It’s not too difficult to techproof ourselves
All of us, and especially managers, need to understand how to co-exist with recent changes in technology. There are three things that can help us do this. One, we don’t all need to become computer programmers to stay ahead of technological changes. Two, an understanding of business functions and a framework to analyse and understand how business processes work will help us techproof ourselves. Three, there are only four roles that all of us play in our organisations. Being sufficiently informed on how technology is morphing will allow us to play those roles well.
This is the core of my new book, Techproof Me, which, I must add, is not a self-help book. My real intent is to give the reader a framework for thinking that can make them techproof. I have spent an entire career at the forefront of technology, and advise large corporations on key decisions on technology. It was only in the last decade that I started putting some of my learnings to paper — largely in HT’S sister publication, Mint. I have always been amused by how technologists keep spouting acronyms and terms, but, in truth, most technological ideas are based on simple concepts of how a particular business process is supposed to function when it is automated. Even if you are not a technologist by training, once you understand the functionality of a system, and the specific type of logic it uses in order to perform that function, you are better off than 99% of the laity. This means you are now in the 1% that can be well versed in what that technology does and can be counted among the “gurus”. But there is one more magic ingredient in getting to be noticed as a guru, and that is if you can get the other parts of being a guru right — which is to play one or more of the roles below.
There are four roles: Soldier, Originator, Leader and Empath. Soldiers understand that being part of a system means working for the good of the system and not for themselves as individuals. For this, they need a micro-level understanding of how an organisation functions and what can be done to improve its working.
The Originators act as cross-pollinators who can apply ideas and concepts from technology to the real world and vice-versa. Leaders have a vision and the ability to get others to collaborate to work towards it. This means having an intimate understanding of what an organisation does and how it serves a particular market need as well as being able to envision the path forward.
Empathy is an important aspect of being able to adapt to a rapidly changing world. It helps one make more holistic decisions when it comes to analysing, understanding and implementing new tech in one’s life.
In my observation, those trained in other disciplines before finding themselves in careers that required a deep knowledge of several types of technology have two ways of making themselves techproof. One is to truly understand how a given technology works at a macro level, and the second is to figure out how to adapt oneself to the changes it brings.
While this is probably a simplified explanation, learning how to leverage technology does not demand that one become an expert programmer. In reality, it only needs the application of specific filters to understand a technology, so that one can play the role of a via media between those with only a passing knowledge of that technology and others so deep in its workings that they cannot understand its broader implications. This is the essence of the consulting business. Once you understand the functionality of the technology, you are techproof.