I am a geek. A big science fiction geek. I have been most of my life. So, when I think of the future of technology I primarily think of Gene Roddenberry. For those of you who are not a sci-fi geek like me, Gene Roddenberry is the creator of Star Trek. While I do not consider myself a Trekkie or Trekker (Star Wars is my mea culpa), I have always admired the technological vision of the Star Trek universe.
While maybe not solely responsible for inventing the mobile phone, it is difficult to imagine how the modern hand-held mobile phone could not have been patterned after the hand-held communication devices depicted in the early television series. In fact, Rob Haitani designed the first user interface for the operating system of the Palm in 1993 after the user interface panels on the bridge of the USS Enterprise (Evangelista, 2004).
It is with this sense of wonder (as I imagine many technological innovators and gurus influenced by serials such as Star Trek have) that I imagine how technology will shape the near and future world before us. It is both with excitement and trepidation.
Technology is constantly changing and evolving. Take the mobile phone industry as an example. I bought the latest iPhone 5S last fall. Less than a year later, iPhone 6 will be released promising to include a faster processor and lots more bells and whistles. Computers are no different. New processors promising faster speed and larger memory capacity roll off the assembly line almost monthly. A computer is obsolete as soon as you walk out the door with it.
Technology is here to stay and its reach will continue to creep further into our lives. Home life, schooling, even work will never be the same. As a leader, it is crucial to stay abreast of current trends in technology impacting an industry. While it may be impossible know every technological advancement being developed in a particular field, it would be fairly easy to pick up on technological trends. This can be easily achieved by attending conferences and workshops and by reading industry journals and periodicals.
Technological connectivity is more prevalent than any other time in human history. So much information is available and in so many different formats that work (and play for that matter) can be done almost anywhere and nearly everywhere. What does this mean for companies and organizations? It means a telecommuting will become much more prevalent. While the benefits of telecommuting can be debated, it is already being practiced in numerous fields and will become more more prevalent over time. Fueling this workplace revolution will be technology.
What does all of this mean? Well, it means leaders must 'step-up' or 'get out of the way.' Organizations and companies that embrace and utilize available and developing technologies will stay on the cutting edge of their field. Those who fail to do so face losing their market share or certain death.
Oops! Here's my reference for the above Blog post.
ReplyDeleteEvangelista, B. (2004, March 15). Trek Tech: 40 years since the Enterprise's inception, some of its science fiction gadgets are part of everyday life. SFGate. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/TREK-TECH-40-years-since-the-Enterprise-s-2780887.php
I missed most of the first years of Star Trek because I was at the Naval Academy and watching TV was prohibited. So thank goodness for syndication, as I caught up rapidly!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your comment - "...While it may be impossible know every technological advancement being developed in a particular field, it would be fairly easy to pick up on technological trends. This can be easily achieved by attending conferences and workshops and by reading industry journals and periodicals."
Yet I continue to be amazed at my colleagues who are amazed at technologies that I discovered several years ago and have already moved past. If it is "easy"...why are so many leaders in business, education and healthcare NOT doing it?
While I cannot speak for everyone, I am guilty of not always staying up with what is current. In my case, day-to-day life sometimes takes priority over some of things such as this. My 'to do' list is very long and sometimes staying up with what is current loses out to my daughter's spring concert or to getting the lawn done or finishing my IEP's.
DeleteIn other instances, perhaps staying up with current trends is not seen as a worthwhile endeavor? Again, this maybe due to prioritization as in my case or maybe not seeing the value of it in the first place?
Robert
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteAs 'geeky' as I am; in many ways I am also the ultimate end-user. What I mean by this is that while I am a geek and I understand coding, some programming and the whole boolean search thing; I love Google because I can search in lay English (or Japanese or French) and get to the information I need or want.
Same with tech - I can absolutely put together from scratch or take apart a computer; but if I can just get one that works out of the box the way I want it to - I'll take it over building my own.
The iPhone is something I snapped up and instantly fell in love with because of its ease-of-use. Tech trends are much the same way - the major tech game changers are going to be that tech which is readily available and usable by the majority of people. That is why Apple is now on top of the mountain. Mass usability. At least in my opinion...
It is said that Bill Gates said that Steve Jobs “never really understood much about technology” and it was probably intended as a criticism, the truth is that in most cases the technology is the least important thing about Apple’s products, and probably wouldn't appear anywhere on the list of the main reasons why devices like the iPod or the iPhone or the iPad are so appealing.
Someone like Gates, who spent his youth programming and was involved in much of the code behind things like Windows, would like to believe that superior technology wins — but for most users of both software and hardware, design is what wins.
Robert, you yourself said that your day-to-day life takes priority over staying up with the latest tech - but what if the latest tech was so intuitive with little to no learning curve? Wouldn't that tech appeal to everyone with life priorities?
In a nutshell, that’s what accounts for much of the difference between Microsoft and Apple, or between Apple and just about everyone else — not the technology but the usability.
If you create something that is easily usable and integrated into a person's life - they will come. En masse.
Thanks,
Pat
References:
http://gigaom.com/2011/10/21/steve-jobs-and-why-technology-doesnt-matter/
Yes but..... there is so much to choose from. I would caution that with the high price of innovation, and even the costly market of being an early adopter, it might be wise as a leader to see which technologies fail out - or even allow them to work out glitches, before making decisions about technology.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, I worked at an organization who was looking to change over their server to something that was off-site. Another organization would store all of the organizations documents and even run the software programs from their server. Today, this concept is a cloud drive (with open-sourced programs).
When we went "live" with this off-site server, accessing the documents were very slow, we discovered our computers were ill-equipped to handle the "traffic" of information, and the software programs loaded on the server barely worked. Yes, it was a great idea that was still developing and because of that, it was a huge loss of money and time for the organization. Today, it seems almost silly to save things only on a hard drive without backing it up on a cloud drive, but then, it was not perfected.
They just needed a little more time...