Edge of Adaptability
Ankit Saxena
Technology Leader, SAFe Practitioner, AI explorer, Cloud Enthusiast, Author
Although this may sound ironic coming from an IT services professional and technology junkie, I am standing on the edge of adaptability.
Last week I was having a conversation with an old friend of mine and we recalled how once there were no touch screen enabled devices, and the technological world was still ticking. As funny as it may seem touchscreen-enabled devices have been in existence for the last 20 years, but the explosion only occurred when Apple introduced the iPhone.
My friend casually hinted on how soon we may move to using portable devices to the extent that it would lead to the demise of the physical qwerty keyboard. The possibility of not having access to my plastic, rugged and still trusted qwerty keyboard in the near future shook me up. Can you imagine a future with no keyboards and instead use touchscreen displays for all your needs?
I love portability and cannot live without my android phone, but nothing compares to the flow of creative juices while I am typing on a physical keyboard.
The thought of permanently relying on an on-screen keyboard scared me and for the first time I understood my father’s reservation against using an Ipad to read daily news. He said ‘There is something about holding a physical newspaper.' Although I had laughed it off, then I can sense the danger now !!
Change is constant and eventually we all need to adapt to the constantly evolving technological landscape.
But how far is far enough?
Can we brand certain entities as holy so as to make them immortal from a technological viewpoint?
Does faster, more efficient, compact actually translate to a ‘better choice’?
While the above questions may not have a definitive answer, a few trends give me the much-needed solace.
- Today’s manufacturers are aware of such pitfalls and are making subtle yet powerful moves to counterbalance the rapidly evolving technological marketplace – Consider the Bluetooth enabled keyboard for Ipad
- Recent focus on creating cell phones with large easy to read buttons, simplified interfaces and SOS button for emergencies.
- Old Vinyl Records have once again become the craze
Each of us is entitled to carry a backpack of stuff we cannot part with as we make the leap of faith across the illusive Edge of adaptability, and I have my trusted Qwerty keyboard packed and ready !!
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Father | Continuous Learner | Sandler Sales Certified
10 年As a Process Improvement professional, your observation on technology is one I witness on a daily basis with my clients. We want improvement but please do not touch my Qwerty keyboard. I believe there should always be a balance between innovation and comfortability at least when dealing with my clients. I want them to feel comfortable while pushing the envelope of what they think is possible. I appreciate your perspective and thanks for the article.
Specialist Senior at Deloitte Consulting
10 年Awesome observation. All of us have had that moment of revelation in life when we realized that we no longer welcome change as eagerly as we used to before, in other words, we are ageing. All of us know that creativity does not depend on whether we are using paper or touch screen. Its all about how we train our brain to feel, and it is possible to reprogram the brain. Its hard, but possible. Question is, how many time it is possible for a person to have the willpower to do it, given that with current pace of technology, we are making a paradigm change in technology every 3-4 years, instead of like our ancestors who probably had to survive 2-3 major technology change in their life time.