May 18, 2007

“My company has me doing meaningless things multiple times…and in multiple ways.  It’s our answer to multi-tasking.”

Remember fifteen years ago when offices and factories were looking forward to becoming “paperless”?  I don’t think we ever quite made it.  In fact, it probably isn’t coincidence that you can’t walk into an office supply retailer without walking around the pallet of printer paper.  We print without thinking and then don’t think about what we’ve printed.    

Unfortunately, we’re doing the same things to a resource much more valuable than paper:  our people.  This quote came about as I was managing multiple email accounts and sent a note to a quite brilliant friend of mine from an account he wasn’t used to seeing in his inbox.  His reply to my note made mention that I must be “multi-tasking” given my email address. 

I answered, trying to be funny, “I’m just doing multiple things in a serial fashion.”

His answer proved humorous.  “My company has me doing meaningless things multiple times…and multiple ways.  It’s our answer to multi-tasking.”  This answer caused me to reflect on how often we are asked to use our time in meaningless ways. 

Have you taken a look lately at the work being generated in your office each month?  Anything that we do or ask others to do multiple times and in multiple ways certainly shouldn’t be meaningless.