2-6. The staff keeps its units well informed. The staff also keeps civilian organizations informed with relevant information according to their security classification, as well as their need to know. As soon as a staff receives information and determines its relevancy, that staff passes that information to the appropriate headquarters. The key is relevance, not volume. Masses of data are worse than meaningless data; they inhibit mission command by distracting staffs from relevant information. Effective knowledge management helps staffs identify the information the commander and each staff element need, and its relative importance. (See chapter 3 for more details on knowledge management.)