Week 6 - Sharpening the tools

“Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy [people] trying to find easier ways to do something.” Mr. Heinlein was clearly on to something. Apparently, we humans can't have enough of easy! It "shapes what we believe, how we invest, and who will become a supermodel".

To make things easier for individuals and businesses, if the list of tools in our textbook didn't seem sufficient, there are many more aids available. It's just not enough that in 140 characters or less we can share with anyone who cares what we think of Google's Buzz (thanks David!); services like Ping.fm ensure our opinions reach all our "friends" and "professional contacts" - and whoever else remains - all at the same time! And when we get tired of just filling other people's mindspace quicker, we have to preserve our own by tactics such as using a start page to organize information coming in. (This is where we preempt and filter out others' use of Ping.fm!)

The "grown up digital" among us don't just like it this easy... we expect it! Google gets this. They make things super easy - searching, advertising, working, living... their product is "changing people's lives." The problem and opportunity created by information overload is evident in discussions and progress of Web 3.0 or the semantic web. As "How stuff works" describes, we are moving towards a world where you could type "I want to see a funny movie and then eat at a good Mexican restaurant. What are my options?" The Web 3.0 browser will analyze your response, search the Internet for all possible answers, and then organize the results for you.

The business-world impact of all this? Well, businesses (tend to) start out small, and every nanosecond and even a half-penny needs to be spent wisely. So would I recommend any business and especially a small business to use productivity tools? Yes. Unqualified. Because half-pennies can be quite costly! For the business and its target audience. And so businesses need to respect their audience's time and money at least as much as their own, using any and every tool and tactic available to them.

But tools can't do it all (yet). They have to be cleverly used. A search engine helps our target audience find things, if we help the engine find the things we want found, for example with search engine optimization. Since we (seem to) have choices, we can also use tools badly (hat tip: Guy). Either way, we'll bring about an effect. What's the key to ensure it's the effect we want and need? Let me illustrate with the help of the Pink Panther:

• Inspector Clouseau: [gesturing to the hotel's dog] Does your dog bite?
• German hotelier: No.
• [Clouseau bends to pet the dog; it bites him.]
• Inspector Clouseau: I thought you said your dog did not bite!
• German hotelier: That is not my dog.

So the key is questioning our assumptions and asking the right question(s). What are we trying to accomplish, and will this path take us there? Otherwise, we may learn that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42, but the Ultimate Question itself will remain unknown.