It's tough to go to work every day and ignore all the unnecessary work and errors that happen because many of our processes are still driven by too many layers of user input. Processes in my company suffer from multiple points of data entry. We enter something into a system, then we update a spreadsheet, then we sign a form, and then we e-mail a bunch of people about it. Different people check different things, and nobody seems to check the same thing, so we have meetings to discuss it where we write on notepads and sticky notes.. and I am starting to wonder if this is just an elaborate and inefficient jobs program.
Any data-driven company's #1 priority should be to have a single relational database that everyone uses, has explicit permissions and is the single source of truth. While logic is on my side, I am constantly met by people (some of whom make much more money than me) who seem to think that doing things in the above described way is better. They don't state this outright, of course, but they do so through their actions and priorities, and lack of motivation to change.
Not only does automation drive resource costs down, but it would improve fidelity of the message greatly. When you think of it, many office jobs consist of people passing along information from Point A to Point B. They are basically doing the work of computers, but with a fraction of the speed and accuracy. I say, let the computers, compute.
Don't get me wrong, I am all about people working together, building relationships and Friday rounds of golf in the sun, but some of this stuff is just data, and should be treated like data. Many people simply prefer (for reasons I'll never understand) to do things the hard way. They keep sticky notes at their desk, and have long-winded phone conversations where their message suffers packet loss through human error. They also fail to separate their thoughts and opinions from their work, which affects their resolve from one day to the next. Personally, I think the correct answer never changes, no matter how much my wife pissed me off in the morning.
My job this past year has been to develop a system that eliminates some of these issues, but I am constantly met with resistance as people cling to the past, and refuse to adapt. In my opinion, these people are no longer needed. They are replaceable, and their sense of importance is unjustified. Further, I've come to know many technically savvy people who are also friendly, witty, and have excellent people skills. Yet some of these people sit on the backburner at companies, their ideas falling on deaf ears, while the person who only has people skills but has little knowledge of how things really work and how they can be improved, is often put at the forefront.
Maybe some of my fellow RFD'ers can add some perspective.
Any data-driven company's #1 priority should be to have a single relational database that everyone uses, has explicit permissions and is the single source of truth. While logic is on my side, I am constantly met by people (some of whom make much more money than me) who seem to think that doing things in the above described way is better. They don't state this outright, of course, but they do so through their actions and priorities, and lack of motivation to change.
Not only does automation drive resource costs down, but it would improve fidelity of the message greatly. When you think of it, many office jobs consist of people passing along information from Point A to Point B. They are basically doing the work of computers, but with a fraction of the speed and accuracy. I say, let the computers, compute.
Don't get me wrong, I am all about people working together, building relationships and Friday rounds of golf in the sun, but some of this stuff is just data, and should be treated like data. Many people simply prefer (for reasons I'll never understand) to do things the hard way. They keep sticky notes at their desk, and have long-winded phone conversations where their message suffers packet loss through human error. They also fail to separate their thoughts and opinions from their work, which affects their resolve from one day to the next. Personally, I think the correct answer never changes, no matter how much my wife pissed me off in the morning.
My job this past year has been to develop a system that eliminates some of these issues, but I am constantly met with resistance as people cling to the past, and refuse to adapt. In my opinion, these people are no longer needed. They are replaceable, and their sense of importance is unjustified. Further, I've come to know many technically savvy people who are also friendly, witty, and have excellent people skills. Yet some of these people sit on the backburner at companies, their ideas falling on deaf ears, while the person who only has people skills but has little knowledge of how things really work and how they can be improved, is often put at the forefront.
Maybe some of my fellow RFD'ers can add some perspective.