typing their own notes...

[Harrison Owen]

At 03:57 PM 5/27/2003 -0700, CHRIS CORRIGAN wrote:

>Hi Peggy:
>
>I have had secretariestype up notes and find that the end result is not
>nearly as satisfying as when people do it themselves.  I wouldnt classify
>them as disasters however, in my experience anyway.
>Chris

OK -- so I over-reacted. And truth to tell I guess I have never been as
Draconian as described. But i do find the typing of reports to be a useful,
contributory part of the process, not only by creating the record,  but
also in the process itself. Folks who type together stay together, or
something like that. I have noticed great conversations happening at the
computers, yielding wonderful new ideas that simply would not have appeared
had not the "principals" been on duty, so to speak. There is also the
"edit" function. When folks have to re-produce a mound of newsprint, they
look for what is important. It is also for this reason that I avoid laptops
in sessions (outside of the fact that they tend to go on walkabout). When a
laptop is in the session there is an awful tendency to do a core dump --
garbage, side trips and all. Getting every word is beside the point, I
think. Getting the essential ones is useful.

I am reminded of an OS I did with the Advisory Council of the AARP
(American Association of Retired People). The average age had to be well
over 80, and most of the folks (this was 10 years ago) had never been up
close and personal with a computer. The staff was definitely worried about
this typing business. And frankly so was I -- but I shouldn't have. Towards
the end of the first day, I came into the NewsRoom to discover this
marvelous elderly lady at a machine. She had to be well over 85, and by the
luck of the draw, she had posted THE ISSUE -- the real hot one, about which
a lot had been said. And she was supposed to type it all? She was certainly
trying! She held a magnifying glass in one hand in order to see the screen,
and typed away with one finger. When I saw what she was doing, I felt more
than a little ashamed of myself, and in fact offered to help -- something I
would never do normally. She turned her head quickly in my direction and
said firmly, "Young man, I will type my own report." I find this story
useful when executive competence or ego is questioned in the matter of
report preparation.

Harrison

>Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm

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