It's amazing how our world and society continue to evolve, but the few that are in "power" that still hold things back. A co-worker E-Mailed me this "story" from an unknown source...but it totally holds true to my current job.
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The End of Voice Mail
A few weeks ago, I attended the Advisor Summits here in Phoenix.
Among the sessions I attended was a presentation on Lotus'
Sametime -- an enterprise instant messaging (IM) system that, the company says, offers security and other business-class features to firms who recognize that their customers are online, but don't want employees chatting with 'hottiebaby38'. Sametime's feature set isn't relevant here, but the long-term effects of instant messaging _are_.
Most of us work with other people remotely, at least some of the time... or are too lazy to go up to the 12th floor to see if a coworker is really at her desk.
What struck me about David Marshak's presentation were two
numbers: 3.5 million, and zero. The former is the number of chat messages sent within IBM, he said, and the second number is the total number of voice mail messages he has received in the last three months. Zero. None. Nada.
It's not that Marshak is unpopular. Rather, Marshak said, it's because noone would attempt to contact him by phone unless they knew that he was at his desk, and unless they already knew he was the right contact. And they achieve all that because of the immediacy of instant messaging and online "presence."
I've found the same to be true for myself. It's a lot faster to start an IM conversation (Hi. Are you there?), it's less intrusive (I'm in a meeting, give me a couple minutes), and it's usually more efficient (here, look at this link...). I used to spend half the day on the phone; now the loudest noise emitted from my office is the iChat bloop. "Culturally, we expect a response in a certain amount of time," Marshak explained. "And we escalate to the appropriate method of collaboration."
Yet, a lot of people -- especially developers -- are chopped off from such conversations. In the name of security, some companies prohibit any kind of IM use, which prevents developers from collaborating as effectively as they might. I understand their reasons, honest I do, but such policies are creating an obstacle in the evolution of our digital lifestyles.
About Me
Name: Tekk Guy
Country: United States
About Me: I'm that tech guy…you know the one. When things are broken, I fix them. When they don't make sense, I explain them. When nothing is getting done, I do it. When a void occurs, I fill it. When there is silence on the call, I state the necessary. I'm that guy in IT that is relied upon by the competent as the nth tier of support, overlooked by management, and despised by the slackers. An InfoTech professional, aficionado of all things technological. I've been getting my geek on full-time since 1993, and have worked with information technology in some capacity since 1997 including VB 4-6, ASP, .Net, SQL, Java, HTML, ColdFusion, VBS, JS, Crystal Reports, COGNOS and more. I've worked on global scale environments for Fortune 500 companies and as a software engineer for local government agencies. My expertise is in Visual Basic currently in the .Net flavor, and focuses on user applications. I am also currently active in the ASP.Net programming arena, specializing in DotNetNuke Module development, site creation, and administration. Stated simply, if you need to get information from a-to-z, I'm the guy you want to see.
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