The PC is Dead! Long Live the PC!

I am growing weary of the debate around BYOD and the "death" of the personal computer. So let's get a couple myths out of the way.

Myth 1 - My company will not support BYOD
1) If you have carried any computing device (including your smartphone) not provided by your company into your workplace and used it for any purpose, including personal tasks, you have participated in the BYOD conspiracy. You used your own device to accomplish something. Did your company complain?

Myth 2 - Personal Computers are going away
2) Personal computers are not dead. They are changing to much smaller form factors.

We are in the age of decline of the "tower style" PC. You just don't see them in the quantity you did five years ago. Why? A good chunk of the workforce became in someway mobile with a need to do things anytime, anywhere. Either a worker indicated they needed to "be more productive" by taking their PC with them or did they con their boss because they wanted a laptop because it was the hot new thing?

The "hot new thing" rule applies to BYOD. Most of the "technical" folks I interact with simply indicate BYOD is a fad and will pass. I don't get the same vibe out of the CIO/decision makers I interact with. All the CIOs I have discussed this with say virtually the same thing: a) we don't have the funding we use to have b) I need my teams to be productive regardless where they are c)  I don't know that I care what my teams use to get the job done as long as they get done things done on time, under budget, and meet the customer's needs and d) we cannot stay in the same operational mode we are in today. Based on the divergence of these two conversations it makes me wonder if the technical folks ever talk with the CIO and vice versa.

I don't feel that BYOD is a hot new thing. It is here and we are in that innovator/early adopter stage. The innovators and early adopters will always find things that make them stand out, methods that seem to come from the future, ways to challenge the status quo. But as long as we have the late majority and laggards, we will debate things like BYOD and the death of the PC. 

The problem is that we spend too much time talking/debating and it seems to come from those in the early/late majority and laggard stage. Why are we fascinated with defending our "position"? Or are we fascinated with keeping the job we currently have? If the later, why?

It's time to move forward folks. The reality is that some of our workers are going to do things that are "outside the box". Don't think so? Check out this article. We will start doing the things that we are great at and "outsource" the things we don't do well or don't see value in doing. (Trust me on this, my son is trying to figure out how he can get someone else to collect the trash from the bins in our house and still get the allowance for "getting the job done".) 

Do I care if you do your work on a desktop computer or a tablet? Do I care if you use your tablet or the one I provide you with if you get the job done? Only if I'm trying to maintain the status quo.

The day is coming where computer will be on us, in us and apart of us. The time is now to stop the debates and start figuring out how to adapt.