In the era before Blackberrys, iPhones, instant messaging, social networks, and blogs, I had a predictable day.
I could look at my week and count the meetings, lectures, phone calls, writing, and commuting I had to do.
Although my schedule was busy, I could schedule exercise time, family time, and creative time.
Today, I would not describe my work day as linear or predictable. I do as much as I can, attending to every detail I remember, and hope that by the end of the week the trajectory is positive and the urgent issues are resolved.
Here’s what I mean.
Since there are no barriers to communication, everyone can communicate with everyone. Every issue is escalated instantly. Processes for decision making no longer involve thoughtful stepsthat enabled many problems to resolve themselves. We’re working faster, but not necessary working smarter. We’re doing a greater quantity of work but not necessarily a higher quality of work.
Everyone has a mobile device and their thoughts of the moment can be translated into a message or phone call, creating a work stream of what amounts to hundreds of “mini-meetings” every day.
