@ the speed of Thought

“To function in the digital age, we should develop a new digital infrastructure. It should be like the human nervous system. Organizations need to have that same kind of nervous system--the ability to run smoothly and efficiently, to respond quickly to emergencies and opportunities, to quickly get valuable information to the people who need it, the ability to quickly make decisions.”
This is an extract from the book “Business @the speed of Thought” written by Mr. Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft and one of the great pioneers of this century. In this book he has envisaged a world where digital tools will be used to reinvent the way we work and where information flow will be as fast as thought in a human being. With the proven might of internet and the concept of digital money, we are very well able to appreciate his vision and foresightedness.

Gone are the days when slow and steady used to win the race. And if you are so impressed by the rabbit-tortoise tale, let’s sign a bet and we’ll have a race again. Believe me, the rabbit will not be a fool to sleep this time. In fact he won’t even think of the tortoise being somewhere in the race. He will run even faster to beat his own previously set record. So, this is the new story my friend. Even those who are at the top are busy competing with themselves and setting better and finer records. They are expeditious and obsessed with “Speed” like Mr. Gates.

The theory was very pleasing to my mind and I got completely overwhelmed. I do not know whether I exhibited a keen discernment to the theory or not but I too started fantasizing speed. How cool would it be if according to Einstein’s theory of relativity we could convert ourselves to energy, travel at the speed of light and then again convert ourselves to the same mass? In practically no time, we could travel anywhere on this earth. But wait a minute… Speed of thought is a higher metric than the speed of light. We can reach the planets millions of light-year away in a matter of second with the speed of thought. And it’s not just this definition of speed that we are talking of. Speed is an evaluation parameter associated with most of the events around us. It has always been an ardent desire of the human race to defy time and one of the proposed solutions is “Speed” – the effective utilization of each unit of it. The world is not just about achieving something; it’s about achieving something fast. It’s not just about getting things done; it’s about getting things done fast. And look, we have started realizing our desires come true. We can do so many things at the click of a mouse.

After so blissfully attaining this enlightenment, I started having problem with so many things around me which were slow, dull and dumb and which in my honest opinion did not deserve to be where they were. I mean, how could I travel eight kilometers from my home to Microsoft campus in a “Vikram” which looked to me like an excellent museum quality material? And how could it take a train 40 hours (best case) to make me reach my hometown which is good enough time for Britney Spears to last a marriage. And how could downloading with a BSNL connection be so slow? And how could trains be so late and traffic is so busy? Don’t they have any respect for time? Can’t they just “speed up” to meet the standards?

On Thursday, Feb 14, 2008, when roses and cards were abounding all around with no one for me to give one to, when couples were flaunting their mutual bliss in dimly-lit restaurants, when love-birds were holding hands and showing affection in parks and by the lake-side on the eve of “Valentine Day” … I received a mail which was a reply to my progress report to my senior team lead. It read “The target end date was 5th Feb. It’s slipped by almost 7 days. Moving Forward, I would like to see upfront notification if there is any slippage in task” ….. And I felt like replying …..Come on! You got to be kidding me. How can you be so serious? It’s just 7 days. I didn’t use to finish my projects till one night before my demo in college days and never did it happen that I was asked for one single explanation. And it’s not that I was sleeping all this time or playing soccer or watching movies like I used to do at IIIT, my beloved college. I just couldn’t “speed-up”. Oh …. Stop! Did I mention “speed”?