Virtual and On-Line Are As
Superfluous As Horseless and Electric
I think “virtual team” is rapidly becoming redundant: just as “horseless carriage” became car I think “virtual team” will become just team. Most project teams will have a virtual component (e.g. on-line workspace, chat histories) and geographically remote members, if only to involve suppliers, partners, and customers more seamlessly.
More broadly I think that virtual and on-line are fast becoming as superfluous as adjectives like horseless and electric.
Certainly virtual in the sense of simulated or on-line is losing meaning as cyberspace everts and interpenetrates our daily life. On-line constructs are intertwined with “real life” to the extent that on-line and connected is our default waking state.
Other Pervasive Transformations Like Electric
The first sentence of “What Matters in Digital Health Now” is “Australia’s Healthcare industry players are not wasting a crisis in the goal of achieving much needed digital transformation.” I have two observations:
- Those who don’t “let a crisis go to waste” tend to be more interested in dictating outcomes than listening and negotiating shared value.
- Digital is like electricity, a pervasive platform. The real question is,”What is the value you are providing?” Not, “Is it digital?”
I agree with her observation that “digital” is like any large scale transformation, and at this point is probably a pleonasm (think “horseless”) when attached to a change effort.
Related
2020 may make “distance learning” a pleonasm.
Horseless Carriage -> Car (first industry trade journal was called “Horseless Age”).
Other examples:
Filmless camera -> digital camera -> camera
cellphone / smart phone -> phone