What actually is technology? The answer is remarkably simple but at the same time incredibly mind-bending: it’s any systematic, replicable means by which humans solve problems or improve efficiency.
Unfortunately (for the purpose of my argument here, and indeed, generally!), when we use the word “technology” today, the vast majority of people assume we’re only talking about computers (hardware and software), cutting-edge machinery or infrastructure, or biological and chemical manipulations. In other words, futuristic, shiny, sci-fi-adjacent stuff, and especially anything with “AI” attached. If it’s not new it’s generally ignored. If it’s not “techie” it’s generally discounted.
The “Lindy Effect” & long-term technology
The Lindy Effect essentially states that the longer a non-perishable item (physical or conceptual) has been around, the longer it’s likely to persist into the future. Recognisable variations of coffee shops will be more likely to be commonplace in 2075 than cup-cake or macaron outlets are to even exist; pens and books will be dramatically more likely to survive into the next century than Facebook and Twitter/X (thank goodness!) or even laptop computers. Christianity, Islam and Buddhism will outlast Goop (sorry, Gwyneth!), Nike and General Motors.
Some of today’s most important technologies can be traced back to the Renaissance, the Agricultural Revolution, or even the Stone Age. But they are so integrated into our habitual lives that we don’t think of them as “tech”. Cooking with fire is an obvious example, but language, social norms and cultural practices, negotiation and conflict resolution are also numbered amongst the most ancient technologies. Money and trade systems, mathematics and logic, legal, bureaucratic and governance models came later, but still centuries or millennia ago.
Other hugely influential technologies include religions and philosophical systems, economic and education systems, and even timekeeping (which is foundational for everything from ancient agricultural organisation to GPS accuracy on our iPhones).
The Association as Technology
Perhaps one of the greatest technological inventions of all time is the association itself! And like many of the ancient techs mentioned above, it emerged bottom-up rather than top-down, honed into today’s easily-identified conceptual models via decades of trial and error, as individuals recognised their common interests and purpose, and systemised repeatable processes for achieving these goals. The first founders of associations didn’t imagine they were creating a technology, their focus was on a purpose that could only be advanced collectively, but that is indeed what they created!
The association today is incredibly complex. It has a myriad of moving parts that generate (useful and non-useful!) friction as well as momentum, is a generator and transformer of intellectual energy; it is a filtration system and multi-layered research lab, and most importantly, can convert all this complexity into common purpose and societal advancement.
The association-as-technology gives us a powerful model for maximising impact and measuring success, for understanding efficiency (and why redundancy is so critical!), and for working out how other technologies (including shiny, new AI and its friends) can be successfully integrated.
Practical advice: nuts & bolts
Every new technology you purchase and plug in will influence and change most or even all of your association-machine’s operating system processes. Think about impacts on culture and power-relationships, about unintended consequences in far-distant parts of your organisation, and potential overloading on key joints and pressure points.
Communication is critical: it is the circulation system that keeps association systems lubricated. Board, CEO and management team, frontline operators, back-office administrators: comms failures between or within any of these are the primary causes of new technology adoption catastrophes!
Redundancy is another commonly-overlooked new-tech adoption point-of-failure. It isn’t enough that your latest technology improves overall efficiency, it should take care not to eliminate essential redundancy. We saw the macro-version of the dangers of over-efficiency and lack of redundancy when global supply chains creaked and cracked wide-open during the pandemic. Always invest in back-up systems and think through alternative solutions and a wide range of scenarios, before eliminating all but a single solution.
This article is written under a partnership between Boardroom and Global Association Hubs – Brussels, Dubai, Singapore and Washington DC – which are committed to building innovative partnerships with international associations, and to creating opportunities for the discussion of key strategic association issues such as this.
Maybe your AI-implementation enables you to release a couple of long-serving staff from the marketing department: is it possible that most of that department’s mission-critical institutional knowledge walks out the door with them, leaving you to set up the AI with avoidable in-built weaknesses? Don’t undervalue or ignore the tacit knowledge within your teams.
The list-price of new technology is always only the starting point. It never addresses the cost of changes that need to be made throughout the association in order to fully integrate, implement and deeply understand the implications of the changes. Much of that cost is the opportunity-cost of diverting management and operational time away from other functions. The value of time is almost never accurately calculated in associations’ budgetary thinking.
Finally, remember that your association machine, as well as being immensely powerful is also fragile: it needs careful, mindful nurturing. And, as with AI, much of what goes on inside the association’s “black box” is essentially unknowable. We can view the outcomes, but the algorithm that determines the relationships, interactions and information exchanges between thousands of members contains many mysteries. Respect the long-standing culture and traditions within your association: these non-techie technologies may be doing a lot more work than you imagine!
