BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

Just Start Using It

Today I was testing out a thing called "Zello" with some people at work.  It's pretty neat.  Basically we used to have a million walkie talkies that we used.  Those have been slowly dying out.  Since it's costly to get them repaired, the head of the A/V department wanted to use an app called Zello.  We all already have phones.

So, I downloaded the app to my iPhone today and we used it a little bit around campus.

It works like a walkie talkie.  It's pretty cool.  It saves the audio bits to give you a history of what you are saying to the person.  That's something a regular walkie doesn't do.  It also gives you the time that you walkie with the person.

It's a pretty good app.  You can have it in the background and still get the message.  You can turn it off, and on, and what not.  It doesn't seem to kill the battery life.

So far I like it.

Now, my boss and coworker aren't super interested in it.  I put it on my personal phone.  They're not big on personal and work things mingling.  Which is understandable.  I get that.

Like my coworker is big on work and personal life separation.  He comes in when work starts, goes home when it ends.  Doesn't even want to think about work outside of work.  No remotely connected.  No work talk with coworkers.  Work stays at work, and home stays at home.  Some people are like that, and that's cool.

Some people like to have work attached 24/7.  I feel like I'm more along the lines of, as long as the work gets done I guess.  I mean, here's the thing... My Grandfather always said, "Whatever gets the job done".

So, if putting an app on your personal phone gets the job done for one person, but not doing that gets it done for another person... That's fair.

If connecting remotely from home for an hour in the evening helps one person get their work done... And if another person gets all their work done during business hours.  That's fair too.

I mean, some people take longer to do the same tasks.  That just means that some people have to do extra work in the evening where other people might be able to get the same amount of work done in 5 or 6 hours.

I mean, heck, some people can get the same work done in an hour that it takes someone else a whole week to do.  That's kind of how our society works.

I don't think if I'd say anything is really better.  Whatever works or fits for one person, fits for them and what works or fits for another works for them.

Like, for example for me, I don't like open ended things.  I like things well tracked, documented.  I like to know what the status is all the time on stuff to confirm communication.

So, for example, if someone wants to know the status of a projector in a classroom, I want to be able to bring up this Zello app and find out from the A/V people, since they are in another office. Some people are more like, radio the A/V guys, if they don't answer, they don't answer.  We'll find out eventually, no big deal.

I just hate to have people walk away with their question unanswered.  If there's a better way to communicate but it requires putting an app on my phone, I'm okay with that.

With the Zello app, even if the A/V people aren't in range of the walkie talkie, they can still get the message.  Even if they miss the message, when they turn the app back on, they get my missed message.  A traditional walkie talkie won't do that.

There is definitely a line with work though, like how much do you do.  I mean, after all, every company or organization basically if they had it their way would want all their employees working 24/7 and working for free too.

So, if you give a little bit... Then the organization will think that's the new norm.  That's sort of my bosses view.  He's big on keeping boundaries.  Which I think is cool.

I guess I feel like work boundaries are needed for sure, you can't just be working 24/7.  But then also, if there are lots of people who can't do what they need to do without your help... How much do you give?  Like, if someone can't log into their account to do homework, and they need a password reset, and offices are closed.  Is it acceptable to reset a password or two in the evening after hours?

I feel like there isn't really an answer to that.  Is putting a walkie talkie app on a personal phone going over work boundaries?  I guess it's up to the employee.  Basically what we're doing is, myself and the A/V guy have the app, and then my coworker and boss don't.  So, each of us has kind of decided on our personal choice and level of boundaries.

BUT here's the big question, does having the app even add value to the workplace?  I mean, for example... Can we quantify that even having the app on our phones and having that ability to communicate with one another during working hours no matter where we are on campus... Does it yield more work?

That's kind of what my boss and coworker argue.  That it's actually more of something to distract from doing work.  Could be.  I can see that.  The more things you have in front of you, the less time you can devote to one thing.

I feel like it's an interesting argument from both sides.  I like that.

Here's the question, does working more hours in general, such as remoting from home, actually make you a more productive employee?  Or, does the use of personal things for work make you more productive?

It might not, I mean, like I said, you could have two people at an organization who work very different amounts of hours, but get the same exact amount of work done.

But, my argument to all of it is, the only way to tell if something might add value, is to just start using it!  You never know until you try it out.  If it flops, then it flops... But you never know, like today, I thought it was a pretty useful app, and I think it's a very small gesture to add it to my phone, since if I do find it to be a distraction in the future, I can always just delete it.