Technology was Blogo's enemy again

I was watching the TV show Celebrity Apprentice and observed how the use of Mobile Devices gave the winning team an edge.  The team's project managers were sent on a private jet to find out what their assignment was for this week's episode.  The project manager for the women's team was Selita Ebands, a runway model and the men's team project manager was Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of IL.

Due to the fact that the were not informed of the task when they left, the teams were left to fend for themselves until word came in from the PM what they task was.  Upon finding out what their task was, Selita, sketched a rough drawing of the 3-D Disney display she had in mind for their project, used here phone camera to take a photo and then sent it to the team to print out and get to work.  She also emailed additional details from the phone and computer in order not to have verbal discusssions that might be overheard by her opponant.

Rod on the other hand- is a technology cripple-- unlike our current president who is very tech savvy, this former governor couldn't figure out how to use the phone to make a call let alone send a text or email.

This was a very key factor in why the men's team lost the task.

There are two lesson's here
1- By using mobile devices, teams can learn how to collaborate very effectively and decrease delays in taking action
2- By not teaching people how to use mobile devices properly, it can impact productivity

So when you think about moving into using mobile devices for performance support or as job aids, make sure you provide the users with coaching or hands-on experience on how to use them, not everyone is adept as using the newer technologies but once they see the benefits, they will quickly adapt.

Here's a highlight from the show