Nineteenth-century mathematicians discovered to their discomfort that as the conceptual machinery of mathematics became more precise, it became more difficult.

- David Berlinski, The Advent of the Algorithm

I suspect that same will be said of our industry.

One such precision tool is relationships. At the base of any good domain expertise pyramid is a whole mess of relationshps between two or more variables. What is the relationship between compensation and performance? How are budgets spent across the development and launch of a new project?

Here are some of my favorites generic relationships.

• The linear relationhips.

• The bell curve.

• The s-curve.

• The asymptotic relationship.

• The price/demand relationship.

Or visually:

I suspect that increasingly, we will all have to be as comfortable with using these and other relationships to characterize knowledge as we currently are with bullets, headings, and fonts.