The decay curve
Information has a half-life, and it is shorter than we think. A stock price, a weather report, a competitor's move — each loses value by the minute. But the value of knowledge is not only in its content; it is in its timing.
Latency is meaning
In human cognition, as in networks, latency is not a technical detail — it is part of the meaning. A piece of advice that arrives a second after a decision is not the same advice. It is, practically, no advice at all.
Three kinds of quicker
- Sooner — surfacing information before it is needed, so it is ready.
- Just-in-time — delivering information at the exact moment of a decision.
- Frictionless — removing the effort required to act on what you know.
Each is a different skill, and a good system practices all three.
Knowing quicker is knowing at the speed of relevance. Faster than that is noise; slower is regret.