Defending RIM Blackberry Against Productivity 120
Jasksk writes "Is Blackberry causing masses to lose productivity? This article on CoolTechZone.com clears the myth. The author writes, 'Ever since the patent litigation has settled between NTP and RIM, Blackberry has recaptured the headlines, but this time, it's because of the device itself. While numerous users, generally corporate executives, adore the device, the environment surrounding Blackberry isn't too positive. A number of recent reports and columns are portraying Blackberry (and similar solutions) as time wasting, productivity lowering behemoths that don't deserve to exist.'"
Well (Score:5, Funny)
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Re:Well (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Some things need to be answered in real time. For Example: Say you oversee Hazardous waste disposal & need to be notified about stuff. (Is it important to move a cleanup team, or is it a soda spill); Say you run a network with automated email for things going wrong. (server down & you need to call the right person)
2. Some things you just want to keep track of while you are out. You can check them in the taxi on the way back to work. (Client has problem X, if it gets big enough you may have to call - otherwise wait untill you are at the office.)
Not to say that the same dorks who IM everyone at work all day won't waste time on a crackberry, but there are whole classes of people (managers & consultants) who need to keep tabs on stuff when they are away from the office.
Personally, I get a lot of business from email referrals. If I wasn't too cheap to pay for the data line on the phone - it would probably help my business expand faster.
$.02 It's mine and I want it back.
Re:Well (Score:5, Interesting)
In order to prioritise on BB you need to have perfect or nearly perfect mail delivery filters that are guaranteed to be applied prior to the mail being picked up by BES. Not a single one of the corporate email systems officially supported by BES is even close to fitting this description. Exchange has always been a piece of sh** as far as filtering is concerned (regexps in an exchange filter on a custom field anyone?), Lotus is not much better and Group(un)wise is not far off from either one of these.
So in reality you get all of your emails, get distracted, interrupted, your concentration broken and after that you can prioritise.
Err.. No... Thanks... I like to be disturbed only when there is a real emergency. This is best done with an email-to-SMS interface.
First - it is 20+ times cheaper to run per user.
Second - it can be made to rely on a single box to run - the mail server. For comparison, BB in order to operate requires your email infrastructure to run properly, your firewall infrastructure to run properly, the Internet connectivity to run properly, BES to run properly, RIM itself to run properly and the GSM operator internet connectivity to run properly. That is a fat and long bill of materials for an emergency warning system. Definitely too long to my liking.
By the way, out of all obvious targets RIM is the only one yet to be hit with a good oldfashioned DDOS. It will be entertaining to watch the congresscritters jump up and down when it finally happens (provided that you are not the person responsible for running BES in your company).
Re:Well (Score:1)
Re:Well (Score:1)
Re:Well (Score:2)
From there on it of course depends on the cellular working, but after all so does BB. It does not depend on the firewall, it does not depend on a separate BES server, it does not depend on the internet working and it does not depend on RIM being alive and not swamped by a fat DDOS. Exactly as I said.
It took me 40 minutes to write the actua
Re:Well (Score:1)
Technical and restraint issues are not the same (Score:2)
The Technical issues are not that hard, albiet not cheap either. s far as filtering: At least on good, if your exchange account is setup with filter rules and subfolders, so will your goodlink device.
Restraint is the ability to decide not to look at something when there is nothing to do about it. If you have it, having a crack device is not a time waster: This means NOT LOOKING AT EMAIL DURING
Re:Derogatory Name (Score:2)
Further, I will admit that I wish I felt financially secure enough to pay for the wireless service that would make my $400 Palm the equilivant of a blackberry.
My point, responding to the first post
Re:Well (Score:2)
> fitting this description. Exchange has always been a piece of sh** as far as filtering is
> concerned
The BES part of that certainly doesn't fit my experience...
Setting up mail filters in Outlook is a "wizardy" thing designed to allow even idiots to set up mail filters, and no, it doesn't let you do anything too complicated.
However, I've not had a problem with the BES honouring "don't sync this folder" aft
Re:Well (Score:2)
He explicitly told he is not using Exchange, but Exim.
