The instructor  was speaking to us about how we transitioned between poses and she urged us to do our best to achieve “economy of energy”.  She explained that one of the goals of our yoga practice is to get from one pose to the next in as few movements as possible and with minimal fuss – or as she put it “without extra stuff”.

Image: Senge

The term economy of  energy stuck with me, and thinking about it afterward, it occurred to me that it’s something we should seek in our use of technology.

I am sometimes shocked by the fact that for many organizations, simple tasks often become mind-bending exercises in complexity and wasted energy.

In some cases its because the wrong systems are in place. Either they are too basic and can’t accomplish the necessary tasks, or they far too complex for the work at hand, making them unwieldy and impractical.

In other instances, the right systems are in place, but the human processes being used to manipulate the systems are unnecessarily complicated.

In my mind, the whole point of using technology tools like databases, spreadsheets, e-mail and even social media is that they allow you to do something with more economy of energy. Think about it:

-It takes less energy to share timely information with 5000 people by using  mailing list software to send a newsletter than it would to send e-mails one by one.

-It takes far less energy to pose a question to  500 people by posting it on Twitter or asking them to comment on a blog post than it would to call them individually and ask the question.

-It takes less energy to type information on 150 payments into an accounting system and batch print checks than it would to hand write them.

-It also so takes less time to find a payment made to some last year by typing their name into a search field in your accounting software, than it would to wade through boxes of paid checks.

See what I mean? Economy of energy.

It can be easy to lose sight of the fact that this is really the reason why we all use technology in our organizations. Or at least it should be.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the technology itself that we make it way more complicated than it has to be.

Sometimes we get so caught up in having the latest and the greatest and in doing what everyone else is doing that we wind up making our jobs even harder.

Sometimes we just get stuck in the old familiar comfort of doing things the way we’ve always done them that we don’t see just how inefficiently we’re working.

If  you think about it, any good  technology tool should allow your organization to accomplish the tasks essential to meeting its goals and fulfilling its mission in the least possible steps and with no “extra stuff”.

My yoga class is 90 minutes long.  Using a little economy in your transitions enables you to save as much energy as possible for the real work of the class – holding the poses.  The more energy you have for them the more you are able to hold the poses with maximum effort, focus and calm.

In the same way, a little economy in the use of your technology tools, will allow you to save as much energy of your the real work of your organization – whatever that might be.  The less time you have to spend fussing with cumbersome processes and tools, the more time and energy you have to do your core work with maximum effort, focus and calm.

So when you’re thinking about investing in technology, make sure that you add “economy of energy” to your list of requirements. Yes it’s important to compare costs and features, – but no matter how good the tool or how reasonable the cost, if its making you use more energy to do your work than is necessary, then it may not be as useful as you think.

I am a self-professed geek when it comes to technology and while its true that some things excite me just because they’re bright, shiny and new, what really gets me revved up  is technology which serves a purpose and which I can use to work more efficiently, live more simply and generally improve the quality of my life.  I find that my favorite tools tend to fall into one of three categories:

1. Efficiency: These are all the things which help me organize my life and my work.  They solve problems. They save me time on essential daily tasks, allow me to organize and find information quickly and painlessly, and generally move me closer to  being able to manage and meet the many demands of my life easily and effortlessly.
2. Communication: These tools allow me to be in contact with the people and organizations I care about. They also enable me to meet new people, learn new things and constantly expand my horizons.
3. Passion: These are tools which are related to my favorite hobbies and activities.  They offer new and exciting ways to immerse myself in my many passions while perhaps connecting me with other like-minded people.

There is often overlap as some tools serve multiple functions. Either way I’m a big fan of  “appropriately useful” technology.  Unlike some people I don’t believe that technology is cutting us off from living, simple joyful lives of connection to other people and the natural world. In fact I think that when used the right way technology can actually free us up to spend more time doing just that.  The trick is in consciously selecting tools that work for our lives and offer one or all of the 3 benefits I mentioned.

Today’s Fave Tool is one that I just started using and falls into the efficiency category.

Meet Tungle (www.tungle.com) a nifty website which allows you to schedule meetings without the usual frustrating flurry of back and forth emails and calls  from multiple people trying to find a date and time when everyone is available.

