Do we get the most out of the latest tech?
I’d imagine most of us think we’re fairly up-to-date with our phones, laptops and any other electronic communications device we own whether it’s our children’s X-box One or iPad.
We regularly replace, update and buy new pieces of kit and software and generally we know what we’re doing – there can’t be too many people who wouldn’t intuitively know what to if they were passed a friend’s phone and asked to find a certain app.
From a business perspective, though, do we make best use of it. In my day to day working life I’ll be constantly updating and working on documents, often that have had the input of several people.
Usually this involves one person working on it and then sending it through for the rest of the group to have a look at. Someone else will make some changes and so on until a deadline is reached and the final version is circulated.
I know the technology and software exists for multiple people working on a document simultaneously, but I never do this. Why?
It’s not laziness, nor it is a lack on interest on my part in technology – on the contrary I’m always willing to embrace anything that will make life easier.
I think it’s more that in some industries you need everyone to *know* that this is how a task will be completed. In communications and PR I’m sure there will be some people who do work on and amend a document in this way. And there’ll be others who are still doing it the old-fashioned way.
Eventually everyone will adapt and it will just become the norm, but how long will this be?
This problem must be replicated in different industries across the country, which will be contributing to our general lack of productivity when compared to other major nations.
If I had the answer to why this was happening I may be the subject of these pages rather than a mere scribe, but it’s a subject that interests me and one that should be studied in more depth.
City park gains attention from Commons event
It was good to hear about Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park getting national interest at a House of Commons briefing in late June.
Former sports minister and the man driving the project, Richard Caborn, and key figures from the health, wellbeing and sports sectors briefed MPs and Civil Servants on a series of public-private sector partnerships.
There were presentations from each of the project leads – Clive Betts MP, Mr Caborn, Claire Morgan for the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Research and Innovation Centre, and Paul Dimitri for the Centre for Child Health Technology.
The Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park is growing out of the footprint of the old Don Valley Stadium in the city’s east end.
Forum hits right note on town centre’s future
For all the talk of town centre masterplans, devolution, HS2, transport, high street retailer issues and other grand projects the most salient point of the recent Rotherham MPs Forum hosted by Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce was made by contributor right at the end.
Clear out the drunks and drug takers from the town centre, come down heavy on the litter bugs and make the environment for shoppers and visitors a much more pleasant and safer experience. Start off with the simple, visible things and maybe people will start being more positive about the town centre’s future.