When I started working in business, PCs were just coming to use in the company where I worked. Not everyone had a computer, which may shock some of you. We had shared computers in some places, and there were people whose jobs didn't require computers, if you can believe that. The world has changed since then, and having access to some computing device is almost required at every level of business these days, from delivery drivers to warehouse workers to the CEO.
One of the anachronistic events you might see in older films or book was the idea of an executive calling a secretary into their office to dictate a memorandum or letter. I've actually witnessed that event, though it's a faded memory that I barely recall. As technology evolved, we found more and more people could handle their own work, typing and proofing their own letters, calling up their own reports, and reading their own correspondence. That seems to be much more efficient, allowing one person to do the work that two might have done before, but is that correct?
When you ask for a report, or dictate a letter, you are delegating that work. You can let it go, and spend your time thinking about the content or analyzing the data without worrying about the mechanics. It's easy to pick up a report, but it's also easy to get bogged down in worrying about which options to pick, or experimenting with a few options, going back and forth. I shudder to think of how much time someone spends formatting, changing fonts, or customizing their work in Word, Powerpoint, etc. when they could be applying knowledge to a process.
Technology is a great enabler, but too often we think that just enabling someone with more options, choices and settings is a worthwhile exercise. Technology ought to make things easier, and allow us to concentrate more on the work we need to do. If it requires more work from us, especially because it's given us too many choices, I'm not sure it's been implemented well.
Steve Jones
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