"the carrier's mail-to-sms gateway is up"
He explictly told he is sending SMSs directly from the Exim box through an old celullar connected to the server's serial port.
So: He is avoiding Exchange (quite a clever movement); he is avoiding the email-to-SMS gateway; he is avoiding the local Blackberry server, and he is avoiding the worldwide RIM NOC's.
All of them compl
Re:Well (Score:2)
I'm definitely keeping the BB.
notification; Palm; brand name (Score:2)
I check it from time to time. Some special e-mail notifies, but that's different.
Lots of filtering and prioritizing.
Those people that depend on it as their e-mail readers are idiots.
How is it any WORSE than Palm or any other daytimer device? Or daytime device with e-mail? They're not ratting the blackberry- the solution in general and they're calling it Blackberry. It's like calling inline skates 'Rollerblades' or tissues Kle
Re:Well (Score:2)
Lowering productivity? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:2)
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:2, Informative)
Hell, even before the ubiquitously wired age I once lost an instore commission sales job because I didn't spend my time off the clock just sitting by the landline waiting for them to call me in to fill in for somebody.
Or course I thanked them profusely for letting me go. . .
KFG
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:4, Funny)
That's funny, I thought that's the reason it is popular. What proper capitalist lets his family get in the way of work?
-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:2)
Family?? Which family?? Who are this kids and why do they call me dad?
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:4, Insightful)
The idea that it does is the single greatest idiocy of the modern business age, producing such braindead corollaries as thinking that saving half a second per mouse click actually means you spend 2 more minutes a day doing productive work.
Human productivity is entirely dependant on human factors, not machine factors, and humans are notoriously variable, even chaotic, in their behavior.
At best they get tired, at worst they have this shit called "feelings."
KFG
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:2)
Overworking makes for tired people, tired people make many more bugs than rested people. Bug solving can cost up to 10000x more man-hours that doing it properly in the first place.
(No kidding, bugs that go all the way to prod
Look at me! I'm important! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Look at me! I'm important! (Score:2)
Perhaps a small script which sent 1,000 copies of an email saying 'Put the f!@£ing blackberry away and pay attention,' which could be activated from your mobile / laptop / whatever in meetings is required?
Re:Look at me! I'm important! (Score:1)
Almost all the time when I recieve an email with the "Sent from my Blackberry...." it is in response to something quite inane, and easily could (and probably should) have waited until they were back at the office.
Yes, but maybe people don't really want to have to track you down when they get into the office just to tell you whatever it was. If it is trivial, as you said, then it's better for them to be able to send a message on their way to work (when they have nothing to do), so they can get on with the
Re:Lowering productivity? (Score:1)
1 about every fortnight or so have the battery on your BB give out and then charge it
WITH YOUR BB OFF
2 turn in your employer to OSHA for a workplace hazard (obviously if you have been "on call"/ working for 80+ hours straight its unhealthy)
3 bring you kids to work if you get called when you are doing something with them
(Your subteen daughter is such an angel she wouldn't disturb anything >:-))
Defence? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. People use their Blackberrys too much.
2. People don't need to be on call 24/7.
3. People who do use the Blackberrys alot and are on call all day are workoholics.
So there we have it. *Clearly* a Blackberry makes me a more productive worker because
I really hope the author never has cause to defend me on anything.
cheap shot (Score:2, Funny)
Cmdr Taco! (Score:2)
Re:Defence? (Score:2, Insightful)
Pretty Weak (Score:2)
Re:Pretty Weak (Score:1)
Re:Defence? (Score:2)
"The feeling surrounding the melodrama comes from
It also breeds rudeness (Score:5, Insightful)
They should be totally banned in situations like meetings, or at a grocery.
If i owned a grocery - (Score:2)
And no, ' honey, was that 1 or 2 pounds of burger?' is not an emergency.
Re:If i owned a grocery - (Score:1)
Re:If i owned a grocery - (Score:2)
Re:If i owned a grocery - (Score:2)
Re:If i owned a grocery - (Score:1)
When it comes to cell phones and Treos (sorry, I love the touchscreen) - I try to follow these rules. Why you ask? Well, I see other people doing the opposite and it irks me and many other around me. So to counter that, I try to lead by example.
