Limits on lists - and change

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3.
Alice Kahn

I've been reading the instruction sheets for our new VOIP telephone system. I am a little worried. Some of the tasks require up to ten steps. Setting a speed dial number, for example.

My unscientifically-proven observation is that you lose between 5% and 10% of people for every step in required to complete a task. One step - 90+% will complete it. Two steps - 80% - 90% will complete it. Which means that for jobs requiring 10 steps or more, very few people will have the tenacity to accomplish them successfully.

My own internal dialog in working on lists of instructions goes something like...

• OK, step one. Where are my reading glasses?
• Step two. Going good! Get a beer.
• On to step four. Wait, did I skip step three?
• Up to step five. Damn, this isn't working. Oh, I did step two wrong. I have to go back.
• Step six already. This is completely unintelligible. English is obviously not this writer's first - or second language!
• Step seven. To hell with it.
• And step eight - give it to a kid who can do the task without looking at instructions at all.
• Optional step nine - complain about technology in general.
• Step ten - have another beer.

The same 5% - 10% theory seems to work with surveys as well. 90+% of people will complete a 1 question survey. More than 10 questions, well, who has that kind of time and patience?

There is a very interesting article in Fast Company* about the relationship between the ability to change and exhaustion. Dan Heath (one of the Stickiness Brothers) writes:

You hear something a lot about change: People won’t change because they’re too lazy. Well, I’m here to stick up for the lazy people. In fact, I want to argue that what looks like laziness is actually exhaustion.

How complex can the technology tasks we ask our staff and students to master be? Are we finding the least complex tools available that will still let them do the job? What is the balance between power and complexity? (If GoogleDocs has even 80% of the functionality of Office, is that good enough for most students and staff?)

Or has the deluge of the new and work in keeping up simply exhausted all tenacity and perseverance from the modern learner?

*Thanks for link, Geezer Online!

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I am giving Twitter another go. Since I whacked my previous account, I now have a new Twitter name: BlueSkunkBlog

Let's all sing together with Ricky.  "I will follow you, wherever you may go. Follow you wherever you may go"

Skype an author

 Hi folks,

Find below the invitation to what looks like a great webinar. Even "book librarians" can harness technology to make their programs more powerful!

Update:

 Hi Doug!!!
Thank you for posting about this: but i think the link to enter the room is wonky (my bad!)
... i had to fix it on the TL Cafe Wiki so if your readers want to get in please have them Google
TL Virtual Cafe - look for the BIG BOLD ENTER ROOM link and they'll be good to go!
Cheers!
~Gwyneth
TL Cafe Host

Doug

This month at the TL Virtual Cafe:

Skype an Author
June 7th 8pm EST
Guests: Dr. Mona Kerby & Sarah Chauncey
Host: Gwyneth Jones

Learn Central Listing
Enter Webinar Room

Ramona N. Kerby and Sarah Chauncey will talk about their groundbreaking project and site, Skype an Author! Join the TL Virtual Cafe to learn about Skype an Author: "The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits."


Data and Darwin

"WARNING: Do not look into laser with remaining eye." -- On a laser pointer.

I know if sounds heartless, but I am in increasing sympathy with those who believe we've gone too far with labels, laws and regulations designed to keep stupid people from harming themselves. You've seen the lists. Mandatory seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws run counter to Darwinian principles. Let people do what they would naturally do and in a few generations, such laws wouldn't be needed since idiots would have been bred out of the system.

I was at a regional tech director meeting a couple weeks ago where an automated data back up solution for PCs was touted. The salesman began his pitch by asking how many districts have provided their staff a mean of backing up their data. All hands went up. But then he asked, "What percentage of your staff actually DOES back up their data?" The hands went down and the faces all looked a little sheepish. The salesman went on to explain how his little commercial product would take responsibly for backing up computer workstations out of the hands of the individual user and place it firmly in the lap of the technology department - for the low, low price of...

Here is my question: Do we really want the work of people who won't back up their data preserved? Might there be a kind of Darwinian "survival of the fittest" when it comes to digital information? The work of the lazy, incompetent and careless disappears forever with the crash of a single hard drive. The work of the industrious, intelligent and cautious is preserved for posterity through back ups.