Technology is Allowing Us to Isolate

I have a handheld PDA/Cellphone. I am addicted to it. The design purpose of this device is to help me stay better connected to people and processes. At a certain level, this works. I make contact about 75 times per day via email and maybe there are 15 phone calls. The more I use this device the less I actually see other humans....why?

The need to respond to the high volume of written communication requires that I focus. In order to focus I need to be alone. So it is sort of interesting that in order to effectively communicate with other people I need to be alone. I have two theories that extend from this:

Theory #1: Quality is Deteriorating

We are over-communicating. The number of communications I have with a given individual via email per work task is increasing. Each communication reflects incrementally smaller units of knowledge and feedback than was the case before.

Let's think about this......I've noted that my work flow is broken down into a greater number of components. I know that my pace of task completion is going down due to the start/stop traits of this new process management paradigm. I am doing this [sending mid-process emails to get feedback] in hopes of lowering my error rate per task completed - thus hoping overall to increase my productivity (i.e. gains in quality more than offset increased time requirements). But the problem is that the person from whom I am requesting the feedback is mired in the same high-volume communication swamp in which I am mired. As a result, his ability to provide high value feedback which otherwise should lower my error rate is diminished. Therefore we have this unanticipated result of lower quality output to which we have tacitly agreed...so I am not sure I have met the qualitative requirements of output to support a case of true productivity increase. The illusion is that the increased physical activity in my email-based feedback loop is, in fact, increased productivity. Ok.....enough.

Theory #2: Modern Portfolio Theory Isn't Working for Me

I also use my PDA and its various communication capabilities to widen the circle of people with whom I communicate. What is the value of this? I think that part of my motivation is that it is not "what I know but who I know." The premise to this is that knowing more people creates more options. Thus by communicating via email and expanding my volume of touch points...I am creating more options for myself.

So let's consider each of these options an investment. I thus have a larger portfolio of options - a form of diversification. Is this investment strategy paying off? Some investments theorists look at diversification as a path to mediocrity. The design purpose around diversification is to manage uncertainty of individual investment positions. Some days I feel that my current chosen strategy of keeping the network wide open to an average communication flow of 75 emails has the actual result of creating more uncertainty not managing it down.

Technology is, in my judgment, often process-centric not people-centric. I believe that the value of my options should be driven by the human relationship. By getting so involved in the process of processing processes I don't "see" the other person. As a result, the value of each of my options in this diversification strategy is less than it might be in a more narrowed investment strategy. I communicate less effectively because of the device that was designed to help me communicate more frequently. This is nuts.

In conclusion:

A company is, among other things, an implicit contract between people. The complexity of this contract is great and requires substantial and frequent human contact to prompt understanding and attainability of its objectives including commercial objectives. There is a minimum threshold of human contact required to create real potential value for any one of my portfolio options. My communication device takes that away from me. As an investor, I am looking for the application that manages around these issues. If I find it, I am not sure I will know exactly how to value it.