Renovation of the Workplace: The Tools of a New Culture
In the days of my Dad’s telecommute, the key technologies included a landline phone, an electric typewriter, and a copy machine.
Long-distance phone calls into the city of Chicago (only 80 miles away) were .70 cents per minute. In today’s dollars, that’s $2.75 per minute. Don't even think about calling internationally.
Paying for a long-distance phone call is more than a remnant of a past era.
The other day I video conferenced to Southeast Asia with my phone and it cost me nothing (other than the price of the tools, of course).
Today, we have tools that connect us to the world with clarity in seconds.
The device in my pocket was science fiction in 1978.
But it’s the reality today.
I can sit on a bus station or an airport terminal and write a dissertation, take and edit studio quality photos, or create visuals for a presentation at work.
Make movies or music or manage your team.
The magic is that we can now do this from virtually anywhere.
Technology has made the world smaller and the office larger.
And this changes everything.
New structures + new tools = new culture.
The distinctions of our new culture are beyond the tools and structures.