Quote:
Originally Posted by freeweed
More like nothing will change. Every generation for the past 100 years comes in convinced that technology is going to revolutionize the office, and every generation leaves with some things gained, and some things lost. We've already seen 90% of the productivity gains to be had from computers. Entire departments of people have been let go as a result in the past 50 years - only to be replaced with new departments. Hours get filled up with other work.
Also, anyone who thinks something like Skype is a game changer and means you can suddenly work from home... hasn't worked in an office very long, and obviously has missed the telephones that still sit on most desks. We could have been working from home 20, 30 years ago for many if not most jobs. I can't think of a single newish technology that changes that. Yet we didn't, because forcing you to be at work has little to nothing to do with necessity.
I think I'm mostly picking on Skype because I've seen modern videoconferencing in action. The old guys can hardly get the projector turned on, so instead give up after 5 minutes and end up having the meeting without the hassle. And the young guys struggle to understand why the corporate firewall isn't just wide open to the world, why they can't just install whatever the hell they want on their laptops, why can't the company just let any device of their choosing get into the corporate network, and why can't we just completely re-configure every single IT device on the spot.
Just so that we can accomplish a 15 minute discussion that could just as easily happen via face or phone (or is probably not needed at all).
TLDR; I haven't seen a game changing technology in decades. We had dumb terminals and dialup available long before most of the current incoming generation was even born, and we still trudged into the office each day. Of course, we also had touchscreen devices, but the kids wanna pretend that stuff is new and fresh as well and the only reason it's not everywhere doing everything is because of old people being old. 
Oh, and in my experience as a semi-old fart - 90% of people who think they're the ones who can get stuff done in under 8 hours, aren't. Not by a long shot. |
Off topic (sort of):
I'd like to nominate this post and Blue Cypress' the other day in the Construction Thread for being some of the most level-headed, pragmatic and simply good posts lately.
The world is spiky, not flat. Where I currently work, we also have Teamviewer (better than Skype?) meetings at least once a week. While obviously better than nothing, they're also very annoying and frustrating at times, with echos, drops, lags etc ever present, and hard to have any really good discussions with. Even with purpose built conferencing systems, there is an element that technology can never replicate - basic human interaction. Any meaningful transactions that occur - those in charge would have to be crazy not to meet in person beforehand, and likely several times - and while I have no solid proof, I'm sure this is the case for any competent manager or business leader.
The belief that technology can transcend natural limitations and basic human nature is actually a rather dangerous one in my opinion. Back to Public Transportation (sort of) - autonomous vehicles - we haven't even begun to understand the societal implications these will have, and I'd put my money on it that they won't be good, yet they are being almost unrelentlessly pursued.
But then if you want to live like a robot, head buried in a Smartphone being transported around in a moving cage, the future looks bright. Forget about not being able to use a hammer and wrench, we won't even have to use our minds.
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