Old-Fashioned Technology - It Works!
Last Friday, I noted I was going to do my best to go all weekend without turning on my computer. I didn’t quite make it, but I did limit myself to a couple of quick Google searches for entertainment purposes. (For some reason, the collector’s edition of Buffy doesn’t include an episode guide.) I spent most of my time reading those old-fashioned thangs called books by out-of-print authors such as Christopher Morley. (Passages from his books first published in the early 1900s are still relevant today. See two quotes at the end of this post.)
Which brings me to: I love technology. I couldn’t live and work as I do without all kinds of cool stuff - from the timer on my coffeemaker to the Web. But, when companies and people become overly dependent on technology (or a whiz-bang process) things get blown all to Hell. Supermarket checkers can’t make change without the computer (much less check you out.) Software developers forget key features. Product launch schedules slip, slide and die. Customer service becomes customer disservice. And so on. All because a company has allowed a box, piece of software, network or process to drive the business, instead of the other way around. And, they have nothing in place for when the tech stuff or delivery system doesn’t work as it should. So, let’s not forget the old but still useful technology.
I have a fully integrated, interactive client database and project management tool. It’s called “a brain.”
My small, portable peripherals to assist with database updates and project tracking are called… “a pad of paper” and “a pencil.”
My dynamic, proven problem identification and resolution process is called… “thinking.”
As you read about Web 4.0 and the ever-growing list of new technologies - don’t obsess. Take what you can use to make your life better and leave the rest. And, if it doesn’t work on paper, it’s not going to work any better when it’s automated, integrated, linked, uploaded, downloaded, posted, interactive, wireless, flashing, rolling, or popping up.
Have a great (and productive) Monday!
Two quotes from Mr. Morley:
“Printer’s ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries.” - The Haunted Bookshop (This sequel to Parnassus on Wheels was originally published in 1918; my copy is the 1919 edition.)
“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
Related Posts:
Drinking from the technology fire hose
For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, pleas press three.
What a choice. Pot or email?
Read More: John Whiteside, of Opinionated Marketers, on That Unlovable Device.
Tags: customer service, mind candy and brain food, product development, project management
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January 30th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Mary- Not to get all vow-of-poverty, but your wonderful post is a a good reminder that possessions can end up possessing you (rather than the other way around), and none more so than technological goods. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of feeling that you always have to be online, always have to be “connected”, always have to be “available”. And just why is it that a cell phone call takes primacy over a face to face conversation, anyway? Why is it that with all our labor- and time-saving devices we have “no time for [fill in the blank: friends, reading, volunteering]”. Some days it kinda makes me want to go find some Luddites to join.
January 30th, 2007 at 7:56 am
You and me both. The Luddites actually had some of the right ideas. They weren’t opposed to the machines - they were opposed to the effect the machines would have on quality of life (including the transformation of craftsmen into robotic cogs, i.e., “jobs.”)
And, I make it a policy to be unavailable for business on weekends or after - say - 6:00 on weekdays. (Of course, there are times I have to be, for client deadlines and such, but not often.) It takes a bit to get people to grok this (they look at me funny, “but, but…what if?”) but it’s healthier and I’m far more productive. And, I turn off my cell phone during meetings and lunch. There’s nothing more insulting than somebody talking to somebody else through the entire time they’re with you.
The whole cell/blackberry junkie scenario perplexes me. My friends who are the most addicted are often the most difficult to contact. They’ve got their phones forwarded so they’re always “available”; the IM is on; and yet they never seem to answer. They’re so connected nobody can reach them.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Mary, as an “IT guy” you’ve hit on one of my favorite themes. Technology isn’t your job or your life. It is only a tool (among many others) to help you do your job and live your life. Too often we let it become our job and our life. If you’ve ever emailed someone in the next cubicle or text messaged your kids to come downstairs to dinner or believe 2+2 really is 5 becasue that’s what your Excel spreadsheet shows then you may know what I mean.
Using technology to communicate is best only when the old-fashioned human interaction methods can not work due to time or distance. We should never use it as a substitue for human interaction if possible.
We should always remember the tool is there to serve us, not the other way around. As you indicate we may actually need to use our brains and think.
Mike
January 30th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Michael,
Thanks for stopping by. Good to “talk” to an “IT guy” with your perspective.
All this said, while I wouldn’t want to be assimiliated, it would be way cool if I could call control and have them instantly download to my brain the ability to ski double black diamond runs! (Or, fly a helicopter, or, or…)
April 16th, 2007 at 9:42 am
[…] I’m off to get my “To Do” list today down to just three things – and then do them. Related Posts: Busy ain’t necessarily productive (duh Mary!) Old-Fashioned Technology – It Works! […]