Decades into the digital age, the paperless office still eludes humanity

The Coach's Team ^ | 5/19/18 | Jim Bray

[rktman]

😹. We tried (we was "forced") to get a handle on it when I was still working. No matter what, somebody ALWAYS had to have a hard copy of something. Instructions, engineering dwgs, memos. As far as I know it never did happen. Some jobs do not lend themselves to being paperless. Working on the shuttle was not one.

[KevinB]

I run a law practice and a couple of businesses. I am paperless. I can work from anywhere. Granted, the fact that I have no employees makes this easier.

[TomGuy]

More and more I have gone paperless at home.

It is much easier to file and find files, rather than documents.

Most of my bills — cable, utilities, etc. — are paperless. Payments register almost instantaneously. [My local Post Office has a history of losing mail.]

User manuals are easy to find and read in PDF format.

Just remember to back things up! If it is worth keeping, it is worth backing up.

I actually print out, maybe, 2 to 3 pages a month.

[j.argese]

The paperless office was going to be done with telecommuting.

[PLMerite]

Like I said at the beginning. The only way you’re going to have a Paperless Office, is to have a Printerless Office, and not until.

[Flatus I. Maximus]

Back in the day some bright soul whose name I forget now said, “We will have the paperless office the day after we have the paperless bathroom.”

[SaraJohnson]

Things disappear on the Internet. I print documentation when I write.

[Flatus I. Maximus]

Heh. Telecommuting. Still waiting for that one to arrive. The idea that middle managers would support their employees doing something that makes middle managers irrelevant is ... about like expecting Congress to vote for term limits.

And then there’s the Edifice Complex. CEOs just *love* to have big shiny buildings with the corporate name in lights on the front, and once you’ve got that building, well, fat chance you’re going to let your serfs *not* work in it. Let’s fill those cubes, people! Look busy!

[j.argese]

Which is why they guy behind “The Cloud” is laughing all the way to the bank. That and “mold remediation”. A sucker born every minute? This is the US of A! Another bumper crop.

[wally_bert]

Most of my co-irkers would cease to exist if there was a printerless office.

They live for some piece of paper. We’re doing away with small standalone printers as they die. It’s a start.

I despise printers to no end. My spouse has to have printed copies of darned near everything that sit forever.

I print something, it’s for someone else needing a signature.

[wally_bert]

What you have sounds so pleasant.

People call me up and whine about anything regarding a printer.

[catnipman]

“Decades into the digital age, the paperless office still eludes humanity”

i knew the minute that B&W xerographic copy machines morphed into inexpensive office/personal printers, that office paper would explode instead of being eliminated ...

[tcrlaf]

‘Cause lawyers...

[snooter55]

Back in the mid 1990’s, United Parcel Service made the decision to go paperless. Deliveries, records, employee info, etc., because technology, go green. Today the use of paper there has exceeded 20 fold that of the 90’s. Go figure.

[PLMerite]

I confess, I like paper copies of some things. A former boss of mine printed out relevant emails so that they couldn’t be lost or denied at a future date. CYA is Job One.

[Buttons12]

I work in a law office, the printer I use is never cooled down. Every document I create must be hard copied. In accounting, it’s almost all paper, and a lot of that is handwritten (checks, receipts, etc.) Several decades of paperwork are in the storage rooms.
And I can’t fault the system. I have more backup files than a squirrel has nuts, for each personal computer I’ve ever owned — but I still make hard copies of anything I wouldn’t want to lose.

[Psalm 73]

They (corporate) tried to force "paperless" upon us - we work with blueprints and wiring diagrams all day, lots of them.
Some offices it would work, (like finance, marketing, etc) but corporate is into "one-size plan fits all" logic - so we continue to go through large rolls of paper and they continue to fume....

[cgbg]

Heh. Telecommuting. Still waiting for that one to arrive. The idea that middle managers would support their employees doing something that makes middle managers irrelevant is ... about like expecting Congress to vote for term limits. And then there’s the Edifice Complex. CEOs just *love* to have big shiny buildings with the corporate name in lights on the front, and once you’ve got that building, well, fat chance you’re going to let your serfs *not* work in it. Let’s fill those cubes, people! Look busy!

Great post.

I think the only solution will be that Boards of Directors will have to replace both the middle managers and senior managers with egoless AI that has no interest in edifices and couldn't care less if the warm bodies are in the office. The AI also couldn't care less about growing the Department or the Company unless it makes sense.

(Managers out there, don't panic yet--I am always about twenty years ahead of my time. :-) )

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

When we bought our house we got the papers electronically to sign. Which means we had to print them out, sign them and scan them back into the system where it was then printed out and filed.

A bunch of trees gave their lives so we could buy a house.