Shortcuts To A Better Mouse Trap
There's a little creature that lives in stores, warehouses, offices, and other business places. It's small, but can be quite a nuisance if you aren't careful. In the old days we used to capture and eliminate it from our workplaces, but lately our attitude has changed. It's become a tame pet now, and nearly every worker feels the need to coddle one in her hand while she works. I'm referring of course to the mouse.
With the advent of Windows as the dominant desktop operating system, the mouse found its place in the hearts and minds of knowledge workers everywhere. While this graphical interface and its pet hardware device may have made the computer easier for Bill Gates' grandmother to use, it also began fostering a major obstacle to Technology Fit. It's time we find ourselves some new mouse traps, and start capturing all the lost time this "easy" device has stolen from our bottom lines.
Every Creature Has Its Place
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the mouse has no use in your workplace. Remember how long it used to take to select a word, sentence, or paragraph with the keyboard? Now with just a quick drag or double or triple click, these large screen areas are ready for copy or paste. Graphically intensive programs like Photoshop and CAD applications would be lost without mouse-pointing capabilities.
But don't underestimate the amount of time lost in a day, a week, a month, and a year, simply by moving one's hand from the keyboard to the mouse and back again. If you think I'm just being picky, spend some time watching your workers work.
Back And Forth And Back And Forth
See that secretary entering contact information into the company system using a web form? She reaches for her mouse and clicks into the First Name field, then she types the contact's first name. No problem so far. But instead of pressing the tab key to move to the next box, she reaches away from the keyboard and uses the mouse to move the cursor to the next box. Now she brings her hand back to the keyboard, repositions her fingers on the home row keys, and types the last name. She performs this rodent fixated process through the entire web form, easily adding a couple of unneeded minutes to the entire experience. But her mouse sure feels loved!
Watch while a document is being edited in a word processing program. Information frequently needs to be copied, cut, or moved. But that's what those convenient right click menus are for right? That's what this knowledge worker thinks too. He drags to select the desired text, then right clicks and chooses Copy or Cut from the menu. Then he moves the cursor to where he wants to paste the information. Here he has a choice. Either he right clicks and chooses Paste from the popup menu, or even worse, he moves his mouse pointer up to the toolbar to click the Paste button. Isn't it great we can have such variety in how we do our work these days?
But I Do That Too
You might find yourself thinking, "Wait a minute. What's wrong with that? That's how I do my work every day." If so, you're not alone; this is how most people do their work every day. While "wrong" might be too strong a word, if you're really trying to get the most out of your worker's minutes and hours, using keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-X to cut, and Ctrl-V to paste can trim lots of wasteful time off the process. These shortcuts perform their actions instantly, without multiple mouse clicks and other movements to accomplish such simple tasks.
These examples would be trivial if they were not so prevalent in the workplace. But they only scratch the surface. I suggest that if you find these inefficiencies in your environment, then you need mouse traps for less trivial things as well. I chose these examples because they'll be familiar to most knowledge workers, and I can't know the applications you use in your unique work environment. Most programs have keyboard shortcuts that can trap a mouse's movements and eliminate time nuisance's. By finding these shortcuts and training your staff to use them, you will be well on your way to a more Technology Fit workforce.
Kel Good
MCT, MCITP, MCPD, MCSD for Microsoft.NET
Kel Good is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and Developer who specializes in consulting with business decision makers and managers regarding the
Technology Fit of their organizations.
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