Adam Kenner's (un)Productivity Page


"I've been putting out a newsletter dealing with my day's activities. But lately,
all my day's activities consist of putting out the newsletter." -from a cartoon

Introduction

The spiral of planned obsolescence and inevitable upgrades of technology (computers, copiers, fax machines, telephone and communication systems, cable television--the list goes on and on) can bring almost any environment to an operational standstill and can create such barriers to productivity that no real work gets done.
When properly integrated, Technology can improve the efficiency and productivity of a school, office or home. The disturbing trend, however, is to devote more and more resources to technology management to the point where technology management becomes the most costly and time-consuming aspect of an environment.

Examples
I am sitting at a desk writing this page instead of doing something worthwhile, fulfilling or productive.

Computers are "obsolete" before they reach store shelves.

People see each other in passing at a school or workplace and refuse to discuss (however briefly) a topic about which they have already written email.

Many parents monitor their kids' time when it is spent in front of a television but not when it is spent at a computer, supposedly because the computer encourages kids to be an active participant in whatever they are doing. This may very well be true in certain instances, but it is a dangerous assumption. (Consider an eight-year-old with unsupervised access to the Internet.)

Are there more examples? Of course. There are hundreds. Look around and think about the time and money spent worldwide keeping technology "up to date," the cost of retraining personnel and the paralysis induced in buyers by the impending obsolescence of even the newest technology, and you will see that people are wasting time, energy and money on resources that have great value only if planned for and deployed carefully.

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Adam Kenner / 5 November 1996
kenner@cloud9.net