Part of the GTD system that I’ve recently implemented in my life is a general reference system using clearly labeled files. I took the advice David Allen provides and got a label maker and plenty of plain old file folders, and have been making reference files left and right as needed. It’s actually become fun (something I never imagined would happen). It has even proven to be quiet useful.
Late last week one of my coworkers needed some information to write up some firewall rules for one of our branch offices. I happened to have already written up such rules for another office and had all of the requisite port and IP information in a reference file I created when I did that work. Within a matter of seconds I was able to pull out the file folder and hand it to him, providing him with all of the information he would need.
A comment he said at the time has caused me to do quite a bit of thinking about technology, and when and why I use it. His comment was a somewhat innocent: “Hey, this is pretty cool! But, you know, you should really put this stuff into Sharepoint so we can all see it and use it.”
Brushing aside the fact that this was a file from my own personal general reference system, and not something ordinarily intended for consumption by my entire team, I found myself still feeling a not inconsiderable amount of internal pushback at the idea of putting this on Sharepoint. Since then, I’ve been considering the big question: why am I so opposed to that?
It wasn’t the fact that it was a personal file, and not a file for our department – I knew what he was getting at was that we should use technology to allow us to share and have the paperless office of the future that we’ve been promised over and over. I get that what he was hinting we needed was an office system that allows us to easily and effortlessly share information between each other. The pushback was the knowledge in my head that using Sharepoint to share information between us would be neither easy, nor effortless.
Let’s compare, shall we? To share the information with him in the manner that I actually did, took me a matter of seconds. I opened a drawer, pulled out the file and handed it to him. To share the SAME file with him on Sharepoint would take at least twice the time, as it would require loading a browser, navigating to sharepoint, logging in to sharepoint, navigating to the file itself and either downloading or checking out the file and then opening the appropriate program to read the file downloaded . That seems like quite a lot of work to read a few notes on what ports need to be opened for a particular piece of technology.
The deeper questions this led to, for me anyways, revolve around when and why I use technology. The answers I came up with are that I use technology whenever it can enable me to do something faster and easier than if I were not to use it. I use an MP3 player because it makes listening to music easier, and faster, than listening to CD’s. I use Twitter because it’s faster and easier than writing a full length blog post. I use IM because it’s faster and easier than making a phone call (same with texting).
I don’t usually write notes on my computer, though. It’s not faster, nor is it really easier for me. I’ve found that – as much as I dislike writing by hand – I actually prefer taking notes with a pad of paper and a pen. I get more out of things and feel more connected to what I’m taking notes about. I can scribble little notes and reminders in the margins. It allows me just a touch more freedom than using my laptop, phone or even an iPad would allow. In essence – it’s faster and easier. And afterwards, I file it in my general reference system for when I need it.
This came a little bit as a surprise to me. I’ve always been a technophile. I’ve ALWAYS been one to use technology whenever possible. It surprised me to take a good hard look and realize that technology is not always the answer. It’s great and good and I love using it… when doing so is easier and faster than the alternative.
