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    future of work

    Future of Work Part 8, circa 2011

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Ferocious Pace of Change.

    Who are you going to listen too? Whose motives are most selfless? Pristine? Heroic? Will my data be safe?

    Implication for FOW: When we need instant leadership and a default “nobody ever got fired for…” in a quickly changing world, MSFT is the company to turn to.

    Though my opening insight “B2B innovation lags consumer” would seem counter to the ferocious pace of change, that only means B2B was a laggard. Change is accelerating. The reality today is social media and more open systems among makers in the tech community have made it harder for those to pass on news biased toward one tech platform. The platform fiefdoms aren’t as strong as they were. Steve Jobs isn’t smiling from above.

    Leadership these days is more altruistic than it used to was. A company gets more cred for protecting the business user than it does for protecting its profit margin. Scale is more important than profit. And when everyone is working together, it speeds up the pace of change.

    I can’t tell if the Coronavirus pandemic will be a hiccup in this trend or an accelerant. I’m guessing the latter.

    Peace.

     

    Insight 5, The Future of Work, Circa 2011.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    (Number 5 in a series. Click here to read initial post.)

    Work ergonomically.      

    Less key strokes. Need a .com button on the keyboard. Better email (Facebook found some inefficiencies.) The masses seek order. Stand to the right on the escalator in highly trafficked parts of NYC. It’s a Fast Twitch World. Biggest news breaks on Twitter. MSFT works the way you work.

    Implication for FOW: Usability, arguably a MSFT weakness, can be made into a positive thanks to real demonstrations, e.g., One Note, Printing from the cloud, Windows 7 Mobile Hubs vs. Apps.)

    Most of this still holds up. There is a .com button on my mobile now. We are finding keystrokes replaced by voice commands. Slack, as an online business tool, has advanced ergonomics though it still hasn’t penetrated the way it should (and will). That said, Microsoft reported daily use of Teams has reached 44M, the spike for which can be partially attributed to the corona virus.

    There are very few workers who want to work with more friction. Water runs downhill. As was noted in the first post on the Future of Work, consumer apps have outpaced business apps when it comes to innovation; businesses still have a way to go to improve the ergonomics of work. There has been some incremental positive change, but not enough.

    Peace.

     

    Future of Work Part Six, circa 2011.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    To Free or not to Free…

    The new economy paradigm:

    • Information and communication should be free. (Internet users bill of rights)
    • Tools cost money. And are worth it.
    • Content should be shared (free-ish.)
    • How should we treat Google? Let’s let them do their thing, they are already going off-piste.

                (Big question – Should service be free? SaS.)

    Implication for FOW: We need to create value and charge for it. If people are will to pay for virtual goods, they should be willing to pay for improved achievements.

    Well I’m not sure virtual goods lasted more than a few months but certainly value is still worth something. I have to admit, though, most of the apps on my phone are free. Ad supported or not the digital world is still filled with free. And I know one particular technology company that is thriving, in part, thanks to giving away IP and code. Often I argue that altruism isn’t a brand plank, but in the case of this company (and client) raising all boats is. It’s who they are — part of their mystique.

    So honestly, to free or not to free is still exists today as a business conundrum. At What’s The Idea? I offer a free day of planning to good prospects. It’s often how I get to fee.

    Peace.

     

    New Future of Work.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    I did an insight piece on the “Future of Work” while working with ad agency JWT on their Microsoft 365 business — it was a blast.  At the time, who other than some epidemiologists would have predicted COVID 19 and its rampage across the globe. Covid changed everything. Two key outcomes for the working world were less meetings and working from home. The cry for less meetings is not new but has certainly grown thanks to Covid. The work from home phenomenon, however is new and here to stay. Ish.  

    If you combine these two workplace developments the result is a lot of individual work product. And for me, that’s a bad trend.  Most people work best with fellow employees. As sounding boards. Lunch partners. Idea generators. Creative recombinators as Faris Yakob would say.  

    The future of work is not isolation. Hell yeah we can do it. And it might even make us more self-reliant and resourceful short term.  But working like pod people is not good for anyone. We are a gregarious species. Whistling while you work is no substitute for communicating while you work. I get the head-down thing, I do. But we all need to come up for air frequently. It’s healthy and it’s productive.

    Peace.

     

     

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