InformationWeek

The Secret CIO: You Call This Progress?

Technology is eliminating the boundaries between work and play

By Herbert W. Lovelace
Issue date: Aug. 5, 1996

Have you noticed that we are always available? I'm sitting in the first class section of a Boeing 767 staring at the Airfone jutting out of the armrest. Lest you get the wrong idea, this luxury has been achieved via upgrade coupons earned by late-night business flights, including several of those aptly known as red-eyes. Anyway, before boarding, I was sitting in the airline club lounge--membership o f which is a perk of my job--and there I checked my voicemail and E-mail, as is my habit. Hence my fixation on the Airfone, which has no doubt been enhanced by the complimentary Johnnie Walker (Black Label, of course) in my right hand.

At my feet is the very nice Coach briefcase that Cindy got me for my birthday a few years ago. It's stuffed with electronic devices--enough to make airport X-ray machines beep with envy. There is my portable computer with built-in modem, cellular phone, and nationwide personal pager. For a while, I had my voicemail programmed to page me with urgent messages, but
I shut that off when the pager started to screech at an inopportune time late one evening after we had retired.

When on a business trip, I use the time on the airplane to answer any E-mail I have previously downloaded, and to work on the reports and spreadsheets resident in the laptop. When the plane lands, I can upload my responses, collect the batch that was sent to me while I was on the plane, check my vo icemail, and move on to the business appointment that took me away from the office in the first place.

Before this wonderful technology, I was limited to dealing with the letters and interoffice memos that could fit in my briefcase. When I finished those, I always felt I had earned the right to read whatever paperback book I had brought along.

Now I am computerized and my life has changed. After one particularly long flight, I realized both the immense capacity of my hard disk and the folly of taking along two spare batteries.

It isn't just computer jocks like me who are affected by all this electronic togetherness. Recently, even Gornish, our chief financial officer, asked for a laptop with a modem to replace his office machine so he can work on the road. That request was a clear sign that the division between work and home has blurred for everyone. Like many people, I check the voicemail from the car before I get home, and once again before I go to bed (my boss expects his musings to be answered promptly).

Road To Ruin
The social implications of what is happening are immense. At the same time we are telling people to relax, we are eliminating the boundaries that separate work from play. I recently removed a programmer from a project, on which she was doing a good job, because she admitted that the workload was ruining her home life. This is not a new problem--but with technology, we've made it easier for this to happen. Our company is considered to be progressive and offers stress management courses to help people avoid burnout.

On the other hand, if people lower their stress by not using the tools we give them to extend their workday, they wind up being out of the loop with their colleagues while decisions are being made. To many people, reducing their stress means taking the risk of falling behind in a downsized world--and that is a stress-producing choice.

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