. Information Modeling, without technical bias, can deliver just that. Information Models can be transformed into technological artifacts without losing meaning, and can be transformed into future artifacts due to being properly documented already.

So, whenever you encounter data, the question that should arise, is "Do we understand this, and where is it documented for the future?"

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