Paper as an information sink
Enrique Dans
Senior Advisor for Innovation and Digital Transformation at IE University. Changing education to change the world...
As things stand, there is a clear cost to using paper: information passes from paper to our brains, but to use that information later, to store it, to find it, to share it or reuse it, we need to revive it, to rescue it from its paper tomb. The result is that information stored on paper is more easily lost and more easily damaged than those supposedly fragile bits. In the business environment, paper is an information sink: anything stored on paper means inefficient processes totally out of date with the times we live in, just like those faded newspaper clippings gathering dust in a folder somewhere that nobody in their right mind would consider sorting through: there is no Google Paper available yet.
Today’s business environment needs to be paper free, meaning no more assigned desks where people can leave stuff piled up at the end of the day. On a personal level, it is amazing how much more productive we are when, for example, instead of taking notes with a pen and paper, we use tools likeEvernote, Keep or others, that allow us to cross reference, index, use search terms, and access what we’ve written quickly and easily.
Eliminating paper is vital for an efficient office and for helping us to access information when we need it. Continuing to read books is simply clinging on to supposedly “romantic” habits, the result of which is simply that we lose information, we forget things and we don’t know how to find something we’ve read that might be of use to us. The digital transformation doesn’t begin in a company until everybody working there realizes that getting rid of paper isn’t some dramatic gesture, a fashion, or some sinister Fahrenheit 451 plot, but is instead an absolute necessity.
If you really want digital transformation, try to stay away from information sinks. Let’s be honest, these days, about the only place we really still need paper is in the bathroom.
(En espa?ol, aquí)
Systems thinker and a Lean Six Sigma Professional
8 年And let's not forget the green aspect of paper free office.
Estudiante en Adex
8 年Can you solve my survey? https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/THCL3Z3
Technical Support Specialist at SilkRoad Technology
8 年Why not just a round table that all the employees can sit at and socialize on a constant basis? Lets be honest here, everyone will more then likely be more comfortable with having their own desk. Making it sort of a sanctuary one checks into on a daily basis. And as creatures of habit, employees would more then likely end up sitting in the same spots everyday anyways. As i do agree with paper kind of falling off the map, it is nice to have a hard copy in case of equipment failure.
Helping purpose-driven leaders identify and remove barriers to high performance teamwork that keeps them from achieving their strategic objectives. Consult, Facilitate, Coach -> Rinse, Lather, Repeat
8 年I agree. There are clear costs to using paper. There are also many costs to using paper that aren't really considered and are highlighted here: https://bit.ly/28zKw9b The reality is that people print for two reasons: 1) business process that requires print and 2) employee habit fueled by the convenience of printing. Until the enterprise defines the printing that is truly "required" business printing, the habitual stuff will consume a lot of cash that simply isn't aggregated where it can be measured.
Driving growth of more natural & renewable products with consumer insights, claims, & demos
8 年As someone who is almost 6'5" tall, the notion of using shared desks everyday is ergonomically untenable. A 5'2" colleague and I can not interchangeably share a desk unless it is really quickly & easily adjustable, which is a lot more expensive. Many of us already phased out paper records years ago, but shared or so-called "agile office" schemes also don't address any of the multiple other factors that make a space conducive to productivity.