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5.0 out of 5 stars
For technophiles, technophobes and everyone in between., February 17, 2004
This review is from: Taming Technology: You Can Control the Beast (Paperback)
Dr. Nichelson's entertaining book TAMING TECHNOLOGY approaches living in the computer age from the standpoint of the often frustrated user, pointing out how that user can utilize the technology to their advantage. In the first chapter, the Three Technology Maxims are presented, the rest of the book builds in these concepts:
1. Technology is simpler than you think.
2. Technology equals people.
3. Technology is interconnected. The basic theme of the book is that non-experts can reap huge benefits by understanding and applying the above maxims plus taking some time and effort to understand the technology well enough to take advantage of that knowledge. Woven through the book are real-life examples including the author's quest to get his electric utility to provide service to his home more reliably since he was spending a lot of time resetting all the clocks every time the power went out. What follows is an abridged version of his story: "I called the power company's customer service department {again}...it was time for a new approach...I asked to talk to someone who could tell me what had gone wrong. So I got bumped up to Donna, a senior customer service rep... I made it a point not to lose my cool...It wasn't Donna's fault that the power went out...again...a solution to such a problem is a long-term proposition...She told me she was talking to the field engineering office...A few weeks later she...{gave} me the number of the field engineering office...For the next few months I bounced from one office to another...when I finally found an engineer who sat still long enough to explain...First I put it on a personal level by telling him what a hassle each outage was...he said ...'I've got to go through the same things when I lose the power...'. Now we were on a equal footing; he was just another guy trying to help a fellow human being...Then he explained the real problem...The technical problem was fairly straightforward...What was really holding things up...was a people problem...my house sat in one engineer's area, but the devices causing the outages were in another engineer's area. So the guy who is in charge of changing the equipment wasn't getting my complaints...The engineer who explained the real problem to me agreed to bring it up at their weekly staff meeting...one of the bosses ... agreed to fix it...I called the power company a year later to ask how many outages I'd had the last 12 months...almost a 50% reduction, {but only 1 lasting long enough to reset the clocks, caused by a lightning strike}" Another anecdote is about a Carbon Monoxide Detector commercial that could kill you (what is done in the commercial is contrary to proper installation and use). For details on these and other entertaining examples, read the book!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good process oriented approach, July 25, 2003
This review is from: Taming Technology: You Can Control the Beast (Paperback)
In six short chapters Brian Nichelson, Ph.D. discusses the problem of technology and provides a simple step-by-step process that can be used to get the results you need. From simple problems like not knowing how to reset your computer clock to complex purchase decisions the same steps can be used to consistently get to the best answer. One of the problems that I deal with on a regular basis is a total lack of knowledge among sales people and technologists. One tells you that you need to connect your computer to a cable modem and then share off your computer to allow others in your organization to share access to the Internet. Another says you have to install a gateway server and another says a router. One says a software firewall is sufficient another says only a hardware firewall provides real protection, and another says you really need both. Technology can be overwhelming to the average user and sometimes even to the initiated. With everyone telling you something different or just the need to find out how to do something, this process can be followed to get to the best result. While the process seemed second nature to me, I realize that it is probably because I have been deeply involved in technology for many years. For the confused or concerned that need a workable strategy to resolve technology related issues this is a recommended read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Start of a technologist's "12 Step Program"!, July 8, 2003
This review is from: Taming Technology: You Can Control the Beast (Paperback)
"Wow! As someone who has had more than 30 years experience developing technology, Brian's book is the first to make me stop and think about technology's impact on people's lives. I wish I had this book 30 years ago. Thank you, Brian. You have written a book that all technologists should read and keep for easy reference." With that first paragraph as my quote in the "Advance Praise" forward to "Taming Technology - You Can Control the Beast", let me add a more complete review. Why should my opinion on Brian's book matter? Well, since I got my bachelor's degree in 1970 I've been building a lot of the technology Brian pillories! For the first 20 years of my technologist's journey I built hardware, software, and network products and tools that were used mainly by other technologists and technical savvy people.. To make it worse, I've been an adjunct professor in engineering and computer science departments teaching new generations of technologists to "make it elegant" not "make it useable"! Of course, there was always at least one human factors engineer some where on the staff, but we builders of technology almost to a person ignored them! In the early 1990's I began working on products that were consumer oriented. After the first focus group on one of our "technology marvels" I was greatly humbled. It was unusable by the people we targeted as customers. What was the first reaction? Blame the victim! But, the fault was not in naive customers but with non-intuitive, cumbersome, programmer-like interfaces that were an afterthought to our engineering. We focused on the internals not the interface to the real world user. Brian's three maximums are a key part of this book's philosophy: 1) Technology is simpler than you think 2) Technology equals people 3) Technology is interconnected These are a great start for us technologists to begin a "12 step program" of our own. We don't need to radicalize technology. We just need to make it work for the end users not for our own need to build monuments to technology. We need to learn that just because it "can" be done, does NOT mean that it "should" be done. -Don Shafer, Chief Technology Officer, Athens Group, Inc., and co-author of Quality Software Project Management
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