XKCD had a great chart a while back (when is XKCD not great?) that diagrammed how much effort one should make for payoff in reduced time completing a repetitive task.
I often act completely against this logical and illustrated rule of thumb. I will try lots of stuff and generally bend over backwards to improve technical tasks.
For instance, last year I worked for *days* trying to set up an easy way for students to upload their assignments directly to the 209 course page. Another example: in the past, I’ve tried dozens of different ways to schedule advising meetings.
However, the results of each were very different. My uploading solution is one I still really like, and I intend to keep using it for a good long while. Did it save me any time? Well, maybe if I’m still using the same mechanism in 10 years or so. Otherwise, the time to set it up more than offset the time I’m saving sifting through student emails.
On the other hand, the advising signup options I found online all failed in one way or another. They were too obscure, or required sign-in, or didn’t allow for rescheduling, or didn’t integrate with my site, or any number of other technical issues. But the main thing I discovered, after wasting an embarrassing amount of time on this quest, is that the signup sheet on my door was a better option. After all: preservation majors basically live in Combs Hall; asking them to take two steps to put their name on my door is no hardship.
To go back to the XKCD chart, I think it’s lacking a few important dimensions*, at least for profs. It’s not just about saving time. It’s also about ease of use and availability. Much as students are often romanticized as tech gurus (mostly owing to their age, flip-flops, hoodies, and cell phones), many of them are not familiar or confident with all sorts of web tools. I can’t tell you how often I’ve had a students ask how to PDF a document, or how many students aren’t familiar with Google Calendar or other such web services I take for granted. Adding more hoops to jump through is unsporting. On the other hand, when the technology is unobtrusive and the steps to take obvious, then it reduces worry and increases confidence.
The point of technology, in other words, isn’t necessarily to make things quicker, but to make them easier. I have to keep repeating this to myself when I spend hours or days smoothing edges that won’t really save time.
* Yes, I’m sure Munroe didn’t have this in mind when he drew that comic, so a completely unfair critique. To be clear: XKCD is the bomb, and everyone should read it.