The Changing Nature of Work

One of my more outrageous claims about the future is the changing nature of work. In this post I will lay out some ground work for the claims. In the next I will explore implications. And in the following one I will return to the current theme and look at the nature of work in the rear view mirror.

Let's begin with another backward looking technique I introduced earlier. Imagine it is fifty years into the future. Your grand kids are sitting on your lap asking what life was like back in the early part of the 21 century.

"Well, one thing that was very different," you begin, "is that everyone got up in the morning and drove an hour or so to get to work. Most of the drive was in dense traffic which is why it took so long."

Your grand kids squirm and giggle and ask "why did everyone do that?"

"Well," you reply, "you had to be in the same building as everyone else in order to do your work."

"That's silly," they reply. "Why don't you just talk to them with your computer like everyone else?"

You start to reply but you don't have time. They slide off your lap giggling, thinking that you are teasing them. They go on to the next thing that grabs their attention as you ponder how very different things are now.

Why are they so different? There are several forces that have come together to create a massive change. As I have mentioned before, one way to detect likely changes is when there is a convergence of forces. In this case I would single out, but not not limit it to, five factors: 1) data warehousing; 2) virtual worlds; 3) wikinomics; 4) positive psychology; and 5) all of the usual problems associated with cars, traffic, fossil fuels and air pollution.

First lets take on data warehousing.There are competing views on data warehousing but I am a strong advocate of the view presented by Ralph Kimball. In this view, the data warehouse models measurable business processes. To cut to the chase here, modeling measurable business processes allows us to improve them and forces a discipline on white collar work that was previously only achievable in manufacturing. Certainly one of the implications of this is that people in white collar jobs might spend more time working and less time on  other silly business around the office such as meetings and sucking up to the boss. Another implication might be that people actually get paid for the work they do rather than paying everyone around the same amount regardless of the disparities in productivity.

Second, virtual worlds will make location irrelevant. In the same way that web technologies made the location of documents irrelevant, virtual worlds will make your location irrelevant. So, instead of hopping in a car and going some where, you can just log into a virtual world and meet with others regardless of where they are located.

Third, wikinomics, or the study of mass collaboration, suggests that in the future we will all become independent contractors working in collaboration with each other in dynamic teams rather than having to work for a company and show up at a building to work with others.

Fourth, positive psychology suggests that work is most productive and most satisfying when you are working at what you do best. Wikinomics will allow this, and economic forces will drive it.

Finally, our current approach with way too many cars, way too much driving, way too much wasted time, and way too much pollution is not sustainable. We have to do something. So these changes will come about through a combination of need and possibility.

How is this all going to work? We, I admit that what I have provided is a bit sketchy. So, stay tuned as I explain it in more detail.