year as a point on the horizon five to ten years ago. Many trend watchers and futurists looked forward to it. What would the world look like? How would we live? Do our work? (Almost) ten years ago, I wrote an article about an average working day in 2020. Now this year is almost over. What has become of my expectations? What has and has not become reality around digital working? Today, a look back... with the knowledge of today.
On February 14, 2011, my piece 'Tasks, teams and tools on a working day in 2020' appeared on Frankwatching . In it, I wrote about an average working day of a knowledge worker at a government cambodia telegram data organization. Facets of the new way of working, smart devices and time and location independent working were all discussed. Various people responded to my story and an important point they made was that a lot was already technically possible then. And that was true. But not everything was commonplace... and sometimes still isn't.
In this retrospective, now almost ten years later, I want to look at how 2020 was viewed then, how we would do our work, what technology would play a role in this, and so on. In doing so, I mainly look back, consider the expectations of then with the knowledge of today, and on a few points I also look ahead a little bit. And of course I am curious about your reactions now.
One inbox for all information flows
The first of my expectations of 2011 was based on a personal wish: one inbox in which all kinds of messages came together: “email, text messages, voicemails, messages from various social media, DMs and the latest news”. Such a universal inbox does not yet exist. At least, not one where you receive e-mail and WhatsApp and your social media messages from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and your daily dose of news.