What actually is technology? The answer is remarkably
simple but at the same time incredibly mind-bending: it’s any systematic, replicable
means by which humans solve problems or improve efficiency. Unfortunately (for the purpose of my argument here,
and indeed, generally!), when we use the word “technology” today, the vast
majority of people assume we’re only talking about computers (hardware and
software), cutting-edge machinery or infrastructure, or biological and chemical
manipulations. In other words, futuristic, shiny, sci-fi-adjacent stuff, and
especially anything with “AI” attached. If it’s not new it’s generally ignored.
If it’s not “techie” it’s generally discounted. The “Lindy Effect” & long-term technologyThe Lindy Effect
essentially states that the longer a non-perishable item (physical or conceptual) has been around, the longer it’s likely to persist into the future. Recognisable variations of coffee shops will be more
likely to be commonplace in 2075 than cup-cake or macaron outlets are to even
exist; pens and books will be dramatically more likely to survive into the next
century than Facebook and Twitter/X (thank goodness!) or even laptop computers.
Christianity, Islam and Buddhism will outlast Goop (sorry, Gwyneth!), Nike and General
Motors. Some of today’s most
important technologies can be traced back to the Renaissance, the Agricultural
Revolution, or even the Stone Age. But they are so integrated into our habitual
lives that we don’t think of them as “tech”. Cooking with fire is an obvious
example, but language, social norms and cultural practices, negotiation and
conflict resolution are also numbered amongst the most ancient technologies. Money
and trade systems, mathematics and logic, legal, bureaucratic and governance
models came later, but still centuries or millennia ago. Other hugely
influential technologies include religions and philosophical systems, economic
and education systems, and even timekeeping (which is foundational for
everything from ancient agricultural organisation to GPS accuracy on our
iPhones).
The Association as TechnologyPerhaps one of the greatest technological inventions
of all time is the association itself! And like many of the ancient techs
mentioned above, it emerged bottom-up rather than top-down, honed into today’s
easily-identified conceptual models via decades of trial and error, as
individuals recognised their common interests and purpose, and systemised repeatable
processes for achieving these goals. The first founders of associations didn’t
imagine they were creating a technology, their focus was on a purpose that
could only be advanced collectively, but that is indeed what they created! The association today is incredibly complex. It has a
myriad of moving parts that generate (useful and non-useful!) friction as well
as momentum, is a generator and transformer of intellectual energy; it is a
filtration system and multi-layered research lab, and most importantly, can
convert all this complexity into common purpose and societal advancement.
The association-as-technology gives us a powerful model for maximising impact
and measuring success, for understanding efficiency (and why redundancy is so critical!),
and for working out how other technologies (including shiny, new AI and its
friends) can be successfully integrated. Practical advice: nuts & boltsEvery new technology you purchase and plug in will influence
and change most or even all of your association-machine’s operating system
processes. Think about impacts on culture and power-relationships, about
unintended consequences in far-distant parts of your organisation, and
potential overloading on key joints and pressure points. Communication is critical: it is the circulation
system that keeps association systems lubricated. Board, CEO and management
team, frontline operators, back-office administrators: comms failures between
or within any of these are the primary causes of new technology adoption
catastrophes!
Redundancy is another commonly-overlooked new-tech adoption point-of-failure. It
isn’t enough that your latest technology improves overall efficiency, it should
take care not to eliminate essential redundancy. We saw the macro-version of
the dangers of over-efficiency and lack of redundancy when global supply chains
creaked and cracked wide-open during the pandemic. Always invest in back-up
systems and think through alternative solutions and a wide range of scenarios,
before eliminating all but a single solution. Maybe your AI-implementation enables you to release a
couple of long-serving staff from the marketing department: is it possible that
most of that department’s mission-critical institutional knowledge walks out
the door with them, leaving you to set up the AI with avoidable in-built
weaknesses? Don’t undervalue or ignore the tacit knowledge within your teams.
The list-price of new technology is always only the starting point. It never
addresses the cost of changes that need to be made throughout the association
in order to fully integrate, implement and deeply understand the implications
of the changes. Much of that cost is the opportunity-cost of diverting
management and operational time away from other functions. The value of time is
almost never accurately calculated in associations’ budgetary thinking. Finally, remember that your association machine, as
well as being immensely powerful is also fragile: it needs careful, mindful
nurturing. And, as with AI, much of what goes on inside the association’s
“black box” is essentially unknowable. We can view the outcomes, but the
algorithm that determines the relationships, interactions and information
exchanges between thousands of members contains many mysteries. Respect the
long-standing culture and traditions within your association: these non-techie
technologies may be doing a lot more work than you imagine! This article is
written under a partnership between Boardroom and Global Association Hubs –
Brussels, Dubai, Singapore and Washington DC – which are committed to building
innovative partnerships with international associations, and to creating
opportunities for the discussion of key strategic association issues such as
this.