Can We Work Efficiently in the Google Era?
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Google and other Internet innovations are changing the way we work—and the way we think. But there is hope for IT pros. |
"Funny, Internet activity can be akin to being in a casino: everywhere there's something (useless) competing for your attention. It's difficult to find the value and stay focused."
That's what reader Kathy Martino said in response to a simple (but troubling) question we posed recently: is technology making us dumber?
The question arose from Nicholas Carr's much-discussed recent essay in The Atlantic, which delved (deeply) into the ways Google and the Internet era are rewiring our brains.
Martino also offered some advice:
Professionally: for those of us who design and build enterprise software, making our enterprise's software just as fun and easy to use as consumer sites might just motivate employees to work more and Facebook less.Listen to what your users are asking for and there will be a clue—if not an outright good suggestion—of what might be needed to do that.
Keep in mind that it's not simply about recreating consumer technologies as is [in the enterprise]; it's about applying those concepts and technologies in ways that matter in your organization and in ways that help people [in your organization] toward achieving their organizational and departmental goals.
What do you think?
Comments (4)
I think all the social networking and consumer-oriented products are creating major productivity leaks in the whole IT space.
People have started to create disinterest in their own work and have become active in interactions outside work.
Everybody cannot be developing rich UI and not-so-mission-critical software. One advantage I see is that collaborative platforms are emerging very rapidly and they can give a productivity boost, provided they are used as engineering portals.
Posted by Dhananjay Barve | July 9, 2008 6:23 AM
Curiosity and information are a great combination. Access to reliable information is an opportunity to innovate. I don't think businesses should be scared by this.
Google and other search engines have a problem with the reliability of the information they point to. Users have to be careful what they trust; until search addresses this, they have to focus a disproportionate amount of users to open/unreliable reference sites like Wikipedia or blogs. Of course, there are more structured/trusted sources like Safari Books Online or the Wall Street Journal.
Basing knowledge and innovation off the trusted info is fine, but using the pen Web is scary.
Posted by JJ Teller | July 9, 2008 10:30 AM
Google Docs has done what IT could not do for years: *empower* the business.
If large firms don't adopt Google Docs (and some of the other technology), they will find themselves in the "dark age" of computing in a year or two.
In fact, I can see the time coming *soon* when employees bring their own collaborative resources (laptops, Google documents, social-business networking) to the table as part of their resume and skill set.
Businesses are empowered by employees with intellectual ability and IP. And this can not be contained by IT in a free market.
Long live open systems, open source and business collaboration. Remember the arguments IBM and DEC made against the approach of collaboration, innovation and collective IP?
That bet was lost long ago. Google remembers the lessons learned. Some IT organizations are still in the dark ages and remain unenlightened.
Go figure ...
Posted by RJ | July 9, 2008 11:25 AM
Sorry to break up the lovefest, but honestly I've tried Google Docs and it is definitely not "all that." Sure, consumer technology is driving enterprise technology more rapidly than ever and Google has been a part of that, but this is hardly *just* a google phenomenon. Things like Facebook, Flickr, eBay/Paypal, Popfly, Windows Live, LinkedIn and many more are part of that equation, too.
Microsoft may not have been first to embrace the Internet, but to me they look like the ones moving most aggressively to put consumer technology principles to work in a business-class way: e.g., SharePoint and an internet-connected Office suite...plus now look at the hosted SharePoint they just announced for enterprise-grade collaboration, wikis, blogs, etc. without having to deploy boxes. And Office Live for small businesses....
As a guy who works out of a home office, sits on the board of a non-profit, participates at my kids PTA, etc, Office and Office Live are by far the best option going for my needs -- a no compromise blend of Web-based collaboration that integrates well with the full, unmatched, set of Office capabilities.
Posted by Sorry to break up the love-fest... | July 10, 2008 8:28 PM