The Low-Tech Spark of the High-Tech Boys

The Importance of Foundational Plans

Been thinking about this one for a while and how to write this post in a way that encompasses more than the example that is going to follow later in the piece. It seems obvious but after seeing projects succeed, fail, deploy on time, or get caught up in scheduling issues recently brought it to attention in a very acute way.

It’s the rule that gets learned in the early years of every Tech professional, but after a while gets put to the back burner out of, frankly, hubris and a sense of immediacy: pen and paper are important tools as well.

Blueprint for Success

It seems odd that a company with the word “Technology” in the name would hail the ancient but trusty non-technological solution but it seems worth bearing repeating. Is it efficient? No. Is it cutting edge? No. Is it something easily shared with clients and team members? Absolutely not. What it does do is break the myopia of completing certain tasks at the expense of the greater project especially for novel or unique need situations.

Perhaps this is a Mea Culpa on my part, but a distant memory hit me over the Thanksgiving weekend that made me cringe with the amount of hours wasted because of the rush nature of the job. Upgrading a small office network, centralized database with various users and permissions, required firewall for off site needs. As simple and clean of a job as possible. As I started to hammer away at it I realized that there were shared printers on a workstation I didn’t notice at the onset. Turned out to be a segregated database itself that needed certain users to have access for essential workflows and inside the system being built. 100% my fault, if I mapped out the network with good old pen and paper the issue would’ve been a bit easier to notice. Wasted day of labor, but a lifetime of experience earned.

Slow It Down!

In our go-go-go modern world there’s a simple beauty of slowing down and getting a hold of the goal at hand. Process may differ but it’s essential:

– Jot down the lay of the land. What are the current factors and conditions of what you are trying to accomplish.

– What specific goals are intended? What goals are critical, useful, and would be nice bonuses?

– What are the current issues to achieving those goals?

– What research is now needed?

– If design whether physical architecture or visual is needed, sketch out the skeleton for it.

– Map out general course of action.

– Take a break and breathe.

Whether the project is a Point of Sale system, inventory management, website design or campaign, workflow programs, or network infrastructure having a low tech tool will be invaluable. And, if you want our professional team to use pen and paper (and everything else) to help you with your High-Tech goals contact us at anytime for a consultation.