THE TECHNICAL HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

INMON’S TECHNICAL HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

By W H Inmon

The end user never seems to be satisfied. Whenever one project is complete it is just a matter of time before the end user is back at the door asking for something else. Indeed, the end user operates in a – “give me what I say I want, then I can tell you what I really want“?- mode. The end user really does operate in an exploratory mode. They don’t know what they want until they can see what the possibilities are. Then – and only then – can they articulate their needs, usually a new set of needs.

So, does this mean that the end user is being unreasonable? Is there ever an end to the end user’s insatiable appetite for something new in their computer systems? In order to understand this phenomenon, we have to look no further than to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow -a psychologist – introduced the concept of a hierarchy of needs for humans. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs looks like -

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs it is seen that there are some basic needs for each human. Then, as the most basic needs are met, there are another wholly different set of needs once the basic set of needs are met. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is not limited to one race or one religion. The hierarchy of needs applies to all of mankind, whatever race or religion, in all countries.

In order to explain why the end user is never happy with whatever they are presented, there is another set of needs that needs to be explored. This set of needs can be called the technical hierarchy of needs. The technical hierarchy of needs looks like -

The technical hierarchy of needs shows that at the most basic level, the end user is satisfied with merely getting a system put on a computer. By putting a system on a computer, the end user has alleviated a huge manual burden. And for most people this is very important.

But once that manual burden has been alleviated, the end user discovers that they want something more. It is not enough that a system has been automated, now the end user wants the computer to operate quickly and with ease. If you don’t believe this look at your ATM machine. What would happen if ATM machines suddenly gave 1 minute performance rather than 1 second performance? People would become very irritated with ATM’s and probably would not use them. With an ATM you just expect fast response time as part of what ATM machines do.

So, after automation of a system comes speed of access and ease of access of the system.

Then one day the end user discovers that there is a need for the believability of data. It is one thing to automate a system, it is another thing to make the system operate quickly. But what good is all of this if the data the system is operating on produces data that is incorrect? The system is then worthless. You can’t make important business decisions based on data that is inaccurate or unbelievable.

The end user demands that data have integrity. But they don’t make this discovery until they have progressed up the hierarchy.

Then one day the end user decides that data should be able to be shared across the enterprise, or even beyond the enterprise. Why should the same data element appear in one system and reappear in another system with a different set of values? The end user sees that there is great value in being able to have a single understanding of data that is vital to the corporation. As long as data is scattered across the corporation like falling leaves in the autumn, making important strategic decisions is difficult if not impossible to do.

Then one day the end user finds that data is accessible, easy to get to, reliable, and interoperable. This is the day that the end user can start to equate computerization with true business value.

So when the end user is asking for something new, all the end user is doing is progressing up the ladder of the hierarchy of needs for technology. And that progression is as inevitable a grass growing in the summertime. Or snow falling in the wintertime.

So how useful is it to understand the hierarchy of technical needs? It turns out that the hierarchy of technical needs explains a lot of things –

??Why spreadsheets are not used for every system that is made. Certainly spreadsheets satisfy the need for quick computerization. Nothing can beat the ability to get a system on the computer faster than a spreadsheet. But when I have a spreadsheet, I can assign myself a salary of $1,000,000 a month. But that assignment is not a reflection of reality. Spreadsheets do not satisfy the need for integrity of data.

??The turnover of technical corporations. If every decade you look at the top computer companies and you look at the list of the top computer companies ten years later, you find out that the list of top technical corporations is constantly turning over. It is why IBM – once the premier technology company in the world is an also ran today. Technology companies focus on and sell their existing technology. As a rule, technology companies do not evolve to a higher set of needs. Consequently, they wake up one day to find that the end users needs have left behind their technology.

??Why some venture capital companies languish after a brilliant moment in the sun. Venture capitalists only focus on short term investments. They want a return on their investment as soon as possible. They invest in companies that solve a problem right now. Then one day they wake up and find that the company that solves a problem today does not solve the problems of tomorrow. And the VC is stuck with companies that solve yesterday’s problems.

??Understanding data warehouse. Data warehouse does not solve the problems of automation or speed of processing. Instead, data warehouse addresses the problem of data integrity. A lot of people get really excited when they can automate something. But automation is only the first step up the ladder. People think they have climbed the ladder when all they have done is gotten to the first step.

??Why Big Data is a failure. Big Data solves the problem of storage of information, and that is basic and correct. But Big Data is very poor at solving the problems of ease of use, speed of access or integration of data. Buying into Big Data only gets you up the first step of the ladder.

So when the end user never seems to be satisfied, don’t blame your end user for having an insatiable appetite. Just recognize that your end user is merely progressing up the ladder of the technical hierarchy of needs. And it is both normal and expected that the evolution will occur. It is inevitable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

Bill Inmon – the father of data warehousing – has a company in Denver, Colorado. Forest Rim Technology supports textual disambiguation which reads text and turns text into a standard data base. In doing so, textual disambiguation opens up corporate decision making to the full spectrum of their data.???