Technological innovation has been the engine of human progress for hundreds of years, and its pace continues to grow. Over the past two centuries, we have moved from steam engines and the industrial revolution to the Internet and the information age, and the global Web now connects almost every corner of the world. Thanks to this period of rapid technological progress, our workplaces have evolved beyond recognition in the last century alone. The way we work and our workplace are now very different, as are the tools we use to communicate with our colleagues. First, computers have transformed the workplace and the way we work. Second, the Internet has gone a step further by enabling real-time collaboration between workers around the world. Today, smartphones and 4G LTE mean we can work from anywhere, at any time, in what is now called the always-on economy. Naturally, these advances have created challenges for effective communication. Workplaces are becoming increasingly dispersed, for example, which has led to the development of real-time collaboration tools that help teams work better together. So when we look at the history of workplace communication, we see a technological history that changes the way we work together. Here are some important points:
It all started with a note
At the beginning of the 1920th century, letters had already been at the heart of human communication for a few centuries. In the business world, letters were formal descriptive messages, devoid of technical jargon, used primarily to communicate with third parties, i.e. clients and customers. However, since letters were not the most effective means of communication, memos became widespread in the workplace in the XNUMXs. Memo is a shorter form of the word memorandum, whose Latin origin translates as "something to keep in mind" or "something to remember". This means that they were shorter and more informal than letters and that the use of slang was acceptable, making them ideal for internal use. They have been used to create a "paper trail" for future reference, primarily for actions such as asking colleagues for specific information, answering previous questions, sharing new information, or giving instructions. Memos were usually written and sealed in "routing envelopes" to be collected, processed, sorted, and delivered by the post office and postmasters, signifying an era of direct instruction rather than dialogue. . Despite all its advantages, the limitations of notes quickly became apparent. For example, they were rarely used to provide positive, uplifting information and were largely associated with passive/aggressive clerical bugs. More importantly, memos continued to be a slow means of communication, and companies were required to operate mailrooms in all offices.
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You have an email
This may seem strange, but email actually appeared before the advent of the Internet, with the first forms of email being developed in the 1960s for time-sharing systems like DTSS. The PC revolution, the birth of the Internet, and Ray Tomlinson's "smart hacking" have made email the primary means of communication in the workplace. Businesses have saved money on paper, stationery, and postage. Employees can now send and receive information to one or more people instantly, and emails can still be physically printed and shared if necessary. Several decades later, email is still the king of workplace communication. According to a 2018 study, more than 3.800 billion people use email, more than half of the world's population, exchanging more than 293.000 billion emails per day. In the modern workplace, the average employee receives approximately 121 emails and sends 40 professional emails each day. However, even email is too slow for modern businesses. Today, an email is basically the same as a 1960s memo or letter (with the exception of quick sending), and conversations with multiple people sending replies Every few minutes to discuss a project can quickly become somewhat confusing and slow. But thanks to technology, we have been able to move things forward.
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