Work, in Plain English

I am helping a large corporate client organize their purchasing system for routine print orders.

Here are the questions I am asking:

1. What is the Old Guard used to? What do they LOVE and take pride in about the present system?
Usually, early systems in an organization are based on trust and feeling trustworthy. Why would I want to mess with that? These are the people who got us where we are today.

2. How and where can we open up better communication between the departments who use and request printing?
At the moment, the folks in Finance might request stationery just days after Marketing has received their delivery. In the world of printing, combined orders can save a whole lot of money, not to mention the frustration of discovering that big box of letterhead at the front desk isn’t for you!

Amid proliferating departments and quickly changing roles, we just need to improve the way we turn around to key users and say, “Need some, too?”

3. Where else are we wasting time, effort and money?
Stick real close to the order process (all the way through to delivery and storage of materials), and ask lots of dumb questions.

We set up an order log, and entered all routine print orders for the previous 18 months. We included quantities, requestor’s name, printer’s name, price and print specs. By breaking the order log into sections, we could see the history of each item (such as letterhead, envelopes and window envelopes) separately. This was a very simple, but powerful way to see trends emerge and anticipate future needs. The order log lives on the company’s Wiki site, so anyone can access the information at any time.

4. Who gets the price before the order, and who gets the bill after it is delivered? If it’s two different individuals, how do they compare notes?
For the person who ordered, it’s a matter of closure. For the one who gets the bill, the need is for context. By facilitating communication, we’ve restored accountability.

Remember, the pluses of the original system are an excellent place to look for new systems. Often, all we need to do is make it easier for people to do what they were already doing. Make adjustments for growth within that strong foundation.

I’m still staring blankly at huge parts of it, but that’s a good thing: iA’s 2008 Web Trend Map is ready to download, admire and puzzle over.

For the third time, iA has selected the websites they consider to be most influential and successful, and pinned them down to the greater Tokyo-area train map. Not only that: There are some great related posts, including some intriguing head-butting with Microsoft’s Steve Clayton.

iA has adopted a “magazine” format that I find maddening. Thank goodness, I was able to scrabble through the admittedly enjoyable and forward-looking jargon, and figure out that the Notebook is the simple chronological archive I was looking for. In other words, it’s the “blog view” of their blog.

Check out the Notebook to find more posts discussing the Web Trend Map. Or, tell me how you navigated the site to find related articles.

A site called Donate a Gift Card has taken care of this sticky issue. You can take those remainder amounts you’re never going to use on old gift cards and donate them to the cause of your choice.

If there’s absolutely nothing left on a gift card, you can check out this coaster idea covered in a Treehugger post, or get in touch with the folks at Earthworks. They recycle scrap PVC (which is what most gift cards are made of). After I finish (or get tired of) cleaning the kitchen, I’m going to drop them a line to find out how to do it.

I’m perusing the Forrester Research website, taking in Provocative Predictions based on Rigorous Research. As usual, it’s exciting, but I’ve always been an annoying student. The more I read, the more there is to question, and sometimes it’s only a matter of minutes (this time I made it past 20) before I hit critical mass, and have to battle the urge to bolt. Usually, that means: Tackle something productive, like return to the project I was taking a break from. That is, “Stop watching, and start making.” In the case of one particular bit of information, however, I experienced the intense desire to go find some sci-fi pulp.

Well, yes, it’s a lovely way to escape the realities of an accelerating world. But look: Simon Yates, in a summary for a lengthy and expensive forecast on Worldwide PC Adoption, says that not only will the number of consumer users double from one billion to two billion within seven years, but that this vast population is “a market that no one really understands yet ” (italics are mine).

I love statements like that, partly because the author is no longer making authoritative proclamations that an adult reader must continually evaluate as little more than conjecture. Yates has now joined me in saying, “I don’t know,” and, “What if…?” and, “I wonder…?”

Hence, the urge to hit the used book store to root out some forgotten paperback with an intriguing cover.

The impact of another billion computer users – readers, participators, contributors, and a questionable proportion of buyers – will be terrifically complex. There will be obvious changes, and subtle changes. Beneath and within those, there will be layers and layers of unimaginable change. The more we look, the more we’ll find. And because reality will likely be unexpectedly, outrageously different, the best prophets may be those who are unfettered by Rigorous Research. It may take more than one, with Book A exploring the essence of western cultures, Book B upending possibilities about overlooked cultures and Book C tromping across the collective human experience. Somewhere, in some yellowed and mildewy book about future battles and future love, I’m betting somebody’s musings have already become hindsight.

And you know what they say about hindsight.