Dark Ages Computing ® …

I was reminded of technology the other day.  Actually, I’m reminded by technology of technology every day these days.  You are too, I’d bet.  Today’s reminders remind me of what I observed throughout my business-to-business, technology sales career.  Use, or shall I say misuse, of technology has been so prevalent in my lifetime that I trademarked the phrase Dark Ages Computing ® in 2000, the turn of the century.

Throughout my career I had a front row seat to witness how companies would expect technology to fix their internal business problems.  The way they repeated avoidable mistakes led to my sales philosophy: 

Just because something is technically feasible doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. 

The problem was (and still is) there are problems with problem-solving expectations of technology.  First, there’s the matter of applying technology to begin with.  Such as the reminders I’m referring to.  The simple act of scheduling a doctor’s appointment these days unleashes AI driven technology to remind us… and remind us… and remind us. My wife received two texts reminding her of her appointment, ON HER WAY TO HER APPOINTMENT! 

I’ve stopped counting the number of emails, texts, and computer-generated phone calls I receive reminding me of each doctor’s appointment.  Some programmer somewhere decided to build a limitless reminder sequence into the scheduling software medical providers purchase.  And because the feature is there, medical providers seem compelled to use it; over, and over, and over again!  Oh, and don’t get me started in trying to deal with medical billing questions or corrections.  They’ve set up an army of machines to block us from talking with someone who can decipher the issue and provide a resolution, true? 

If that’s not bad enough, I purchased a new car recently.  Holy cow!  Every time I start it up, a message comes on the display (aka computer screen) reminding me to “enroll” in Toyota’s services application.  Hey, it’s free (for the first x months at least).  Then, as we used to say in the sales game, it’s merely a “nominal fee” to continue the subscription. 

Even though I’m not interested in subscribing to Toyota’s service application, that message is programmed to appear every single time I start the car.  Yes, I can switch to another option on the display to move beyond their reminder, but I can’t just get rid of it.  Some programmer (or machine) somewhere decided to lock it in place regardless of whether car buyers want it or not. 

Then there’s smart watches.  I read an article recently imploring people to take their smart watches off at night.  Such wearable technology claims it can monitor the quality of our sleep.  Turns out, research has found that such monitoring is actually ruining our natural sleep pattern: 

Technology has solved old economic problems by giving us new psychological problems. 

Mark Manson 

Which brings me back to the “Dark Ages” often associated with a period in history where mankind was faced with “economic, intellectual, and cultural decline” following the fall of the Roman Empire.  Do the machines think we’re in an “intellectual decline” again?  Do you? 

Gotta go now.  Office Depot just pinged my printer to remind it to remind me to buy ink.  Where are those Romans when we need them? 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Zero to three hundo …

I was thinking about speed recently.  Hmmm, thinking… I know… what a concept.  But I digress...

I wasn’t thinking about the miles per hour kind of speed, although that kind is pretty awesome!  Ever wonder how one goes from zero to 330 mph in 4 seconds?  That kind of speed is dangerous however, as witnessed by the recent crash that threatened the life of NHRA legend John Force.  His crash wasn’t enough to keep his daughter, Brittany Force, from continuing to race.  Another 300 plus mph speedster. 

We all deal with speed in our business and personal lives.  Sometimes I worry about our need for speed.  Nicolas Carr in his book (and one of my favorites) The Big Switch © offered: 

The emphasis of the Internet… stresses immediacy, simultaneity, contingency, subjectivity, disposability, and above all, speed.  The Net provides no incentive to stop and think deeply about anything… It's easier… to Google something a second or third time than remember it ourselves. 

“easier to Google again than to remember…”  I’m guilty of that, you too?  Makes me worry about our future trajectory.  How did we wind up on this fast track?  Here’s a little history lesson courtesy of Rick Levine:

 

And along comes the Internet.  It was as if we'd ordered it from Arizona: “Hello, US Federal Government?  Yes, we'd like one totally open, high-speed, data backbone. Uh-huh, and charge that to the Department of Defense, why don’t you?  What's that?  What do we want if for?  Oh, just chatting about stuff.  You know, this and that."                                  

Yep, “this and that” describes all of us today, true?  What would we do without the Internet; smart phones; GPS; door bell video; and the myriad of other technological conveniences we rely on these days?   Would we have to “stop and think deeply” – God forbid!  Well, I didn’t name chapter three of my book. “Dark Ages Computing” by accident. 

Automation in the business world is a double-edged sword.  We have benefited greatly from machines automating manual processes, but only when coupled with thinking deeply: 

Automating a bad process just speeds you on the road towards disaster. 