1) If you are on the cell phone, there is no need to raise your voice 2x as loud than your regular face to face conversations.
2) While WAITING in line, it's okay to b
Re:It also breeds rudeness (Score:1, Funny)
Re:It also breeds rudeness (Score:1)
Quite clearly the terrible articles that Slashdot is linking to recently is retarding people's grammatical abilities.
Maybe there was a Logical Explanation (Score:1)
I can't count the number of times I've called my buddies from the lift to find out where they are, or why in the hell they're missing crazy deep freshies. Now if he had a laptop out and was clacking away, I could understand your dismay, however there could be a perfectly rational, skiing/snowboarding-related explanation for his use of a business tool during a traditionally non-business activity.
You think it's rude to talk to people in public? (Score:3, Interesting)
You are kidding me, right? You don't want me to call my wife while I'm grocery shopping. This is different from me chatting with her in the grocery store? Perhaps you think talking in public is rude and that we should all silently keep to ourselves, heads down, like convicts.
Re:You think it's rude to talk to people in public (Score:2)
Re:You think it's rude to talk to people in public (Score:1)
Well, I think the objection is more to those that call their wives (or whoever) in the grocery and stand there, oblivious to the world around them, as they block aisles and access to other shoppers while they blab away. Then, there's the just plain rudeness of having a high-volume, personal conversation in the middle of a public venue.
Standing off to the side, out of the way of the rest of the shoppers, and placing a quick call to find out what you can substitute for the crimini mushrooms that the store'
Re:You think it's rude to talk to people in public (Score:2)
Re:You think it's rude to talk to people in public (Score:2)
You insensitive clod.. We're not convicts, we're Japanese!
I find them to be distracting... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I find them to be distracting... (Score:2)
Then don't be so boring when you're talking to them! In some meetings, I hope and pray that something comes through on my Blackberry.
Disclosure? (Score:5, Funny)
Shouldn't Slashdot disclose its interest in this story as a rival time wasting, productivity lowering behemoth?
Re:Disclosure? (Score:1)
as a Blackberry admin... (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a certain threshold that exists between productive and slave. Slavery, indentured or not, exists when you are inextricably bound to your employer, and have to respond immediately to his commands, on demand, 24/7. At least in my office, with most of the BB users, that line has been crossed.
From a technology standpoint, Blackberry Enterprise Server isn't really THAT bad, I just wish there would be more QA from RIM's developers. Hotfixes and service packs come out far too often, but at least they are trying.
Re:as a Blackberry admin... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:as a Blackberry admin... (Score:1)
A change of paradigm (Score:2)
It can be a real eye opener when two persons compare their salary and they figure out that the one that has a salary which is 10% higher per-month than the other one, still makes 13% less per-hour since the first one works 10h/day and the other one only works 8.
This even before you take in account that not all hours have the same value for someone - that next hour working after having worked 10
Re:as a Blackberry admin... (Score:1)
Age old case of luser error more than anything else.
Re:as a Blackberry admin... (Score:2)
I have observed that on multiple occasions.
When I roll out an improvement to the antispam systems the BB users complain to the BB admin that the system is broken.
Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:5, Insightful)
The article says that having a BlackBerry means being on call 24/7, which surely must result in a dip in productivity, and annoy your family and friends. The article concludes by saying that people addicted to their BlackBerry are in the advanced stages of workaholism, and that isn't the tools fault.
I am a BlackBerry user, and I can say, without hesitation, that is is a great tool, and depends completely on how you use it. I used to carry a RIM pager and a phone, and am very happy to now have one device. I love having my outlook calendar available easily. It has helped me avoid missing many meetings. Having the ability to read email is nice, as well as get buzzed for high priority issues. Finally, I like the fact that contacts sync with my desktop, and that I can dial a number on the phone that was sent in an email or meeting request.
One major problem is the default configuration for BlackBerries, which buzzes every time a message is received. This invites users to constantly read messages, and become addicted to instantly replying. I turned that feature off in the first two or three days I had mine, and have been much happier since.
