Have you noticed technology is a double-edged sword?

Technology makes our lives easier by automating tasks, which reduces our manual processes and workload. Yet, technology is presenting a whole new set of workplace complications.

To function properly, computer technology [including off-the-shelf software] demands very specific actions. Put another way, technology is rather unforgiving. We learned this in the early days of card punching…one small typo ruined the software program. We called that problem something like garbage in, garbage out. Garbage out today appears in the form of error messages or (worse) unannounced problems, for example, problems hidden in the logic of Excel file cells.

Unannounced Garbage Out - have you seen that at your workplace? Do you see your off-the-shelf software spitting out little and big errors that surprise you because they strike you as violations of common sense? When you see this sort of garbage out do you think to yourself, "How could our people make errors like that?”

As the sophistication of off-the-shelf software continues to expand [exponentially], have you noticed your people making far more errors while doing relatively-simple tasks?

…like an error epidemic has attacked the basic processes at your workplace.

Have these computer garbage out errors become the norm at your workplace?

Do your people seem resigned, accepting garbage out as if it is a necessary evil of the workday?

Have you noticed that?

Have you noticed your production sputtering and grinding to an unproductive, unprofitable, painful crawl?

Have your clients noticed your production is flawed and pitted with errors?

Have you noticed your people getting carried away with and by technology?

If so – what steps are you taking to fix that problem?