Tom DeFloria 

And don’t get me started on the machines; aka AI; aka artificial intelligence.  Am I the only one whose noticed the combination of the words artificial and intelligence?  Well, today I guess we all depend on artificial this and that… artificial flavoring; artificial turf; lab grown diamonds; eyelashes; Alexa! 

In the modern business world when everything everywhere is speedy (and sometimes artificial) how does a salesperson differentiate himself from competition?  Here’s one point of view I align with: 

… in sales the race doesn’t go to the swift.  It goes to the responsive… 

Responsiveness = Value + Speed 

              Andy Paul 

Speed vs. responsiveness; that makes a lot of sense to me.  I mean how many times do you wait for someone to return your call; answer a text; reply to an email?  With everyone carrying high speed technology in their pocket or in their wristwatch, why aren’t people more responsive?  Perhaps being responsive requires one to “stop and think deeply”.  If so, we’re in trouble! 

Yes, men and women can now go from zero to 330 miles per hour in 4 seconds.  We can operate even faster with the Internet coupled with the machines.  But I suspect the real challenge these days is whether we can learn to slow down and think from time to time. 

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Behavioral economics…

Sales sand bagging defined by a Nobel laureate… who knew? 

I recently finished Thinking, Fast and Slow ©.  Amazon.com's summary (my highlights added); "Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think." 

Kahneman's tour was above my mind; but I was able to follow his practical examples on how we make everyday decisions.  One of his topics pertained to "prospect theory".  According to Behavioral Economics Outlines, prospect theory, "suggests that people view the outcomes of risky decisions not in overall terms, but as gains or losses relative to their reference point."

Risky decision making - now we're cooking.  I've never been comfortable making risky decisions.  My life has evolved as much from coincidence as it has from carefully thought through, decision making.  Nonetheless, things have turned out pretty darn good.  I might be a poster child for the saying from our Unknown Sage: 

            It's better to be lucky than good. 

Even so, I enjoyed the treatment of prospect theory though I need a better understanding of how "reference points" are established.  That's for another day.  Today I was able to follow their example of how we think and how we perform as related to a golf reference point: 

     Every stroke counts in golf, and in professional golf every stroke counts a lot.  According to prospect theory, however, some strokes count more than others.  Failing to make par is a loss, but missing a birdie putt is a foregone gain, not a loss.  Pope and Schweitzer reasoned from loss aversion that players would try a little harder when putting for par (to avoid a bogey) than when putting for a birdie.  They analyzed more than 2.5 million putts in exquisite detail to test that prediction.

     They were right.  Whether the putt was easy or hard, at every distance from the hole, the players were more successful when putting for par than for a birdie...

     If in his best years Tiger Woods had managed to putt as well for birdies as he did for par, his average tournament score would have improved by one stroke and his earnings by almost $1 million per year. 

                        Daniel Kahneman 

Making decisions and the outcomes of how we perform based on loss aversion vs. foregone gains is powerful, yes?  $1 million annually powerful for Tiger. 

Prospect theory applies to the sales profession, too.  Early in my career when someone asked, "How are you doing?" I coined this response:

            Nothing a deal or two wouldn’t solve. 

Now I chuckle every time I observe a behavioral economics based compensation plan that flies in the face of prospect theory.  On the one hand there are higher commission percentages for every deal turned in after achieving monthly, quarterly and/or annual quota levels.  On the other hand?  

It's not called loss aversion in sales; it's called "sand bagging."  That's when a sales rep trades foregone gains from higher, current commissions by waiting until next month, quarter and/or year to turn in a sales order (or two).  

I understand why the "What have you done for me lately" phenomena in sales can cause salespeople to sandbag to avoid winding up under quota in the future.  More powerful than the foregone gain of a few extra dollars in their comp plan.  Yep in sales, loss aversion screws up behavioral economics. 

                                                            GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Facing our daily fears…

Where do you turn to find the courage to face your day these days? 

We face much fear, uncertainty, and doubt as witnessed by the blaring news headlines, true?  The de-valuing of our 401k; global warming; job security; what our children post online.  In fact, it was the news of our modern day that stimulated the creation of my slogan: 

When life gets tough, you could get a helmet or … Arm yourself with the Peace & Power of a Positive Perspective.

Fear; uncertainty; doubt; often appear as a “surprise” in my life.  I hate surprises – even good surprises.  I’d rather be in “control”.  

