Tag: Time

Thoughts About Technology: Our Brains Are Not Hard Drives. Write It Down.

I don’t like to admit mistakes. I think most people are the same way.

So none of us like to admit what we’ve forgotten. If we forget enough things, we start to forget what we’ve forgotten.

If it’s something I want to remember, I need to write it down. And if it’s worth keeping, I’ll eventually come back to it. Which means I’ll probably have to do some occasional reorganization of what I’ve written. Again, if the information is worth keeping, I’ll come back to it and it will be worth the time to reorganize.

It took me a long time to realize this. I thought it was just me, until I started to notice how few people keep notes on anything. And how much people struggle to recreate or rediscover information which I know they already had.

Write it down.

Mindset Monday: Use the Physical World as a Model for Your Expectations and Habits.

I usually leave the house with a coat, and a bag to hold my wallet, cellphone, and writing pad. If it’s a nice day, I might take along a digital camera in case I see something I want to photograph. I’ll also take a magazine or book if I might have some free time.

If I’m going to an exercise class I’ll take a bag with my gear for that class. A laptop and associated power cord and mouse in a backpack come along also, if I think I’ll need them.

I don’t take each of those things with me each time I leave the house.

When I install new programs on a personal computer, there’s often an option to add that program to the startup programs. Rarely are those programs a stand-alone executable: there will be background processes and programs they will start up in turn, just like I don’t take a laptop without taking a power cord and a separate bag or backpack to hold the laptop and power cord.

A personal computer with a ton of programs that start up with the computer takes a long time to start up. Similarly, if every time I leave the house I take everything I might possibly need, ever, it will take me a long time to leave the house.

When people ask me for help with their computers or other technology, rarely do they try to compare it to what they already know and do. Technology is a magical thing that they “don’t understand” and wish it would “just work.”

It’s not magic. It’s like any other tool.

Mindset Monday: Practice Makes Perfect, or At Least Better. Part 1 of 2.

Earlier last week I opened a computer program I hadn’t used in a while. Even though it was a program I’d used frequently in the past, it took me a few minutes to get my bearings. I had to look through menus and find where the menu options and commands I wanted to use were located.

Fortunately, I was working by myself and had the time to rediscover where everything was located. Every program has a logic to how the menus are organized and how actions are named. I had time to remind myself of how all that worked.

But what if I had been asked to demonstrate this program for someone else. What if I had been asked to teach someone else how to use this program?

I definitely would need some time to practice.

It is not unusual to practice a skill.

It is not unusual for myself or anyone else, even though I know many people who expect themselves and everyone else they work with to load into personal memory the use of a program as quickly as that program loads into computer memory.

I believe this is a relatively new attitude. I recently read a book about couture sewing, which is very high-end and expensive sewing, usually done by hand. And the recommendation in that book was to practice on a piece of scrap fabric before working on the actual garment. It’s quite common for crochet and knit patterns to recommend swatching to practice the pattern with the yarn being used.

It’s not unusual in many areas of life for practice to be recommended, or even mandated. For high profile jobs in technology, classes and books will often recommend practicing before performing in front of crowds or clients. It is usually people who use technology only in passing who expect that no practice and no reminders are needed.

Mindset Monday: Know what you want to achieve before you start asking for assistance.

I often talk to people who say “Hey, you’re good at computers, how do I . . .”

Over decades of experience, I’ve learned to ask why they want to do whatever-it-is they are asking about.

Frequently the answer to “Why?” will reveal a belief that computers and digital technology are magic. They must be magic, because the questioner has no idea how it works, but the technology can do all these amazing things. Someone who can work with one part of the magic must be able to use any of the magic, right? The answer is “No.”

Usually the assumption isn’t exposed and challenged until it’s too late. A friend, co-worker, or relative was begged, cajoled, or drafted into helping with one technological project because they’re comfortable with a different type of technology. No set goal was specified. The person asking didn’t know what was reasonable to ask. The person trying to help wasn’t sure what was possible or how much effort and pain any of this would require, especially if it was a type of technology they weren’t familiar with. It ended with everyone being vaguely frustrated.

This is why ComputerGear has a t-shirt for sale which says “I’m a {Programmer}. I write <code>. I don’t fix computers.” and used to have a t-shirt which said “No, I won’t fix your computer.”

(Yes, I still need to look up what is the correct citation format for citing websites.)

Mindset Monday: The tool is not the skill.

Way back at the beginning of this blog, I wrote about the importance of knowing what I want to achieve when I start working with a piece of technology. That post was about the importance of knowing my goal and motive.

My post today is the importance of not confusing the tool with the skill. There are lots of drawing and art software programs available, but none of them make me a good artist when I buy them. There are lots of software programs for music and sound available, but none of them make me a good musician, composer, or sound technician just because I bought them.

Becoming good at a skill takes a lot of work. It takes practice, and research, and looking at other examples in that same field, and more practice, and more research. It’s a slow process. I have to put in the work. I can’t trade money for the software program or electronic gizmo or whatever and have that also be a trade of money for time and effort. The tool is not the skill.

Mindset Monday: What is being accomplished?

How it started

The other day I was talking to a small business owner and a couple of the small business’s employees. We were discussing local business, small business, and business in general.

I said that when it comes to technology and people with technological skills, I think there’s a question which is impolite but still important.

How many apps do we actually need?

Not as individuals, but rather as users existing within a technological system. Specifically smartphone apps, which seems to be most of what programming and company announcements and startups are focused on currently, “and we created a new app for that,” how many apps do we actually need?

The small business owner replied that he has about fifteen apps to run his business and it seems like each one has its own associated fee.

How it’s going, now that I’ve thought more about this

Fifteen apps, which I’ll use as a starting point. Fifteen user IDs, fifteen passwords, fifteen apps to keep updated, fifteen apps which can break if an update goes wrong, and so on.

No, I’m not advocating for one-stop-shopping all-in-one apps that contain everything and do everything. Those work wonderfully until that one things breaks and then everything breaks. That’s why I stopped using PDAs back in the Palm Pilot days.

What I am advocating is for all of us, myself included, to stop and look at the technology we use from time to time. How much of what I use or have downloaded or installed is to monitor or fix a potential problem created by something else? Or if the potential problem isn’t directly created by something else, how much of it is created by my bad habits using something I already have?

What is actually being accomplished?