Dix outils de travail indispensables (anglais)

Dix outils de travail indispensables (anglais)

The Ten Most Important Tools For Work
Dan Frommer

It’s not called the information age for nothing. When we think of work today, we think of one thing: the computer. Right?

Maybe not. In an admittedly informal, unscientific poll attached to a recent special report, Forbes.com readers say the most important tool they use at work is as manual as it gets: the writing implement. Of 25 potential choices, ranging from a cash register to a shovel, 1,350 respondents through May 15 said their most important work-related tool is a pen or pencil. That's 15% of the more than 9,200 submissions, and the most popular response by more than 100 votes.

"Some people have called the pencil the original word processor," says Henry Petroski, engineering professor at Duke University and author of The Pencil. "It has all the functions of a computerized word processor: input point, output point, delete point--the eraser--and so forth."

And it's convenient, adds Petroski, whose current stylus of choice is a Pentel mechanical pencil with 0.5-millimeter, refillable lead. "You don't have to worry about whether the battery will run out, and you don't have turn it off on an airplane."

But in the age of the BlackBerry, when an untethered keyboard jockey can access the Internet, e-mail and a game of solitaire from virtually anywhere, what's the pencil doing as the most important tool--without so much as a microprocessor?

"There was talk that when computers and e-books came in, it would be the downfall of the book," Petroski says. "But it hasn't happened. Paper hasn't become obsolete either. The pencil and pen are essential to copy down what's on your screen."

To be fair, the PC wasn't a poll option by itself, to the chagrin of Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) fans, Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) bashers and the Dell-devoted. But calling the computer a single tool is like calling a Swiss Army knife a penknife. Readers could select several components of a modern, Internet-connected workstation: e-mail, instant messenger, software and the Web. And in total, computer-based tools scored about 35% of all votes.

Surprisingly, the iconic stapler tied for last on our list. The classic Swingline proudly graces millions of the world's desks and had a starring role in Office Space, the 1999 cubicle-farm lampoon. Yet the stapler scored just 22 votes in our poll, less than 1% of all responses--tying for last place with the lowly highlighter.

"It's one of those products that you need and you expect it to work, but it's not something that you give a whole lot of thought to," explains Jackie Gyoerkoe, director of marketing for stapling at Swingline, an Acco (nyse: ABD - news - people ) brand. "The times that you give it thought are when it doesn't perform for you."

Gyoerkoe says that business is great and that innovation is coming in the form of staplers that don't jam and better automatic staplers. And despite its drubbing in our poll, she says the stapler is still an office supply that workers are passionate about protecting. "I can't tell you how many offices put a possession mark on their stapler, whether someone writes their name on it or chains it to their desk."

Click here for the ten most important tools for work. then click Next

source : www.forbes.com

Knadienment
Taurus

thank you taurus,

Cordialement,
Noureddine