Telecomputing Transformation

With the possible exception of the alphabet and the printing press, those inventions that abridge distance have had the greatest impact on civilization. This provocative thought is from an inscription on the door of Chicago's Transportation Building.

In addition to transportation, which moves people and goods, there is also telecommunications, which moves ideas and information. Today we are at the beginning of a revolution in telecommunications -- or, more precisely, telecomputing, which is the combination of computers, software and communications networks. This revolution is beginning to change everything about the way we live, work, play, learn, move about and govern.

Many of these changes are directly related to "abridging distance," by making it possible for both workers and enterprises to think more freely about location. That's why much of the nation's job and population growth and so many new enterprises are located in the American West. But computers, fax, the Internet and other telecomputing technologies are having impacts way beyond reducing the tyranny of distance.

A major impact of the telecomputing revolution is in the workplace itself. Telecomputing changes the workplace in three ways: settings -- when and where people work, as the old model of everyone coming to a single workplace, usually at about the same time, is breaking down; technologies -- from telephones, typewriters and mechanical calculators to the modern equipment people use to generate, store, process and communicate information, and organizational culture -- the set of formal and informal policies and practices that shapes how people relate to each other in the workplace.

Each of these aspects of the workplace is being affected by new telecomputing technologies. Three examples:

Finally, there is the small office/home office (SOHO) movement, as increasing numbers of people are working at home -- from professionals to craft workers and the self-employed . Indeed, more than 43 million people now work at home some time during the week -- including more than 12 million who work at home full time.

• Project management. Work in large and mid-sized enterprises is increasingly project-oriented -- work with a beginning, a middle and an end. Work is limited by time and objectives and is performed by teams that come together, do the job and break up -- virtual organizations that blend in-house "payrollers" and outside consultants, or nomads. Examples: War rooms and skunk works for longer term projects; task forces and working groups for shorter term projects.

Each of these workplace trends and changes in lifestyle preferences reflects new possibilities created by the telecomputing revolution. They are only the tip of an iceberg.