Stop Over-teching!

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Our coffee maker is shot

I was tempted to get a wifi coffee maker. Of course, that would add more smart tech to our home - which usually I am all about.

But I had a stern conversation with myself (and conducted a consult with my dogs, of course) to decide what we really needed in a machine that brews my morning magic.

And it wasn’t a smart coffee maker.

Even though I love new tech at home and in my business, there is a limit to what will actually suit how I live and work.

Here’s what my analysis looked like:

1. We need a coffee maker that can be set with a timer to wake up to a fresh, hot pot of coffee

2. Smart coffee makers are run by devices and voice apps

   • We do not have any smart tech in our bedroom - Alexa, plugs, bulbs or the like so we can’t voice activate the machine if we wanted to

   • We do not bring devices into our bedroom - mobiles, tablets… so when we don’t set the timer, we can’t turn it on in the morning from bed

3. Our current system of prepping the coffee the night before and setting the timer if we want to works really well (as long as I am paying attention to the prep part…)

4. Smart coffee makers are not for the faint of wallet

So what that simple evaluation revealed was that a smart coffee maker was not going to be of any benefit to us. In fact, it may be a source of frustration to my hubby, who has a somewhat tenuous relationship with smart home apps.

Um… Kelle, how on heaven and earth does this relate to your coaching theme of #SimplifyTechifySolve for businesses?

It relates directly.

Our personal choices are often an extension of our business ones - how we think, how we analyze and how we make decisions.

And what I want to impart here is that we need to be vigilant of Shiny App Attention Syndrome (SAAS) - ensure, in life and in business, that choices are based on what problems we have that tech can solve.

1. Identify problems clearly

2. Analyze what we have already that may solve those problems

3. Analyze what features new tech has to solve our problem

4. Analyze how new tech is going to play with the tech we already have

5. Analyze costs vs benefits

Once we have a handle on the situation and the tech that we need in place to create harmony and efficiency we then need to make sure we don’t get all hyped up on automation.

• Create systems and routines before you automate anything

• Test the bejeebers out of the s&r’s

• Balance the benefits of automation vs the pitfalls of fails

I love the evening routine of prepping the coffee and setting the timer. But a few times I have forgotten to put the filter, coffee and/or water in (we all slip up on even the most simple tasks from time to time). The fail of automating - setting the timer - and not actually brewing a pot is irritating but not monumental.

Some automation fails can be consequential though. The systems and structures need to be rigorous to keep your tech from running amok.

• Online schedulers - only the greatest biz tech ever - need to have the calendar apps syncing correctly and you need to make sure when you add events manually to your calendar that you are putting it in the one that speaks to the scheduler.

  • Automagical booking is a huge automation win

  • Double booking is a big automation fail

• Marketing automation - I am away while this email is landing in your inbox.

  • Let’s hope this is an automation win in that I scheduled it for Thursday, shortly after 1:00 ET

  • Sending an automated email out to a small group is not likely to be much of a fail, but if someone has a large audience that they don’t know personally it could be quite a mishap

• Romba automation fails are hilarious - probably not for the owners though.

Always, always, always overthink automation.

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I have lots of exciting things coming up. I would love it if you signed up for some of the discussions and sessions.

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Simply yours, Kellie :-}

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I sell bookkeeping templates, standard operating process handbooks and client guides.

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PS. “Online schedulers - only the greatest biz tech ever”.

Second greatest biz tech ever - text expanders.

My favourite fun tech - form builders, especially Typeform!

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