I was forwarded a link to an article on SmartPlanet that proposes:
- Dumber decisions are made due to power point, example being the military;
- Officer used to make 2 - 4 decision per day
- Today important decisions are presented in 20 - 60 slides
- Previously decisions were consultative and deliberate vs today's immediate and broadcasted
The use of dot points is a deliberate attempt at irony, not that I've been brainwashed due to years of prepairing and absorbing such presentations.
I really found two points ideas (maybe I have been brainwashed by powerpoint) that stuck with me. The first is from retired Marine Colonel T.X. Hammes lamenting on the use of powerpoint may have resulted in the oversimplification of the issues involved in a decision:
“Bullets are not the same as complete sentences, which require developing coherent thoughts. Instead of forcing officers to learn the art of summarizing complex issues into coherent arguments, staff work now places a premium on slide building,”
The second idea that will stick with me is the effort being placed in powerpoint maybe as much as the effort that used to be placed in making deliberate decisions. So it is possible that we are not gaining efficiency from the powerpoint process. Any efficiency gain is that some lower level staffer can prepare the powerpoint from an outline of an immediate decision, instead of the decision maker spending time considering the matter. Resulting in form of presenting a decision being more important than the function of the decision.
And I'm wondering if Scott Adams read any of the same pieces given his latest comic:
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