My personal opinion is that new systems tend to make people feel clumsy and stupid no matter how well they are sold. Yesterday before using the system the person new to the system was competent and today while learning the system they feel like a kid learning how to use a pencil all over again. No system is really user friendly because almost all of them require learning a new view of how to do work. No matter how complicated or how simple the system you have to train, retrain and train again before people are going to be comfortable with the new tool.  Once they are comfortable they'll use it, but if no one cares about the comfort level of the users, the users will do everything they can to avoid using the system.

Now back to paper.  We are experiencing an information glut that has never been there before.  People will use any media to try and manage the glut.  Paper is just one of them, with the added benefit that good paper will outlast a flash drive.  Will we ever be paperless?  Maybe someday when someone invents a storage device that will outlast a good piece of rag paper retained at optimum conditions.  On the other hand there are now an equal number of Kindles and books on the subway and that wasn't true even a year ago. 

Susan Fitch Brown, CRM, MLS
Consultant - Information Management 
NetSmith,Inc





-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Simone Myree
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 2:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Paperless Office - Why It Hasn't Happened

Thank you so much for that Carolyn.  It is so true.  People will resist most efforts to use tools and systems that are at odds with what they need and how they work.

It seems we would move a lot closer to the paperless office if records management and software developers focused more on improving the user experience when creating tools and systems to manage the glut of data around us.  People have come to expect a certain level of usability from their tools and systems before truly adopting them.  And we want them - need them - to truly adopt these tools and systems.  

It's not that cut and dry but decreasing resistance by meeting people where they are and improving the user experience would go a long way in getting users to accept not only a paperless office but that records management is actually there to help them.

Oh Nielsen, where art thou?

Simone Myree
Records Management Coordinator 
Association of Washington Cities

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]