The Digital Edge: People Development through Simple Technologies

Isman Tanuri — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:58:43 +0000

Full disclosure: I admit I am a technology geek and, unabashedly, a Google fanboy. I am always fiddling with my gadget of choice (my Google Nexus One phone), customising my Google Chrome browser and I constantly try to outsmart the office’s laptop and its ‘restrictions’. You may ask why do I spend valuable time and effort on activities like these?

Well, I demand technology to work for me, to get the most value out of pieces of technology I own or paid good money for. But most simple technologies are made available to me for free, so being Singaporean, free is holy. But, above all, the driving motivation for this is to increased productivity and efficiency, both for my personal and professional uses. (Particularly useful when I was studying too).

Consider these very simple examples:

Very simple example 1:

Bookmarks Sync: Using the Chrome browser means all my favourite bookmarks I had saved on my home desktop is automatically available to me on my work laptop. Google keeps Chrome on all of my computers synced automatically.

No exporting, no importing, no mess. And most importantly, no emailing a URL link to myself!

Very simple example 2:

Universal Calendar: As a professional, I have to keep to a schedule (meetings, lunch appointments, etc.), in this case, I have to use the Outlook calendar in my work laptop. However, I need a personal calendar too (nephews and nieces’ birthday parties, dentist appointments, ‘buy milk’, bachelor’s parties, etc.).

As I don’t think carrying my work laptop everywhere I go or on the weekends is a terribly brilliant or cool idea, I use Google Calendar. I have Google Calendar on my Nexus One and I can access Google Calendar everywhere I go, even on holidays. All I need is a browser and an internet connection.

And there IS a way to have my Outlook and Google Calendar ‘make friends with each other’. Update one and the other automatically updates itself.

No exporting, no importing, no mess. And most importantly, no double duplicate repetitive work!

Very simple example 3:

Auto-Silence Mobile Phone: To keep this really simple, I use my Nexus One with a Locale application with the following strict settings:

Only on Mondays to Fridays, between 8.30am and 6.30pm, and only at HarbourFront Tower 2.

Result: Every single weekday morning when I walked into the office, my phone had auto-silenced itself off. Neat, right?

No time-wasting fiddling, no sweat, no more WonderGirls’ ringtone going off unexpectedly and no more embarrassments. Isn’t that nice?

And there are many more little tricks and simple tools that are waiting for to be discovered and used daily. Technology (even weaponry) are meant to help us in some way or another to improve our lives. The computer, the telephone and even the humble toothpick (care for a twig?)

All This Is Fuddy-Duddy to You?

Are you saying these to yourself “That is too difficult!”, “Oh, I don’t think I am savvy enough”, “I am afraid of the Internet”, “I don’t have a smartphone”, etc.? Well, heard about the 99-year old grandmother with an iPad? Or the 1-year old iPhone-savvy baby?

Believe me, you too can take advantage of simple technologies like these and make your life a little more productive and efficient. As long as you have a computer, work with a computer or simply surf the web on a computer, you deserve the opportunity to harness the power of simple technologies.

Everyone has a right to simple technologies to enhance their lives. Every second saved through being efficient really adds up. (In a year, how many hours do you waste in total waiting for your favourite news website to load every morning?)

The Truth Hurts

To be frank, I keep company with young and technologically-savvy people (maybe an old-age inferiority thang!) Many of them understand the power of simple technologies and use this knowledge for their own benefits. They are school-leavers (could possibly be your child, nephew or niece), below the age of 26, equipped and exposed to iPhones and iPads and also totally understand and exploit the value of online social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

In a few years’ time, they will slowly and collectively change the culture in your workplace: they have Twitter on their iPhones so they are getting news as it is breaking. They have placed their trust in cloud computing because they know it is efficient, timely and cost-friendly. They will make lightning-quick and well-informed decisions and will be the main driver and steward of a real-time and social economy.

Where will you be then? Can you catch up?

