The World May Be Flat... But Meeting In Person Is Still Pretty Popular
from the sorry,-Mr.-Friedman dept
For all the talk these days about how "the world is flat" and that technology has made things like virtual offices and telecommuting easier, some are noticing that people seem to be making more of an effort than ever before to travel and meet people in person. The idea is that, like the paperless office, the predictions that anyone could work from anywhere and never have to meet in person has become something of a myth. Just as electronic communications actually created more information that was then printed out, the thinking here is that the communications revolution has actually created more contacts, both business and personal, that people need to stay in touch with. While some of that can be done online, it increases the need for travel and actually gathering in person. The article also notes that, even on a personal level, new communications technologies have made it easier to meet up in person -- such as the ability to coordinate on the fly via mobile phone, rather than working out detailed plans for getting together well in advance. Of course, the article fails to note that for all the false early predictions of the paperless office from years past, more recent reports suggest that the younger generation isn't using very much paper at all -- and may actually live up to the paperless office ideal. So, perhaps the traveling and meeting claim is equally a generational issue, and the current generation of youngsters will be perfectly happy to never meet in person.
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telecommuting
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There is a difference?
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Fact follows science fiction?
Bill
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Re: Fact follows science fiction?
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Of course the youngsters are used to it
So just like the net itself the paperless office will take time (like a few generations) to get used to. It may be tough on the current businesswomen/men but if today's elementary student grow up to join a workforce that the majority of is paperless it wont be so hard to adapt.
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there's a distinction between daily work and relat
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paper...
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Re: paper...
THE world that Bill W is thinking of is Solaria, in The Naked Sun, a full length novel by Asimov.
THe advantage of real meetings is that people do catching up and networking over coffee or lunch, rather than merely discussing the task in hand in the meeting. This means that they can informally discuss what they are working on, and improvements or soluions suggested. IT also helps employees know more about other departments.
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Lets step back to leap forward
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Re: Lets step back to leap forward
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the point of the
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Theres a whole host of reasons
I've worked in the same company for over 7 years and during that time I have got to the point where I am virtually paperless. I still print out code as I find that it's still easier to debug on paper (hurts my eyes to stare too long at the screen) but I can go a whole week without hitting Ctrl-P
The main reason I have turned from a tree killer to an electron abuser is reliability. Systems are more reliable now with backups more the norm.
In the old days I would save something to hard disk only to find it had pooched, so I would do a backup on a floppy disk but end up leaving that in the sun or on top of a speaker. If I wanted to share a file with someone I would have to find a location on a file server somewhere (probably with not a very good backup policy) and store it there, then spend the next few months requesting additional accesses one by one to the file and wondering which numpty just overwrote it. In short storage was not reliable so I printed out documents and put them on shelves so I at least had *something* when the inevitable happened
These days I save a file on my PC in a location which backs up to a secure server daily, if my hard disk dies it takes me a day or so to get back everything. My USB stick stores over 1000 times what my floppy did and fits in my pocket (its not too keen on magnetism either but nothings perfect). The document storage and management systems are a lot more available rather than just for the elite few and allow me to easily store a document in an area with full automated version control and simple access management, which I can control as a user directly without too much admin assistance - ergo I don't feel the need to print out everything, most documents survive longer than their usefulness rather than the other way around
Meetings however still lack something without the physical presence, I work from home so I know all about not meeting people face to face. The most productive meetings are definitely the ones where you meet face to face, it is easy to spot the nuances as per Tyshaun's post - also it's easy to spot that that guy over there isn't paying attention and is actually going through his emails. Like Beelzebub stated lunches and coffee breaks are great places to do additional work but I would still argue that face to face meetings themselves are important right now. Who knows once online video meetings improve (which they will) even this will be encroached on, remember the cool turny video screens on seats Wesley Snipes shot the shit out of in Demolition Man?
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On the paperless office
A lot of the older guys still print out just about everything - so it definitely seems like a generation gap thing.
I'd also say the same thing is true with meetings. Teenagers treat all communication equally: a conversation is still just as "real" whether it occurs on IM, MySpace, text messages, or face to face. I notice the same isn't true of the older people in my office - although they use IM, they never really have conversations with it (but they do with email, which is weird)
Neither paper nor human contact will ever disappear completely. But I do think their importance will diminish over time as the older people with old habits get phased out.
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Why Ship Bodies?
Most business communications do not require or benefit from face to face word-speaking.
Some sales/marketing communications might benefit from in-person processes, but that effect probably stems from residual cultural custom rather than hard fact.
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No paper here
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