NEW WORKSHOPS ADDED

Phil Simon

THE WORLD’S FOREMOST INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON WORKPLACE COLLABORATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Announcing My Next Book

Number 11 will focus on collaboration—a topic near and dear to my heart.
Aug | 20 | 2020
}

Introduction

My favorite actors, musicians, and writers zig as much as they zag. That is, they don’t just churn out the same idea over and over again. Nothing against bands such as AC/DC, but their albums never really evolved all that much. Rush and Marillion, however, frequently change approaches. That’s how they grow and ultimately become better at their craft. You just can’t typecast them.

I’ve got no musical chops, but writers can benefit from taking the same tack. I decided while writing Zoom For Dummies that my next book would be more conceptual in nature. In other words, I wouldn’t be detailing the ins and outs how one specific application worked.1 Software vendors often release new features on a daily or weekly basis; keeping up with all of the changes is exhausting and ultimately futile. After all, books eventually need to ship. They reflect snapshots in time.

Way it goes …

A Big Question

Effective collaboration means embracing a new mind-set just as much as new applications.

At the core of my next book is the question: How can employees collaborate more effectively?

It’s a simple query without a simple answer. What’s more, it’s a critical question right now. In-person meetings and traditional office-based work are not returning anytime soon.2

Yes, effectively navigating the new normal requires the use of new tools. That’s only half of the story, though. True collaboration means embracing a new mind-set as much as new applications. In a way, whether an organization uses Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Chat, or some other newfangled collaboration tool doesn’t matter. The tools’ features are converging—a trend that will only intensify in the future.

Case in point: Slack had long provided private channels while Microsoft Teams did not. Given their utility, you didn’t need to be a soothsayer to predict that Microsoft soon would ape Slack’s valuable functionality and it ultimately did. The fast-follower strategy at its finest.

Simon Says: Stay tuned.

I’ll provide more updates in the coming weeks. Expect this book soon.

Feedback

What say you?

Footnotes

  1. As a parallel, Rush mentioned after writing 1978’s Hemispheres they wanted to move to shorter songs.
  2. Ditto for classes, but that’s a topic for another day.

Receive my musings, news, and rants in your inbox as soon as they publish.

 

Blog E Announcements E Announcing My Next Book

Related Posts

Forces Are Colliding

In a nutshell, my latest book examines powerful forces that are reshaping the workplace. As I researched them and wrote the book's manuscript, the fascinating interrelationships between and among these forces began to manifest themselves. Examples abound, but today...

Book Review: Wonder Boy

In 2011, I moved from NJ to Vegas. It didn't take long for me to hook up with the Vegas tech scene and the Downtown Project. Over the course of my five years in Sin City, I attended events, spoke at Zappos's HQ a few times, met plenty of smart cookies, and learned a...

The Nine: Audiobook Updates

We're finally live on Audible. The audiobook version should be live just about everywhere else by now. Also, Amazon has added the Audible tab to the main book page: Happy listening.

1 Comment

  1. Alex Sirota

    Phil, great idea for the book. We use slack and zoom and a few other productivity helpers like Appointlet and Integromat in our company NewPath Consulting. Would love to chat with you.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *