Steve Jones - SSC Editor (5/23/2013)

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Knowledge Draftsman (5/23/2013)

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This reminds me of an article I came across earlier in my career... The gist of the piece was that every employee should know how to do their jobs without the use of an automated system. So, that when (not if, but when) the system goes down, the business can continue to function. Granted it won't be at the same productivity level, but business continues none the less. I know there are jobs now, where that's just not possible. However, I think, that too many workers don't know how to do their jobs without the aid of a computer. And, I think, there's real value in knowing how to actually do your job without a computer, as oppose to relying on one. If you can do it without a computer, that signals to me that you truly understand the process; instead of just knowing which buttons to push.

I think this was fine advice 20, or even 10, years ago. Now we have so many people in the workplace that have never done the job without a computer. I'm not sure of the solution here, but at some point I expect that lots of what we do just won't work without a computer and we may need to delay/shut down parts of our business until the computers are fixed.