How Tungle Works:  The basics

Go to Tungle.com,  initiate an new meeting, invite people by entering their e-mail addresses, select some proposed times and hit send.

Tungle does the rest. The invitees will receive an e-mail message directing them to a page where they can select which of the proposed times work for them.  Once everyone picks a time, Tungle books the meeting on the date and time which works for everyone.

How Tungle works: The extras

While you can use Tungle without having an account, a nice benefit of an account (which is free) is that you can link it to and synchronize with your calender software. I use Google Calendar, but it also works with Outlook and a couple of other email clients.

When I add an appointment to my calendar and mark it as busy, Tungle automatically marks that time as unavailable.

Likewise, as soon as Tungle successfully books a meeting it immediately enters it into my Google calendar and sends me an email to let me know that the meeting has been successfully booked.

An account also gets you a  Tungle page , which enables other people to view your availability and initiate appointments with you.  Check mine out here.

My conclusion

The best thing about Tungle is that you can book appointments with people regardless of what  email/calendering software they are using . Tungle has simplified the way I make appointments.  I no longer have to spend time wading through e-mails from 4 or 5 people in order to figure out who’s available when.

According to the team at Tungle, scheduling appointments the way most people do requires an average of 7 communications. If you Tungle your appointments instead, the average drops to 1.6 communications. Seems hard to argue with potentially saving the time it would take you to write  5.4 e-mails.

So… are you ready to Tungle?

Learn more

Visit the Tungle website and try it out:

Check out this brief video demo of Tungle to see it in action

I asked her to put the potatoes I had just peeled into a pot – a task which she carried out with great gravity and concentration. When she was done I thanked her for her help, to which she replied:

“I like helping. It’s very fun and I’m doing my job. My job is to be kind and nice and help out.”

Thinking about her lovely philosophy, it occurs  to me that what makes some people wildly successful in the realm of social media is less about their technical expertise and more about their commitment to being helpful. Whether it’s offering advice,  sharing resources or making connections, they too consider it their job to be kind and nice and help out.

I am constantly amazed by this new age of online interaction in which we live. I’m astounded by how easy it is to access the best thinking of smart caring people all over the world, who are unfailingly  generous in sharing their knowledge.

Without ever leaving the house I find myself part of a community of people who in their own unique ways contribute to making a positive impact in their communities, in their sector and in the world. My own knowledge and learning is growing exponentially because of their willingness to share what they know.

People make social media social – and being nice and kind and helpful makes people more likely to appreciate you, respect you and listen to you.

So while there are lots of great tactics and techniques you can and should apply to your use of social media in support of your business or organization, you’ll get a lot further if you remember this golden rule:

Be kind, be nice and help out.

I love Facebook. It is probably my favorite spot on the social web. That’s because it does the best job of enabling me to connect with the people and things I care about online.

I can keep in touch with my favorite cousin in London and my 15 year old nephew in Zimbabwe. I can also keep track of my favorite pastime – reading – using the Living Social application on Facebook. I share my latest reads with friends, see what they are reading and engage in lots of interesting discussions I couldn’t otherwises have, given the fact that many of the folks who share my particular interests  are located all over the globe.

Like I said, people and things I care about.

In spite of my love of FB, I have experienced some frustration when it comes to its privacy settings.  As FB has evolved, so has my (and others’) use of it. When I first joined the network 3 years ago, it was so I could keep in touch with a few old friends from college. Privacy settings were not an issue for me then.

Now my use of it is dramatically different. In addtion to friends and family, I also keep in touch with  clients and organizations and businesses I support. As the demographic profile of FB users changes, seemingly overnight, so does the range of people and organizations I want and need to connect with.

This is great, but do I really want to share the same things with all the same people? For me the answer is a resounding NO!

Not every status update/video/link/comment I share with my college friends is appropriate to share with my nephew.  I would never have certain conversations while he was present, so why would I want to share those things with him online? The same is true of my family and my clients. Do the clients I happen to be friends with via FB need to know the details of the latest family news? I think not.

This has been an issue for many of the other 349 million people on FB and I’m glad that the FB team is listening to the many requests for improvements in this area.

