The early worm gets eaten by the bird (from Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

30. The first sign of technology literacy is knowing when to use technology and when not to use technology.

I once watched a secretary spend a frustrating 30 minutes trying to get her computer to print an address on an envelope. It was a task that could have been done on a typewriter (or, gasp, even by hand) in less than one minute.

Technology-literate folks know when to do things the old fashioned way.

31. You can’t be too thin, too rich or have too much bandwidth.

Our district’s first WAN (Wide Area Network) was created with 14.4 baud modems and nailed-up telephone lines. Pretty cool for 1993. And that network was good enough in those pre-Web days because it was only text that was being pushed and pulled from computer to computer.

I make very few predictions, but one I am confident in making is that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet when it comes to network use. Already things like video-conferencing, streaming video, off-site application service providers, and IP telephony are making our three-year-old fiber network groan.

Build for the future to the limit of your budget. The future is catching up to you sooner than you might believe

32. The early worm gets eaten by the bird.

This little homily makes salespersons mad, but has saved me good deal of agony.

The first question any salesperson pedaling a new product should be asked is, “What are the phone numbers of some school districts successfully using this product - now?”

If those numbers aren’t forthcoming (and I am in the mood), my next question is, “What is your company willing to pay our district to be a demonstration site?”

It is not my school staff’s mission to be a beta tester. It’s not our job to make headlines in technology journals.

It’s our job to educate our community’s children.