My wife hosted a Halloween, surprise birthday party for me once.  All of our guests dressed in old people costumes.  It was great fun right up until everyone yelled, "surprise!" and my birthday cake appeared.  After the party I thanked my wife but admonished her never to throw me a surprise party again, Halloween or otherwise.  (BTW - my birthday is in February so I was definitely surprised.) 

Sometimes I find myself trying to “control” the lives of my children and grandchildren, too.  I try to protect them from those unknown, painful surprises impacting us all.  Impractical I know; I just can’t help but fear the unknown for me and others. 

I do turn to our favorite Unknown Sage often for encouragement.  He tries to help in the fear, uncertainty, and doubt department with a reminder: 

            Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. 

German Proverb 

You should consider yourself very lucky if the size of the wolf in your mind has not grown during recent years. 

Perhaps modern man can learn how to face our difficulties from ancient societies.  The ancient Greeks believed their gods inspired man to approach the unknown without fear.  Imagine what our life would be like if we approached the unknown without fear.  

Imagine more faith; less control; more peace of mind; less fear; more courage, even in the face of less certainty.  Where the ancient Greeks emphasized faith and inspiration, are we emphasizing antacids and high blood pressure medication? 

One would expect that the advancement of modern science and our higher level of thinking serve to lessen the fear, uncertainty, and doubt while increasing courage in our lives.  David Ben-Gurion suggested that knowledge and courage are linked: 

Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how to not fear what ought not to be feared. 

OK then; we obviously have things we ought to fear.  We can’t think those things away; or will them away; or gain such tight control over every aspect of our life that we never have to worry about another "surprise".  

Can we apply business knowledge to better understand life’s fears? 

Two types of uncertainty plague most efforts to introduce major new products: known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns. 

Norman R. Augustine 

“Known-unknowns” and “unknown-unknowns”?  The wolf is getting bigger!  Where is an ancient Greek when we need one? 

Can the remedy for the fear we face in our modern lives really be as simple as having the type of faith that prevailed in ancient times?  

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible. 

Thomas Aquinas 

Thomas Aquinas, a 13^th century theologian and philosopher.  He may not be on Facebook, but he's still a little more modern than the ancient Greeks. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Multitasking…

Working from home made me think of my colleagues and their desks at the office before current events hit.  At my company, having 2 monitors is the “norm” and several folks have 3.  Add in their laptop screen plus 1 or even 2 cell phones and their office cubes remind me of a fighter pilot’s cockpit LoL!

Naturally, my colleagues are using all their monitors and screens simultaneously aka “multitasking”, which seems to be held in high esteem in the technology sales profession these days.  I wonder how they feel about Susan Cain’s piece in her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking ©?

…even multitasking, that prized feat of modern-day office warriors, turns out to be a myth.  Scientists now know that the brain is incapable of paying attention to two things at the same time.  What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.

Permit me to repeat (in case you were distracted by your other monitors and screens), scientifically confirmed multitasking, “reduces productivity and increases mistakes”.  Makes me think of:

Westheimer's Rule

To estimate the time it takes to do a task estimate the time you think it should take, multiply by two and change the unit of the measure to the next highest unit. Thus, we allocate two days for a one hour task.

Does that sound familiar?  How long does it take your company to complete projects?  I’m amazed being in the technology business how challenging in can be to get things done.  Probably the same in every business these days, true?

Westheimer’s Rule makes me think of Bill Gates:

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.  The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

I wonder how many monitors Bill has in his home office.  Now that we are working from home, I wonder if my colleagues brought all of their equipment home so they can continue to use multiple screens and monitors for multitasking.  If they didn’t, I wonder if my company will be able to measure an up-tick in productivity and the improved accuracy cited science suggests.  What do you think about multitasking?  Does it magnify inefficiency?  Shorten our attention spans? 

I don’t know about you, but when I’m in a meeting; on a webcast; even talking on the phone, I can usually tell when the people I’m interacting with are multitasking.  Especially webcast meets, yes?  There’s that pause when we ask someone a question… and we wait … and we wait… and then comes the customary, “Sorry, I was on mute.”  I’m not calling others out – been there; done that; myself LoL!

Makes me think of my friend and former colleague Adam Katzenmeyer, a multi-monitored cube-mate of mine back in the day:

You only have to tell me twice, once.

Not that the other end of the focus spectrum is the answer.  We can become “overly focused”, just ask my wife:

My husband doesn’t watch TV; he becomes the TV!

I suppose the ideal answer lies somewhere in the middle; access multiple inputs, but keep them to a manageable level so as we switch back and forth we stay reasonably attentive to the task at hand.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Hello?  Are you there?

                                                              GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.