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Today’s Thoughts ☠️

Ahoy there 👋,

I’m back to civilisation after surviving my mid-year forest retreat break.

It’s always a 50/50 of me feeling great from being at one with nature or coming back in a casket after inadvertently falling into the next edition of a horror slasher.

Thankfully, it was the former.

There was also no fighting bear-sized sheep for Wi-Fi 🐻 (see previous edition). I had no Wi-fi instead so I’m still re-integrating with the Matrix as I type.

The scariest thing I did since my return was check my social DMs and emails. It’s a work in progress, to be honest. I couldn’t help but notice a constant trending question though.

“Can you tell me if I should buy this or that tool?”

Truth is I don’t know. It all depends. Mostly this is put to me about the new wave of GEN AI tools. The problem I see here is that we become blinded so quickly by the flashy and new, that we forget what we already have.

Old reliable tools don’t become obsolete overnight.

So while I can’t give you an individual answer, I can teach you how to use the frameworks I use to make smart decisions.

That’s what we’ll unpack together today.

Get your tea or beverage of choice ready, 🍵.

We've got lots to discuss!

→ Much love to today’s sponsor, You Can Now ❤️

In today’s chat:

• Why new tech isn’t always better
  

• How to shift from education to performance
  

• Why being a late bloomer is cool

THE BIG THOUGHT
Why New Isn't Always Better: How To Maximise Your Current Tech

There’s a saying I like to indulge often “Old does not mean dead and new does not mean best”.

It’s perfect for a lot of things - plants, tech and even convincing my wife that I can still build that infuriating piece of furniture without the help of some 20-somethings.

I rarely win the last one these days.

The typical employee has over 88 workplace apps at their disposal. While that might sound amazing, it’s actually crippling.

Many of us suffer from paralysis by analysis.

I rarely watch something on Netflix without being seduced by the endless carousel of ‘new things to watch’. I know how these things work but they get me every time!

For work, we have a candy store full of tools to use and a dopamine addicted mind looking for instant gratification. More choice is not always a good thing.

We just need to know the best tool for the task at hand.

And boy are we seeing this in overdrive mode today.

The endless supply of “AI-enabled” tools makes it even harder for you and me to know what’s useful for our work. Market expectations with AI are so crazy. You’d think a higher being just emerged to solve all our problems.

Newsflash: It hasn’t.

Amid this dopamine fuelled madness, it’s easy to forget the steady, reliable and often old tools that have helped us for years.

It’s time to remind ourselves of those trusted tools once more.

Old does not mean obsolete

Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint have been around for nearly 30 years.

That could be longer than some of you have been alive. Yet, they are still both incredibly useful tools. As much as I detest Death by PowerPoint, what piece of tech has truly come out to change how we deliver live information to other humans?

Nothing…not one thing has dethroned the king.

Same goes for Excel. I can’t count on both hands how many times I’ve been told “This is the Excel killer”. Yet, I’m still sitting here using Excel every week. The point is, it’s not about either/or - it’s about the best tool for the job.

We lost that focus along the line with Gen AI these last two years.

I’m asked every other day “What AI tool can I use to do x?” This is the wrong question. You should ask “What’s the best tool to help me achieve the results I want?”. I’m aware no AI marketing team will employ me with that approach but it’s true.

I see this with L&D tech too.

I’ve worked with large organisations with 20+ LMS/LXPs and tiny organisations that have nothing but a Google doc. They don’t need all these but ‘shiny object syndrome’ got them.

Hello, old friend

Tools and tech that stand the test of time do so for these reasons:

1. Reliability

2. Familiarity

3. Scalability

4. Getting the job done

If your tools still do that, why ditch them?

Screw what so and so on that social media platform said. I agree we have a time and place for the evolution of tools and processes. But doing something to be in the ‘cool gang’ is not it.

I’ve always taken this approach to finding the best tools to complete a task:

1️⃣ What are you solving?

2️⃣ Who are you serving?

3️⃣ What is the best tool for that job?

It’s not some complicated ‘matrix’ or ‘system’ I see peddled too often in our industry. Yes, you can steal this to use in your work.

How to be smart by adopting the ‘right’ tech and tools

Let’s be honest. It’s a cluster-fuck of chaos across our industry with finding the most useful tool for the job.

