Serendipity and Learning

 Yes, the headline is supposed to say Future. But what happens when those who divine the future have no clue about the future? Well, actually most of us don't - but we claim to have clairvoyance.  Every now and then you hear about future of work predictions. Until the last few months none of them had AI anywhere on their list.  And then Chatgpt happened and Bard and Co-pilot demo - and now everybody is singing AI is the future.  Sometimes, it is better to keep your mouth shut rather than open it and remove everyones doubts. 

Recently we were in a discussion about a new tool that was being commissioned. The world of tech tool is such that no tool does everything.  For instance, Outlook (or Gmail) will allow you to send mails, block calendars and mark important mails. But if you want to have a conversation, it has to be on Whatsapp (or some other platform). If you want to conduct performance reviews on Gmail or Whatsapp, good luck with that. Or goal setting for that matter. A learning management system is none of the above. An Excel sheet much less. A social media platform within work or outside work has some intersection with the a few things above, but it is not everything.  This search for a tool that will do everything is a futile one. There is no one thing that will do everything for you.  This is like the search for the mythical monster or the stone that will turn iron into gold. Or that single equation that will solve all of physics.  So, in such a forum, does the tool bake bread is...