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back to article The rise of the humans: How to outsmart the digital deluge

Dave Coplin Dave Coplin, speaking at Business Transformed A few days ago, I heard an interesting keynote speech. The speaker was Dave Coplin, who in times past could have been called an anthropologist. Dave’s job title is in fact "chief envisioning officer" at Microsoft UK. The speech took place at Business Transformed, a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm obviously sub-human, as I don't "check my phone" at all, if it rings, I answer it, and if it bleeps a notification I'll look at it, but other than that it stays in my pocket.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Hear, hear.

      The only other time I look at my phone is to check the time until I get new batteries for my 22 year old digital watch.

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    2. Captain Hogwash
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      Angel

      I'm obviously sub-human

      Nonsense!

      “Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.” - B. Lee

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    3. big_D Silver badge
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      I check mine when I come back into the room, when I've been in a meeting or visiting a colleague, to see if I missed a call.

      When I am working on a big translation or a complex document, I close Outlook and set my phone to silent mode. I'll then look at mail etc. when I take a break.

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  2. ForthIsNotDead

    Sorry...

    ...I stopped reading when I read "chief envisioning officer".

    It's probably me. I'm having a bad day!

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    1. PlacidCasual
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      Re: Sorry...

      The job title was probably the only way they could get Human Remains to approve his pay and grade.

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      1. fruitoftheloon
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        Pirate

        Re: Sorry...

        I prefer the term inHuman Resources [Department], as is my experience of the species to date...

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    2. silent_count
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      chief envisioning officer

      Yes, that job title really should come with tights and a cape.

      "My gawd! That dude's expression! It's like he's just been hit on the head with a cricket bat."

      "Nah. Show some compassion. He looks like he's constipated."

      "No, no guys. Stand back and let him do his thing...

      That's the Chief Envisioning Officer."

      (Possibly, chiefly envisioning where his life could have gone so dreadfully wrong to end up with such a crappy job title)

      Bullshit aside, it does sound like a moderately interesting read.

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  3. Salts

    Also availablle...

    Free (though you have to give an email address) from http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/1057/business/dave-coplin/the-rise-of-the-humans/ in epub and pdf format, for we humans that don't have a kindle.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How I outsmart the digital deluge ..

    'Coplin .. talks about how “toast” – the Microsoft word for the little messages that pop up in the right-hand corner of your screen when you get a mail – is counter-productive.'

    I don't have any such pop ups .. I have the phone permanently on voice-mail, if this is an emergency they I may get back to you tomorrow, I only check the email once a day, I'm totally under deluged ..

    "Coplin quotes a Microsoft research finding that coders who were momentarily distracted took 23 minutes to get back to proper work"

    Excuse me, but this sounds like stating the bleeding obvious ..

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    1. Graham Marsden
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      Happy

      Re: How I outsmart the digital deluge ..

      > Excuse me, but this sounds like stating the bleeding obvious ..

      Yeah, but it's great when you can get paid for it!

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Given the title of the article, can anyone else see the irony in "The subject intrigued me enough to prompt a download of his book......."? No? Just me then!

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  6. D.B.

    I read this yesterday while sitting around in London Liverpool Street waiting for the trains to start running again (shout out to any other el reg readers who were trying to commute out of there yesterday - took me three hours to get home).

    Free feels like the right price to me. Had I paid £7 for the paperback version I'd have felt pretty hard done by. The most interesting points have all been covered in the above review - there really isn't much to it beyond what's already been mentioned. Oh, except that fridges are going to be connected to the internet, apparently.

    Perhaps I'm just not part of the right demographic to 'get' it. I've certainly never been accused of being a 'Thought Leader'...

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Snowed under

    Use of Mobe, landline at work/voicemail (mobe off) landline at home/answering machine (mobe off) - no social 'media' - never answer an email whilst working just get to it in pauses (if I recall) - last four days I have received 5 emails - might be the holidays?

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