My working experience in the world’s biggest enterprise software company has been quite telling. Despite the technology-driven environment, a large majority of my former colleagues are not taking advantage or leveraging on simple technologies to help them in their work and learning. Even for something simple and efficient like RSS for reading. If folks from a top technology company are ‘not getting it’, what about the rest of us?

No one I knew in school (I used to attend part-time classes) uses RSS for reading or research.

The digital divide is alarming. And here are my plans.

I REALLY Need Your Help With This Survey

I believe I can help bridge this gap in digital learning. I have this platform, my blog, to share my own practices, knowledge and experiences with simple technologies as well as trends in efficient computing (do bookmark or subscribe to this blog if you wish to keep in touch).

However, I wish to do more. But first, I need your help.

In order for me to better understand the scale and scope of this issue, I would like to have some information and data to study the pain points, apprehension and views you may have on adopting simple technologies for daily use. I have prepared a simple survey to achieve this (using Google Forms, its free!).

The Digital Edge Survey: Do You Use These Simple Technologies?

Survey Link: http://bit.ly/DigitalEdgeSurvey

All are welcomed to participate in this survey as I will appreciate the opportunity to hear insights from the different age groups or profiles. However, my ideal participant should be as follow:

Between the age of 26-50
Of any gender, race, educational and professional background
Of any level of computing proficiency
Resident of Singapore

I apologise for the very Google-centric nature of this survey. Why is this so (other than what my wife calls my ‘one-sided love affair with Google’)? Because I have been taking serious advantage of Google’s free online tools and services for my personal, professional and academic use. There are so many of them, I am hard-pressed to use other services! The convenience and benefits I have received far outweigh the time and effort I have spent discovering and learning Google’s tools.

I mean, did you know that there’s a ‘(‘Home-made’) Ice Cream Map of Singapore’ on Google Maps? :)

(In truth, there are many free online productivity tools and services that are available, such as Zoho, Evernote, Remember The Milk, just to name a few.)

If you believe the study and work that I am about to embark on will be beneficial and of value, I really hope you will spare some time for the survey or help to distribute the survey URL link to this survey to your friends, family, colleagues and anyone you think who will be able to provide insights for this study. The more participants, the better!

Survey Link: http://bit.ly/DigitalEdgeSurvey

Survey Outcome and Future Plans

I plan to publish the results and analysis of this survey on this blog during the week of 14-20 June 2010. I really hope this future report will provide great insights and viewpoints that will assist me and others to develop educational digital learning content for the general populace.

I am also assuring you that my blog will now focus on sharing the secrets of simple technologies through learning posts that I hope you will find useful and adopt for your daily and professional use.

I thank you for your participation and for your willingness to re-share this survey.

Why Am I Doing This?

I will write a more in-depth post soon on my future objectives and my conviction on why I should set out and do this. But here’s a short explanation in a nutshell.

Recently, I did some thinking and had a ‘A-HA!’ moment that totally changed my focus and perspective.

An empowered and enabled employee will do more wonders for an organisation than state-of-the-art software or a roomful of high-end servers. Period.

Throughout this blog, I have written about how businesses should adopt and adapt the ‘open’ business model through social media and online marketing.

I was totally missing the point.

It is people that should matter first. Develop the people, then develop the business.

Didn’t they say the most efficient and productive workforce keeps the economy running smooth and healthy?

I leave you now with one of my inspiration. Watch this (a little dizzy at times) video to understand what I mean.

Video Credits: Dan Pink’s animated talk: ‘Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us’

Thanks for reading this post. If you have any comment or would like to share your ideas, thoughts or even to give input on how I can improve on the survey and study, do feel free to use the Comment space below.

a groovyweb » efficiency

The Digital Edge: People Development through Simple Technologies

All This Is Fuddy-Duddy to You?

The Truth Hurts

I REALLY Need Your Help With This Survey

Why Am I Doing This?