Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Dream on, Cthulu. the stars aren't right.
I'm a computer guy. I have yet to see computerization that reduced paper, and I don't expect to.
Part of the problem is the one Robert Townsend spoke of in "Up the Organization!", when he talked about computerizing. His first advice was to make sure your manual system was clean and accurate, otherwise you would simply be speeding up the mess. Ideally, the systems analysis you do when figuring out how to automate something should show ways you can improve the process by eliminating unnecessary work. This does not always happen.
Another problem is that use of paper is too ingrained in the culture. Consider the folks who print out email to read it. (I heard about one chap who had an administrative assistant print out posts to some mailing lists he was on for him. I got an "ROFL!" comment when I asked if he dictated replies to the AA for posting. Apparently not -- he was "read only".)
Many years ago, I worked for a bank. Midway through my tenure, the bank got a deal on some space in a building, and decided to consolidate an assortment of separate offices under one roof. Mine was one of them. For a month before actual moving day, people were preparing what to move and tossing the rest. They had the wheeled canvas hampers the Post Office uses for Parcel Post mail, and were throwing out several hamper loads a day of paper to go to recycling. The process convinced me any large company should be required to move every five years, just to force people to throw stuff out.
For better or worse, information printed on paper is taken as more accurate and truthful. (Consider the phrase "right down there in black and white!"). If it's information on a computer printout, it's the sworn-on gospel. That's not changing any time soon.
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Dennis
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At work, every piece of paper I get gets scanned and then stored (and maybe post processed with OCR and conversion as a PDF, WinWord or OOO document as the case may be).
The paper originals get either filed, shredded directly or returned to origin.
cklammer