CIO Thoughts

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love gadgets, and I suppose it comes with the territory when you are a CIO, or just because I have an engineering background. As a boy I was fascinated by anything electronic that flashed, whizzed or made cool sounds (heck, even if it didn't but just looked cool I was interested). Indeed over the years I must have spent thousands of pounds on gadgets - most of which have now been relegated to the rubbish bin or that 'study drawer' that all blokes keep. You know the one - filled to the brim with electronic stuff and cables which you will need 'one day'.

I recall purchasing the very first black and white (grey?) Windows Mobile device, followed quickly by the Palm Pilot. The Windows device had a battery life of about 20 minutes and a nasty habit of rebooting itself at random intervals - not really terribly useful as a business device... The Pilot on the other hand quickly became a favourite and stayed with me nearly 18 months before I was onto the next device. Easy to use, functional, lots of applications and it told me where to be at the right time.

Of course, it didn't take long before I was onto the next device and then the next... So why the obsession with all these gadgets? And let's face it, I'm not the only one - we have millions of people obsessed with getting the next mobile phone across the world (and yes, I had an analogue phone with a 'portable' battery pack) . Of course the obsession doesn't end with personal productivity gadgets - it can also be extended to our cars, stereo's, TV's and so on. In fact, it seems that gadgets surround us in our modern lives. The question then becomes, do they add any value?

Now you would expect as a gadget-man my answer would be a resounding yes, and you would be right... sometimes... The Sat Nav for instance is one of the best devices ever created in my view - the number of 'discussions' on navigation with my partner has been reduced considerably as a direct result (and substantially improved the likelihood of our arriving) thus vastly improving my driving experience. The modern mobile phone with it convergence of technologies means we now carry around with us the capability to be contactable by phone, email, text, locate ourselves, order tickets online and compute our way to the moon and back. Without a mobile phone, many of us feel lost, bereft even, as it is also the device that tells us what we should be doing where and when. Indeed the current generation has never known what it was like not to have personal communications at all times.

Now, I have just returned from a little place I have down in the South of France. A relatively unsophisticated area who seem to have only just recently cottoned onto the advantages of having mobile phones. They stop work for 2 hours in the middle of the day to enjoy lunch, and many wouldn't know a PDA from a brick (although normal mobiles are now pretty ubiquitous). As an economic area they do pretty well - but they do seem to take time to enjoy life more than some of us more 'sophisticated' folk. People often turn up a bit late to do the plumbing, or to an appointment, but it's not something that is bothered about much, as they all accept it as a way of life and business. So why would they even want a PDA - it would be wrong all the time!

So has the constant churn of gadgets added to our life? Have they given us more leisure time? I would ague they have given us less in reality, but have probably made our working time more productive. Once again, technology enables us to do things faster, but not necessarily better.

The trouble with technology is that it is easily replicated - you get a new gadget, and it gives you a competitive advantage (even if just in the workplace) only until the next new gadget comes out. This puts us on a constant learning curve, so we are just getting productive when the next device arrives. Gadgets are fun, and they can make our lives easier, but only with an equal amount of personal discipline to control when and how they are used in our lives. They rarely enable a disorganised person to suddenly become organised, instead allowing the disorganised person to become even more disorganised faster. Using technology to enhance something you already do well, or have a defined and working process (read: repeatable process) for, will free up time, otherwise it will just be another time sink.

As the world goes 24/7 and life gets faster and gadgets do more and our lives become more and more automated, I think it is worthwhile remembering that if the purpose of the gadget is to make out lives easier then we should use it to achieve that aim and take the additional time to live more of our life. The folks I spoke about who live in the south of France do this, and their lives are more relaxed and meaningful as a result.

In the meantime, the gadget show remains a favourite, and probably will do for some time...

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