Another issue is that reading lots of text on a small screen can be difficult. Sometimes I have problems getting through an email, only to see it later at my desk, and discover it is much easier to read. But this is a convenience versus readability thing.
In all, the BlackBerry is pretty neat tool. It can help people who use it sensibly, and it can cause workaholics to turn into monsters.
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:2)
"Since tier one executives are "required" to be in touch due to the criticality of their professions, no one needs to be on 24/7. It's humanly impossible"
What does that mean? How is "no one needs to be on 24/7 a consequence of executives being required to do something?
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:2)
Want to talk about productivity? Don't waste my time with noise like this. Slashdot editors, your job is to find the important stories, remember? Finding noise is easy.
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:2)
I don't know...I kind of like how the author cunningly used filler and overly descriptive phrases excessively to make for a complicated, yet thoughtlessly provoking, statement of nothingnessnessly:
"Due to this excessive usage, mobile users apparently feel hectically busy and except empathy, while leaving others flamingly frustrated.
Pure art.
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:1)
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:2)
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:3, Insightful)
This leaves me with a device that notifies me of stuff when I want to, gives me the ability to always be in touch (when people pay 7 figures for your software, they expect to have someone they
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:1)
Amen! I'm tired of hearing complaints from people who don't seem to understand that there's an off button.
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:1)
Why not use a phone? Lets look at some of the Nokias, a Nokia 6600, will send emails, it will recieve SMS's, it can make phone calls and keep everything in your Outlook calender folder on itself. Thats all a blackberry does isn't it? Now thats an old phone using two, three year old technology. So why is a blackberry twice its size? You might say for the ke
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:1)
Re:Article Written On a BlackBerry? (Score:1)
Blackberry is part of the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
The funniest thing was when the uber-development boss, who was the worst offender, both in showing up late to meetings and not paying attention, decided that his particular meeting was critical and that laptops, blackberries, etc would be forbidden. Of course, then he pulled out his blackberry at the first meeting.
Re:Blackberry is part of the problem (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Blackberry is part of the problem (Score:3, Insightful)
But Blackberries seem to invite abuse. It's true that people who are jerks (such as my former uber-boss) would be a jerk with any technology, but there were other people who might have paid attention if they didn't have this device strapped to their hips that was constantly bothering them.
Re:Blackberry is part of the problem (Score:2)
Re:Blackberry is part of the problem (Score:2)
Email vs. IM/PushEmail (Score:3, Insightful)
IM on the other hand is much different, because you get the message (if you have your IM turned on) the instant someone sends it. Like a telephone call.
Pushemail is the same. It is more like SMS than email. Many mobile devices also have email now in the traditional sense.
Even though PushEmail is different you still get emails that people send with the email state of urgency in mind. When I need something now I would use a telephone call or an SMS text message or IM. When I write longer messages with lower urgency I use email. I think many people use that the same way. That is why I certainly can see why pushemail could reduce productivity with people on the receiving end that just can't get their priorities straight (I think I would have a hard time keeping myself doing what I was doing when the Blackberry just went off, but I don't own one).
Maybe people should just turn off the push feature.
Re:Email vs. IM/PushEmail (Score:2)
The claim that this is an evolution over POP'ing your mail down from the mail host is ... well ... characteristic of someone who's not used to being informed at his shell prompt that he has new mail waiting over in /var/spool ...
Seriously, now. This is just a pocket-sized mail host. Email has been "pushed" to a remote machine for ages and ages.
In my case, it saves me time...Read on! (Score:4, Informative)
I also like the over-the-air sync'ing of contacts. I care nothing about the rest of the Blackberry specific features, and my particular handheld sucks as a phone. My company is deploying a new model which is suppose to be more phone-friendly. I hope so.
Later,
-Slashdot Junky
Blackberry (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmm
-----------------
Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld
Like we couldn't tell that it was sent from a device on which it is a pain to type! BTW, it was really hard to post this because good old Slashdot couldn't manage to use the "Humor" filter and kept inflicting me with the "lameness" one because of too many junk characters... If only the people sending those inane notes on their Blackberries would encounter that same "lameness" filter!
