SHOOT FROM THE HIP

After teasing me last week for my experiment in abstaining from SmartPhone usage during meetings and lunches, A Squared Group has decided to conduct a second experiment, on a much grander scale. The team will attempt to curb our enthusiasm for emailing and texting each other at all hours. We are a passionate group, we get excite by what we do, see and learn, and we like sharing it with each other, in the office and out. Sometimes, though, we can get a little overexhuberant. That’s where The Pain Scale comes in.

Before you start picturing some weighing-and-measuring torture contraption of Herculean proportions, let me assure you that The Pain Scale is actually designed to streamline communication. Or, at least, that’s how we’ll be using it.

It was actually devised to assist with pediatric protocols. Created by Dr. Donna Wong and Dr. Carol Baker, and known in the medical community as the Faces Pain Scale, it is commonly used to help children communicate their physical and emotional pain.

At A Squared Group, however, we’ll employ this visual barometer to determine whether to hit send.

This experiment will run through the summer and should be a fun challenge for all of us here at A Squared Group. As an added incentive to change our wayward ways, we’ve also come up with a prize. If the whole team follows The Pain Scale correctly, for an entire month, we’ll earn half-day Fridays during the following month.

We’ll let you know how it goes!

As I sat at my window enjoying a break from the Southern California June Gloom and reading The New York Times this past weekend, I was struck by Alex Williams’ OpEd about BlackBerry etiquette. In it, he discusses the dilemma that many executives face about when and when not to pull out their BlackBerry. It got me thinking – when is it okay to bring this cute little third party (ie. my BlackBerry) into the conversation, personal or professional?

We, as a culture, addressed a similar dilemma as cell phones became ubiquitous a few years back. Companies issued policies regarding cell phone usage. Restaurants resorted to putting up “no cell phones” signs at their entrances. Meetings, meals and movies all began with a reminder to “turn off your cell phone.”

But BlackBerries, and their ilk, are a different beast. They live on even after the phone ringer has been turned off. They bring the world to our fingertips, and we have now become used to having the world there. As have our clients.

We, as a culture, have grown accustomed to having access to anything, anywhere, at any time. We like it that way.

Multi-tasking is no longer considered a special skill, but rather a requirement for navigating our 3.0 world. Who, while in a meeting, hasn’t felt the lure of accessing instant brainstorming aids with the help of Google, ordering lunch without breaking the flow of conversation, approving that important document so it can be sent out as soon as it is ready?

Is this efficiency or rudeness?

What happens if we miss hearing that point our colleague is making because our fingers are clacking away on QWERTY, or fail to see the excitement on our customer’s face because our heads are turned to our glowing mini-screens? No one wants that.

So where, exactly, is that line between sane, productive usage and the disruptive behavior of BlackBerry addiction?

This week, I went in search of an answer to that question. I decided to put my BlackBerry away during all meetings and all lunches, business and otherwise. It was a little terrifying at first, to be perfectly honest. No internet, no email, no texting, no Twitter, for hours on end sometimes.

What I discovered surprised me… Conversations went into unexpected directions. Challenges were given room to breathe. And I found myself IN THE MOMENT. All while the BlackBerry remained in its little pocket, left out of the mix.

Does this mean I am abandoning my BlackBerry? Absolutely not. I’m simply embracing BALANCE. It’s a solution that works for me.

Tell me, what works for you?