The new changes seem to promise an easier way to control who  gets to see the content I post. To quote Mark Zuckerberg’s post:

“We’re adding something that many of you have asked for — the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload.”

Easier Privacy

In addition to the ability to modify privacy on idividual pieces of content, the email promise a simpler way to modify privacy settings. It took me a while to figure out how to tailor my privacy settings and I know that for people who spend even less time in the network than I do, it is particularly challenging.

When I teach introductory social media or FB workshops, I share with participants the fact the FB  allows users to create custom groupings of friends and assign them different privacy settings. For many people this is a revelation of dramatic proportions. I’ve had  a number of people share that their fear of having everyone have access to everything they post has been the one thing holding them back from joining and using FB.

Yes, privacy changes  and user lists have been present for a while, but I don’t think they have been easy to modify and many people new to FB  have no idea this is even an option.

I’m hoping that the new changes to the privacy page  are really easier and allow people to connect and share in ways that make them more comfortable.

I for one am really excited to test drive these change and see if it allows me the flexibilty I crave in controlling access to my FB content.

This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of creative possibilities made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man – if man is not enslaved by it.
~Jonas Salk

It’s been a long time coming, but finally the Conscious Technology website is live! Yay!

First things first, let me introduce myself. My name is Sue Nyoni, and earlier this year I began a technology consulting practice after spending 11 years working as an IT manager.  (Check out my About page for my full bio.)

I was so fortunate that my first job out of college was in the philanthropic sector. It enabled me to observe up close the work of some amazing non-profits organizations and the passionate people who run them.  These folks believe in and work towards making change happen. I discovered that I loved to find technology solutions which supported the world-changing work of my colleagues. This is a core component in my approach to my work – the appropriate use of technology in support of mission and values, not just for its own sake!

Yes, I love technology and I often get excited about gadgets and software platforms, but I get even more excited when these tools can be used in the service of positive,  meaningful, transformative work. I care far less about technology than I do the positive ways it can support our individual and communal lives when used right.

My approach to technology is to focus on people. I do my best to support my clients in making technology decisions which support what is most important to them. I believe that when used consciously and appropriately technology can be a powerful tool which enhances our ability to connect, communicate and collaborate on a very real, human level. For me the conscious use of technology is about making sure that we are not enslaved by it, but rather that we use it to support our contributions to solving problems, helping each other and improving the quality of life for ourselves and everyone in our local and global communities.

In the short time I’ve been consulting, I’ve already made some amazing connections with some of the coolest individuals on the planet.

What you can expect from the Conscious technology blog

Most of the people I work with don’t want me to explain the technical ins-and outs of technology to them.

- They don’t want to become technology experts;

-They want me to help them identify tools that will help them do what they do easier/better/faster/more efficiently;

- They want to know how they can spend more time on what they care about and less time being frustrated by technology;

-  They want to find more ways to connect and communicate with other people who care about the same things;

-  They do NOT need me to come in and dazzle them with techno-babble. Instead they need me to explain how technology tools can support their lives and and their work.

The same kind of support I bring to my clients is what I intend to offer through this site.

It’s my intention to share information and resources in a way that is useful without being overwhelming. I’m not going to write in-depth technical articles. There are lots of awesome blogs that do this.  This is not going to be one of them.  I follow a lot of these blogs and I’m sure I’ll mention them from time to time and point you in their direction if you decide you want to know more.  Some of the areas I’ll focus on include:

• Personal Technology: how you can use technology tools in your personal life in order to organize and simplify, allowing you to spend more time on what you care about
• Non-profit technology: my thoughts on how nonprofits can use technology to further their impact and to respond to the challenging times many of them are now facing
• Social media: my thoughts on how social media is changing our world and how this impacts both individual and collective lives
• Global-tech: reflections on the global impact of new technologies, particularly given the fact that access to technology is not equal and there is still a huge divide between technology haves and have-nots
• My favorite things: I’ll share some examples of how I use my favorite technology tools and gadgets to support my own life and work

I’m excited by the possibilities and look forward to more – more connecting, more learning, and more growth. So I invite you to connect with me and stay in touch.

You to subscribe to receive my latest blog  posts by e-mail or RSS.

You can also reach me through the Contact page.

Sue