Need to think? Maybe it’s time to go unplugged
Singing the praises of going off the grid. Have we reached the moment when we are spending a little too much time making eye contact with our iPhones and thumbing our BlackBerries? EMC Corp. executive Mark Lewis recently asked whether “all this connectivity [is] actually making us more productive, more innovative, or even making our lives that much better?’’ It’s an appropriate question as when of us tote laptops and mobile phones to favorite summer getaway spots.
What I wonder . . . is how much our “always on’’ connectivity is hurting how we get our most thoughtful work done. I find that I am most productive and/or come up with the best ideas when I am on an airplane or in the shower. The common thread is that those are the only two places where I am awake and not connected to the almost constant stream of interruptions from my BlackBerry. You can see how we have all become slaves to it. When I give speeches and look out at the audience, there will always be a significant number of folks staring at a glowing screen on their lap.
Now, I will admit that I am the last person who would give up my BlackBerry. There is incredible freedom and productivity in not having to be in the office and still remain connected. I believe, however, that it is important for many to have some time “off the grid.’’ I was even going to praise the governor of South Carolina for taking some time off to clear his head, but my example turned out to be a little problematic.
Innovation and well-thought-out ideas, I believe, come for most of us in having a chance to think through a problem, examine it from many angles, and weigh multiple options. I know that many days, the interruptions of the day drive the day itself - the problem becomes when the interruption days become the rule rather than the exception.
My simple advice: Go off-grid once in a while, especially when you have some hard work or real thinking to do.
marksblog.emc.com
Dealing with the Longwood logjam. One of the absurdities of living in Boston is that the place you most need to get to in a hurry - say, a hospital in the Longwood Medical Area - is notorious for having some of the city’s worst traffic. And Longwood’s arteries get even more clogged during baseball season, given its proximity to Fenway Park. John Halamka, Harvard Medical School’s dean for technology, blogged recently about his attempt to find a solution.
In July, I’m going to try a bold experiment with a cool technology. I’m going to park my car away from the madness and use a foldable bicycle that weighs under 20 pounds for all my Boston city commuting.
I’ve investigated many folding bicycle technologies - [including] Bike Friday, Brompton, and Dahon - but none is light enough, small enough, or quick [enough to fold] to just toss in and out of [my] car/office/train in a few seconds. The Strida is.
The Strida was invented by Mark Sanders in the UK in the 1980s as part of his graduate work. Its “use case’’ is not long distance travel or hill climbing. It’s a greaseless, chainless, gearless bike that folds in 10 seconds and is perfect for park-and-bike or train-and-bike travel.
My goal in July is to leave the car two miles from the Longwood Medical Area in a place that’s easy to commute to/from, then bike to all my remaining destinations.
Admittedly, our unusually wet summer this year in Boston will make this a bit challenging, but my Rayon and linen clothes dry fast. I have a messenger bag for my MacBook Air and meeting materials.
So if you’re in Boston, look for me on a Strida, dressed in black and carrying a computer on my back. My only reservation is that rock climbing, ice climbing, and kayaking are completely safe compared to bicycling in Boston. geekdoctor.blogspot.com
Listening while talking. Companies trying to market their products through new communications channels like blogs, Twitter, and Facebook often follow the same strategy they have used with more established channels like radio ads and billboards: They talk without listening. Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff says new “social media’’ channels require both talking and listening - which can be a challenge for many companies.
We know about channels where you talk. We know about advertising, we know about PR, we know about direct mail and e-mail and promotions.
We also know about channels where you listen. We call this research (surveys, focus groups) and customer service.
The problem is simple. Marketers don’t understand channels where you have to talk and listen at the same time. Like one of those maddening not-full-duplex speakerphones where you can’t interrupt somebody, this is what drives customers nuts. Think about it. None of those talking channels allows a response. None of those listening channels encourages actual feedback from the company.
The marketing industry’s idea of a two-way communication is to put an 800 number or a web address in an ad and take orders. It’s all in the name of efficiency. The people in charge of talking are in the marketing department. The people in charge of listening are in the research or service or sales department. They hardly ever talk to each other, let alone have full-duplex conversations with customers.
This won’t fly in social technology because the minute you talk, people expect you to listen. And if you start to listen, you’ll be tempted to talk. It’s a full-duplex channel that befuddles one-way-marketers.
www.bernoff.com
Have you seen an interesting local business blog item lately? E-mail kirsner@pobox.com. 