Outdate Technology... a good user interface! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Outdate Technology... a good user interface! (Score:2)
Blackberries: a management problem! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Blackberries: a management problem! (Score:1)
Re:Blackberries: a management problem! (Score:1)
I work in international shipping. If one of my trucks is on its way to the harbor hours before a deadline and gets a flat tire, I need a replacement truck immediately. If this container misses the boat and the customer
Get Some Sleep! (Score:2)
Displaced blame. (Score:2)
Article reads like a high school essay (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not the BB - it's the meetings (Score:1)
You mean... (Score:2)
You mean, like, say, the Internet?
terse = good (Score:4, Insightful)
Most certainly. (Score:2)
Article is silly... (Score:3, Interesting)
issues.
In the 80's you had to be near a landline phone and only a small
handful of people in academics and the research community used email.
In the 90's if you worked in IT and spent a non-trivial amount of time
on the road or on-call, you had to carry a pocket pager *and* a cell
phone. It wasn't until the late 90's that email became ubiquitous,
and even then it was still limited to 9-5 in the office environment.
In the "00" decade, many different initiatives came along to merge all
that stuff into one thing, so that it's no longer about the device or
the communications medium, it's about just being in communication
period. The Blackberry is simply the most successful example of that.
The real "killer app" aspect of the BB is that you can take all your
possible methods of being interrupted, route them through a single
device, and then turn that device off when you no longer wish to be
interrupted. It gives you the power. What you do with that power is
entirely your choice.
The other killer app is the ability to merge your email and cell phone
address lists and have them update instantly and on-the-fly thru the
wireless network. This is just the fulfillment of "computer-telephony
integration" that we have been promised for the past 20 years. BB was
the first one to make it into a real product that people could benefit
from.
Saying that a new technology invites rude or disruptive behavior is
nothing new. There were many people who thought electric lighting was
evil because decent people should not be working after the sun went
down. That problem won't be going away, unfortunately.
Definitely a time waster (Score:1)
An email summarising some problem would go out to the team and within seconds back would come a one line response from some manager. At first I thought this was great, instant responsiveness and would fire off my own contribution, only to receive another one liner in reply.
It rapidly became clear that the blackberry user was skimming through the emails and not really taking it all in before replying. Several times a veritable showe
Lower productivity. (Score:2)
I want my email read tomorrow, after I have fled the building.
At least I have two good thumbs, even if one is stuck where the sun don't shine.
rather one sided (Score:1)
It's unfortunate that a select few users can't seem to keep their fingers of the device and unnecessarily attend messages when they could be doing something better, but that's not the case. However, it's simply not appropriate to blame the device when it's the user who's clearly the problem.
Bravo. What a bunch of sensationalism crap. At least put some time and effort into the subject matter instead of just slating it. Theres pos
Lack of RFC compliancy (Score:3, Interesting)
I completely get it that the vendors of these devices are trying to keep bandwidth usage to a minimum, and so only allow their client devices to push plain text bits over the wire; however, that is not a good reason to strip everything back to plain text. In my work environment, we mark up email text and rely upon the receiver using an email client that hasn't been completely neutered.
When Blackberries were first introduced, our wireless networks did not have the capacity to push a large volume of rich text email; however, with 3G networks now actively being rolled out there is no longer any business rationale for imposing this limitation.
On a related note: this is yet another example Microsoft continuing to demonstrate their incompetence. In their pursuit of Blackberry's market share, they should have brought full-featured portable email to market. Instead they only just managed---in Mobile Office 5---to produce a client that marginally outperforms the Blackberry client. Bill Gates needs to stop hiring co-op students and hire real developers who can produce full featuerd software.
The problem is lame Micro$oft creativity (Score:2)
Exchange is not just pushing e-mail onto users but it's also pushing the CrackBerry onto addicted executives and politicians. It's s
What is the point of this article? (Score:1)
Poorly written crap (Score:1)
Whatever (Score:2)