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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

2614.0. "Isn't a notesfile like a conversation?" by ICS::DONNELLAN () Thu Aug 12 1993 01:12

    I've been struck by the most recent discussion about business and
    non-business notesfiles.  There seems to be widespread concern that
    people are spending hours in the notesfiles and therefore are not doing
    their jobs.  While I agree that this should be the concern of the local
    group and/or manager, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the
    widespread lack of faith and trust in people to do the right thing.  
    
    Not long ago, supervisors monitored people's breaks and even their
    conversations during the workday.  That is, if you were talking to one
    another, you couldn't be working; therefore, you shouldn't be doing
    that.  I think we've moved beyond that, but perhaps there is something
    to be learned from it as well.  
    
    Isn't a notesfile a bit like a conversation?  And don't we talk about
    all kinds of things during the course of the day?  Isn't that part of
    the flow of life in an organization?   [There have been studies that
    show that such idle conversation actually contributes to productivity
    because it increases the sense of connectedness that people feel toward
    the organization, it enhances their enjoyment of work, and therefore
    they are actually MORE productive.]
    
    Therefore if it is okay to talk - using voices - why shouldn't it be
    okay to talk using an electronic means?  Each one can be translated
    into real $$.  Conversation takes time and time is money, whether it is
    person to person or terminal to terminal.
    
    Invoking the wisdom of the almighty Nasser, I think if we ban one, we
    certainly should ban the other.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2614.1	i like it!	VNABRW::HERRMANN_C	AX'P them down into small chunks	`Thu Aug 12 1993 04:46`	7
	nice argument. and certainly right. at my location there is a spot at the third floor which, after some time, is now accepted as one of THE key locations to exchange information (mostly business!). it just happens to be the coffee vending machine / ash-tray corner..... so, to continue .0 one also has to ban such spots/activities. the next would probably be then the john ;-) christoph
2614.2	DEC Notes is written media	SDSVAX::SWEENEY	Not a client, but an agent	`Thu Aug 12 1993 11:48`	18
	A note in a DEC Notes Conference has persistence. One of the many suggestions made regarding the capability of DEC Notes is that a note "expire", be deleted, and the disk space reclaimed. A DEC Notes Conference is an archive. A large single volume conference like DIGITAL, for example, contains text I wrote nearly 10 years ago. A DEC Notes Conference is treated culturally, and in law, as a written form of communication. An oral declaration, for example, the Digital routinely engages in export law violations, makes illegal gifts and payments to government buyers, hires non-citizens in an illegal way, engages in anti-competitive conspiracies etc. carries with it far less weight that if such an accusation were made in writing in Notes. What is merely said, unless tape recorders are present, is heard by only the people who can hear it. What is entered in DIGITAL will be read by potentially thousands of employees and even extracted for senior managers as examples of employee attitudes.
2614.3		KERNEL::COFFEYJ	The Uk CSC Unix Girlie.	`Thu Aug 19 1993 10:14`	20
	> What is merely said, unless tape recorders are present, is heard by > only the people who can hear it. What is entered in DIGITAL will be > read by potentially thousands of employees and even extracted >for senior managers as examples of employee attitudes. does that not make it an almost ideal medium for comunicating to large groups of people and therefore far more economical than some alternatives? I try not to write anything in notes that I don't believe therefore so long as my words are not taken out of context and twisted I do not have a problem generally with being quoted (kinda complimentary that you expressed yourself well enough - that BTW is not an ok for anyone to take any of my notes and post them anywhere else - I like to be aware of where things relevant to me are being discussed and something I've written is relevant to me :-)
2614.4		MU::PORTER	set noon	`Thu Aug 19 1993 17:29`	5
	re .-1 A reasomable viewpoint, and one that I personally subscribe to, but you're failing to consider American Lawyering, which is what generates all this paranoia.