The learning tech industry alone is worth $400 billion with millions of suppliers across millions of areas. Making sense of that is like trying to explain The Matrix to a 5 year old.

When I say the ‘right’ tech, I mean what is right for you, your context and your goals.

I know people love the one-size-fits-all BS but I can’t give you utopia. We’re all being seduced by “AI-powered” solutions. Some are great, many are not.

To navigate this, try the following:

1. Use the 3 questions in the “Hello, old friend” section to set your foundation

2. Get clear on what you need for your context and goals

3. Add in the 3-step framework below to make smart choices

How to get untangled from bad tech decisions in 3 steps

1/ Scout

Engage with your local (and hopefully friendly) technology infrastructure team to understand what applications your company currently has that could solve the challenge you face. 

Your infrastructure teams are normally responsible for managing a company’s workplace technology stack.

They’ll be able to advise on what could be useful to achieve your goals. You might just find that you have what you already need.

2/ Investigate

There’s a high probability that you have applications in your workplace technology stack today which are being underutilised. 

Many of today’s modern tools do much more than one thing. You’ll find almost 99% include more product features.

If you’re using a product that is well-adopted within the company already, it’s worthwhile exploring if it offers any other features that can serve your needs.

Too many times companies make new purchases without fully understanding what their current commonly-used apps could offer.

Don’t make that same mistake!

The same principles apply to your personal use.

Think you need Adobe Photoshop when your task is more at a Canva level? Get clear on your task before diving into the tool.

3/ Reflect

The last part of our process is to take time to reflect on what you’ve discovered.

You may find you have what you need or that you do need to make that new purchase. Whatever the outcome, taking a moment to consider the impact of each option on time to deploy, cost and learning curve for employees are essential factors to evaluate.

These are all incredibly important in maximising your productivity.

4 reasons why old is still best

Look, old and new can co-exist easily.

When it makes sense to introduce something new because you have a gap, do it. If you do find an existing tool with the capability you need, here’s why this can be maximised better than the new stuff:

1. Return on investment (ROI): The golden elixir we all chase. If you’ve paid for something that’s currently underused, this is like finding the mythical city of Gold in El Dorado. It’s approved and paid for - you’ve won half the battle.
   
   

2. People know it: As it exists in today’s workplace app candy store, people know it. We can assume some have used it and most are at least aware of it. This is a huge advantage. You know how hard it is to get people to recognise new tools. Help yourself with leveraging existing brands.
   
   

3. It’s been tested: No one likes the unknown. Every time we take on a new tool we’re taking on a risk too. Will it do what it says it will do? The beauty of utilising something you own and know already works is underrated.
   
   

4. Less time to master: New stuff means having to allocate time to learn how to use it. I know we’re all about learning but time is precious. If you want those sexy new AI tools, rather than buy something new, look at the features your current tools offer. AI features are raining non-stop, folks and the learning curve is expensive.

Final Thoughts

Ok. You get my point.

I love new tech and I’m loving AI, but don’t forget everything else that’s been helping us do great stuff for years, even decades.

• Before you buy, review and use every option at your disposal

• Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s obsolete

• New and trendy doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the best solution for the task at hand.

Till next time.

SMART THOUGHTS

🤔  You might be a late bloomer

I’ve never been on an x under x list, made 6 figures, won that award or sold a business.

Quite honestly, I don’t care for that stuff. As I age, I ponder the concept of existing vs living in this realm we call ‘life’. My greatest fear has never been dying but spending my time not living. That got deeper than I expected.

This article from the Atlantic on those who found success in their 50s not their 20s gives me a lot of hope that I can and will do more. We should celebrate late bloomers more often.

💡 6 thoughts on shifting from education to learning

Plot twist: I don’t read a lot of L&D stuff.

I’m so entrenched in the industry that the last thing I want to do with my free time is read more about it. However, I do keep an eye on the thoughts of those who I highly rate and fellow L&D rebel, Nick Shackleton Jones is one of those.

I loved this share from Nick on 6 thoughts we should consider in nurturing the shift from education to learning in our organisations. Bookmark this one!

🔥  Podcasts, podcasts and more podcasts

I seem to have found myself on many podcast releases these past few weeks that I’ve totally forgotten to share with you.

Here’s a roundup of places where my real (not AI) voice has appeared:

• Human skills in the era of AI | The Mindset to Learn Podcast

• The state of online learning | The Learning and Development Podcast

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