If you needed to ask a question of your supervisor, you dropped a dime or a quarter or two into a payphone and called the office, hoping they would be at their desk. If they weren’t, you made the decision yourself and moved along. If you were good at reading your manager you probably was already sure what the answer would be even before asking the question.

As time passed communications got easier and for the roaming employee more like a leash. First there were the one way pager. You received a message to call a telephone number and off you went to find a phone to return the call.

For a short period of time, the same time as mobile communications, the car phone, was developing there were 2 way pagers. You could receive a message, in 2 way paging it was usually a text question and you could returned an answer with one of the pre-programmed messages. 2 way pagers were much cheaper and more reliable than a mobile cell phone.

Mobile phones first were in the car and then in a portable device that resembled a brick. And as we progress in technology, instant communications became easier.

But it seems to me that at times as communications became more instant, people became less able to decide something without having another opinion. It developed not only in the work arena but also at home. Many times I have heard a husband or a wife call the other partner while in a grocery store asking whether a substitution was acceptable.

Decisions are made as a team or by the supervisor. Original thinking by a lower level employee sometimes was no longer commendable, but became insubordination even in middle and lower upper management.

One would think that with instant communications issues can be resolved quicker and with a better outcome. However, at times I wonder if with instant communications it takes longer and the decision may not be the correct one. The farther the decision maker is from the situation, the less that person considers the personal customer service aspect of the decision.

So I will ask.

Is Instant Communications Good or Bad?

What is your opinion?

As with any type of networking you get what you put into it. Have you ever come out of a Networking Event and felt that you got nothing out of it?

Did it seem that all you did was enjoy the food, beverages and company of those you already knew?

If that was the case you probably did come out with the feeling that nothing had been gained.

In Social Media some are doing something very similar. They have created a Facebook page, a Twitter Account and possibly even a LinkedIn account.

But after creation they have done nothing. This is like going to the Networking function and enjoying the food and beverage. Satisfying at the time, but short lasting.

It’s the interaction with others both at the Networking function and with Social Media where you will enjoy an extended benefit.

In your social media give useful and interesting information not just an advertising blurb. It’s thought that you should keep your advertising conversations in Social Media to around 30% of your interactions.

Don’t ignore or try to remove critical comments. Engage them in a dialogue to discover the reasons. It’s possible that after an exchange both you and the one who gave the criticism may come to a common ground.

Social Media like networking is a conversation and the best gains are made by interactions by both parties and not one.

I firmly believe that Business E-mails should be treated exactly like a business letter, following the same format. Although I will admit that not all emails sent to business associates are business emails. The majority of these Pet Peeves are in these non-business e-mails.

Here are a few of my E-mail Pet Peeves:
• Forwarded e-mail from friends, relatives or business associates passing along jokes and false or misleading information.

• Forwarded e-mails that have been forwarded multiple times showing the email addresses of all of those that it had been forwarded to.

• Receiving an answer to a question either through a new email or by reply without the question.

• Being BCC: on an e-mail without clear indication that the email was sent to someone else.

• Being part of the To: line when in reality the e-mail was CC:ed to you.

I firmly believe that Business E-mails should be treated exactly like a business letter, following the same format. Although I will admit that not all emails sent to business associates are business emails. The majority of these Pet Peeves are in these non-business e-mails.

Here are a few of my E-mail Pet Peeves:
• Forwarded e-mail from friends, relatives or business associates passing along jokes and false or misleading information.

• Forwarded e-mails that have been forwarded multiple times showing the email addresses of all of those that it had been forwarded to.

• Receiving an answer to a question either through a new email or by reply without the question.

• Being BCC: on an e-mail without clear indication that the email was sent to someone else.

• Being part of the To: line when in reality the e-mail was CC:ed to you.

What’s yours?

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” — H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

Now you are probably waiting to read the famous quote that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft said. That being, “640k ought to be enough for anybody.” But that just happens to be an Urban Legend. Nowhere has it been documented that he spoke those words, and the closest may have been a conversation on the original IBM PC, which used a processor that could only be able to use 640k of memory.

But an interesting quote that I remember occurred in 1983 by the fictional character Travis McGee, created by the novelist John D. MacDonald, in the novel Cinnamon Skin. It goes as such;

“Soon the bosses of the microcomputer revolution will sell us preprogrammed units for each household which will provide entertainment, print out news, purvey mail-order goods, pay bills, balance accounts, keep track of expenses, and compute taxes. But by then the future managers will be over on the far side of the thickets, dealing with bubble memories, machines that design machines, projects so esoteric our pedestrian minds cannot comprehend them. It will be the biggest revolution of all, bigger than the wheel, bigger than Franklin’s kite, bigger than paper towels.”

In 1983 the IBM personal computer was only 2 years old, the MacIntosh was in development by Apple and Radio Shack was one of the major players in the computer industry. Fact can be stranger than fiction, but sometimes fiction can just predict the future.

Beginning on Monday January 4th, I will be doing a set of articles on Social Media.

Twitter is one of the Social Media sites and SMBTechTips is on Twitter at Twitter.com/SMBTechTips. We will be twittering links to articles and other news that we feel is of importance to Small Business. By following our tweeks you will be able to check them out.

My plans is to try to stick to a schedule of having a tip or other information piece published each work day (Monday Through Friday). The majority of these will be new articles (3 or more) and the rest being a repeated or updated older article.

My book – Technology Tips for Small Business – was originally published three years ago. It is long due for an update and I am planning on having a new edition finished and available my mid-year.

For those new to the site, I hope you get some valuable information and come back often. For those who have been a regular reader, I give many thanks.

One reflection I do have on going into 2010. It seems as if time goes by fast. I first began doing a blog of Technology Tips in early 2006. It sure doesn’t seem that it’s been nearly four years. Also for those who were around 10 years ago when everyone was in a panic about Y2K, does it seem as if it’s been 10 years. It’s amazing how fast 10 years can go by and how many changes can occur in those 10 years.

Here’s hoping we will still be here and enjoying life in 2020. Have a question please ask it.

The Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company Limited was incorporated on December 7, 1895. 93% of the stock was own by Bell Telephone Company of Canada. The remaining 7% was own by the 7 members of the Board of Directors.

In 1913 the company merged with Imperial Wire and Cable Company and was renamed Northern Electric Company.

By the end of the 1960s the company was working on projects to digitize telephone communications as well as selling telephone switching systems not only in Canada, but also the United States. In 1975 they shipped their first digital switch. The company now firmly entrenched in telephone communications was renamed Northern Telecom Ltd. The company concentrated their efforts on digital technology and became one of the biggest, if not the biggest, supplier of digital central office telephone switches to telephone companies throughout the world.

The end of the 20th century brought more changes to the company. Data Communications (Networks and the Internet) was changing the scope of telecommunications. With the purchase of Bay Networks in 1998 the company once again changed their name. This time to their current one, Nortel Networks.

Over the last 8 years until their bankruptcy filing on January 14, 2009 they struggled. Now their future is very much in doubt. After the final purchase by Avaya is approved, what will become of them? Only time will tell. One thing that could occur would be for the combined company (Avaya and Nortel) to be renamed again. Perhaps Northern Electric, or Northern Telecom may come again. Or maybe Avaya will adopt the name Nortel. It’s not impossible. Something similar occurred when the old Ma Bell ATT was purchased by SBC and took the name AT&T. Doesn’t Nortel sound more like a telecommunications company than Avaya?

Originally Published at 6 Things To Consider – 6ThingsToConsider.com

So I’m wondering what do others take on the road?