Sunday, April 4, 2010

Documents, workplace tools and people....

"Go read this document." This is one of the most widely heard lines on my floor. Remarkable it is. Everything is put down in words. Everything is captured in some document. That way, people can access information quickly. Even if you were not part of the discussion and deliberation, you get the "take away points". I work in a place where the balance is tilted in favor of "old timers". Experience clings to the time tested formulae while the youth chases dreams and risks. This does not bother me as much as the prevalent culture does. One where the focus is on documents and not on people. I do not dispute the importance of documents. Nor do I disagree with the notion that they dispel confusion. However, I simply believe that ideas flow from people and not from documents. Innovation in workplace comes from people and not from documents. Documents only help in filling the blanks. But, the sentences are formed by people.

Not two days ago, a senior colleague of mine showed me some new tool or should I say "workspace". He highlighted the benefits of the tool, including better communication, team contribution and effective risk management. I was impressed. However, there was something clearly missing. In the midst of all the hooplah on how "The Team" had used this novel technology to its strengths, I could clearly see that the focus still remained on the documents and the tool. Not on creativity. Not on capturing whats in people's minds. And definitely not on finding better solutions to the problems at hand. The documents and tools had become bigger than the ideas that everyone wanted to see in the documents.

"The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity." Whitman's words seem so clear to me now. Keeping things simple is the key. More personal interaction among individuals. More group discussions. More brainstorming with definite agendas. Shift the focus back to people. And let people make the decision on how they want to use tools and documents. People today sit in cubes in my floor. It would be worthwhile to see how things would be different if people would sit in a rounded circle and worked. Shared ideas and information with greater ease and freedom. No walls and barriers to prevent people from discussing the problems. More time for face to face deliberation.

Does innovation stem from the mind? Or does innovation stem from the surroundings? Does the mind learn from the surroundings? Can the mind imitate the perfection and imperfection in the surroundings? Something for me to think for the rest of the day...