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I have a confession. I was very excited when the pandemic forced the planet into an era of remote work.
I used to feel a fair bit of stress about having an office, even though our office was amazing, and I loved the team of people I worked with. My stress was self-induced guilt that I needed to put in face-time, even if I didn't need or want to be there. When I had to leave to drive kids to a medical appointment or a sports practice, I felt guilty leaving the office while everyone else was still there and worried that I might be judged.
And from my various experiences as an employee over my career, I never liked having to put in face-time for a boss, too. I wanted to be valued for the work I contributed and not the hours I spent at a desk.
I had dreamed of remote work ever since reading the book Remote by the founders of Basecamp. So when the entire world was forced to quickly pivot to remote work, my panic about the pandemic was also met with a tinge of excitement about being able to work from home and embrace digital collaboration tools.
Post-Pandemic Shifts
Four years later, I have a new point of view.
Some things have not changed: I still don't want to clock in and out at an office every day. I still use the digital collaboration software day-to-day.
However, there have been two massive shifts.
1. I want to collaborate in person with passionate, creative people.
2. I have embraced the power of analog in many areas of my life, but especially in creative work and problem solving.
Both of these come together beautifully in the process of doing strategy work. When Jenny Ouano, Debi Coll, and I decided to start the Department of Differentiation, we instantly agreed that client strategy work needed to be in person and analog, with lots of Post-it notes, whiteboards, and dry-erase markers. Jenny might be the most passionate white-board advocate I’ve ever met, and her zeal convinced us all to double down on it.
I cannot overstate how transformational it has been - for results and for personal enjoyment - getting to spend two full days with clients in an analog environment. There is real, tangible value and impact created by putting screens and phones down and capturing thoughts on whiteboards and post-its. It's not just the magic of having to physically write down the ideas, but it's having those ideas visible to everyone the whole time that conjures more creative idea-building, pattern recognition, and unseen opportunities.
Analog isn’t the only secret ingredient. It's also having real people locked in a room together for an extended period of time. It's a diversity of personalities, voices, experiences, and expertise colliding with full engagement. It's feeling creative energy and passion in the room. It's the magical mix of very experienced people who are very close to a problem and distanced third parties who see problems differently because they aren't experienced in that area.
Another magic element of in-person strategy sessions is access to long stretches of uninterrupted thinking time. No one can stand being on a video call for more than an hour, let alone back-to-back eight-hour days in a row. Being in a room with others allows some serious time for curiosity, questions, and exploration. In-person, you get to explore ideas at depths not otherwise possible.
Every time we spend a couple of days in a strategy session, there have been big aha moments in the room. I can confidently say that these would not have happened on Zoom or in Slack or in a Google Doc.
Analog is Back!
It's not just me, either. Author David Sax has written a fascinating book about the power of analog. More and more people are embracing Bullet Journals, Morning Pages, and all sorts of other paper notebooks. And personally, I just succumbed to "analog tech FOMO"...
I recently had four separate people, unprompted, rave about their reMarkable writing tablets and I just ordered one. It promises nothing except writing and reading. No apps, no browsers, no email, no texts. Just uninterrupted writing and reading with a pen and a surface that appears to be almost exactly like paper. I could have ordered a keyboard with it, but I am going to stick with just the pen. I want to write with my hand. I know when I physically write, ideas flow out of me, better connections are made, and better solutions to problems emerge.
Results + Fun
Ultimately, this all boils down to two things for me: quality of thinking and enjoyment.
Writing helps me think. Despite my natural urge to type because it's faster and more efficient, I know my thinking is better when I do it by hand. And I know my thinking is better when I have more time. The thinking is exponentially better when there are diverse, creative brains in the room, and when everyone can physically see the thinking on a wall for two whole days.
On the enjoyment side, it's a no-brainer. I did not realize how much I missed collaborating in-person with others. Being in an analog room with others has been a source of joy and energy. There's nothing quite like it.
(Also, I'm thrilled that our new Differentiation business is differentiating itself in part by this focus on IRL analog collaboration.)
The Most Unusual Analog Collaboration?
And finally, I can't NOT mention this because it makes me laugh every time I think about it.
I must give an analog shout-out to my parents. Our extended family has a group Wordle chat where everyone posts their results every day with some sort of snarky comment or joke. My parents do Wordle together as a team every day... and they do it in a very unusual way.
They do Analog Wordle and figure out their guesses on Post-it notes before putting them into Wordle. I almost died laughing when I first saw this, but today, I give them credit for being bold analog leaders.
How have your preferences for digital and analog or remote vs IRL changed in the last few years? Have you prioritized in-person work or analog work in any ways that have made a big impact for you and others?
What’s Earned My Attention Lately
The end of TikTok? - As someone who became somewhat obsessed with TikTok during the pandemic, this article from the NYT resonated a lot with me. The sameness of the algorithmic suggestions leaves me with less surprise and delight and I’m using it far less than I used to.
How to build your brand - A very smart HBR article about why focusing on brand is smart and how to make it deliver results. It’s all in the promise. “Creating and executing on a customer promise is an act of strategy making. It defines where the company will play and how it will win.” (H/T Carolyn Walker at Response)
Behind the Partake non-alcoholic beer brand - Speaking of great brands, great stories, and unique promises, I was thrilled to see this short article about Partake Brewing from C-Suite Content. I’ve been a customer for a few years and didn’t know they were getting this much traction!
I largely agree with this perspective but maybe the answer is even simpler than this.
As humans, we always want the "other thing", what we don't have.
If we have analog we want digital, and if we have digital we want analog...
Endless loop.