Food for Thought
About a year ago, I was talking to my brother about his job interview where he mentioned that they gave him a Raspberry Pie. Innocently, I asked "how did it taste?". He was puzzled and shared that it was not a pastry but a computing device. After consulting my friend, Google, I realized it is basically a gadget that enables people to explore computing and to build smart devices (photo above).
A few months later, I saw a job posting that required candidates to be experienced with 2 Pizza teams. It is a Jeff Bezos concept that says teams should not be larger than what two pizza's can feed. He claims that smaller teams are more innovative and productive.
Recently, at the water cooler, a colleague shared that his brother has setup a farm and is now mining. What that meant is that his brother has a large warehouse with several high speed computers that are looking for bitcoins. A video on bitcoin mining is here.
Why this knowledge gap ? My brother lives and works in Silicon Valley - dominated by tech. I live in the east coast and work in the pharmaceutical industry - a conservative, risk-averse and highly regulated industry.
Everyone needs to keep up and embrace emerging technology and practices to stay relevant. Further a companies customers and employees are spoiled by the advances they have access to in their personal lives. People don't go to a bank anymore, can scan products as they shop at the grocery store and checkout themselves. When the same people come into work, they enter a time machine and go back in time. They work with paper (lots of it), fill in forms, get ink signatures, attend long training sessions to learn how to use systems and wait endlessly for information.
This needs to change and quickly. We need to embark on Digital Transformations not as a way to implement new technology but to solve traditional problems.
What do you think is preventing companies from this? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
If you also wonder "Is there a better way?" connect with me and follow me on LinkedIn so we can take this journey together.
Sr Project Manager and Lateral Thinker! (PMP, MCST)
3 个月Every industry has it's own glossary of terms. Unfortunately, this adds unnecessary complexity when communicating. Anytime you have to stop and explain or decode a phrase you're creating a tiny break in the flow of communication which is distracting and can sometimes lead to deep confusion or worse. Communication and language are the clearest distinction between us and the rest of creation, but we also constrain ourselves when we use "lingo" and "jargon" and fail to simplify our communication for our audiences.
Intelligent Automation Lead | Robotic Process Automation
6 年Too true, Kannan. In my experience and observations, there are several key factors to this lag in uptake of technology in the many Corporate settings. Most certainly, as you've implied, the organizations are "Risk Averse" and have become so focused on protecting data, privacy and systems from the many real threats, they have found it easier to just sit back and wait to see where things go before they make a move. This is why NASA sends technology into space which is most of the time, 20+ years old. There is also another reason, Organizations often under-estimate the level of technology their employees will be able to co-exist with and leverage or embrace. The decision makers are also, not generally the ones who have to live with, on a day-to-day basis, the short-comings of the current Organization technical systems. They ask for it to be done by administrators or subordinates. They are isolated from many issues. Yet another reason I have seen is that not everyone in an organization who do use the technology are at the same level of maturity or even interest and most people seem to dislike change in general. If you agree with any of my proposed reasons why, I would be very curious to hear ideas on how to address them. Naturally, I have a few too, but this issue has many many flavors and will likely require many, many methods and approaches to overcoming those obstacles. Kannan, and anyone who reads this, How do you think it could be successfully addressed?
Hi Kannan - Good to see your post. Mindset is certainly one aspect that resists change..market specific regulations also tack on more liabilities in embracing an all out innovations approach. But I do agree there has to be atleast an attempt within organizations to attempt to solve tasks using technology. Companies like Veeva try to help where they can at an enterprise level. But I agree we have such a wide moat to achieve simplification via digital transformation.
Director of Education, Governance & Operations
6 年Kannann, congratulations for you article and please keep writing!