Living Under the Information Highway

What Homeless People Can Teach You About Efficiency

NOTE: This article originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Flawless Compliance, under the "What in the World" section. The link to the actual issue is at the bottom of this article.

Skip Schreiber working on his laptop in his van, which is also his home. Picture Source

The year of 2008 scared a lot of people including myself and the year of 2009 is no day at the carnival either; however if you have a street address right now, you’re doing better than some. In my hometown of San Francisco alone, there are about 6,500 homeless people; some push around shopping carts all day arguing with themselves, and some work the streets looking for a helping hand from generous people—and some surf the internet on their laptop computers!

In this day and age, some of the homeless have decided that staying connected to the information highway is a non-negotiable term. The job might go, the house might go, but the laptop is going nowhere.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a 37-year old Charles Pitts has accounts on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, and even runs an internet forum on Yahoo: all from the un-comforts of his residence under the bridge. Mr. Pitts claims that you don’t need place to live a TV to watch or newspaper to read, “but you need the Internet.”

I have to admit that I don’t know too many homeless people personally, but I have befriended one or two in my past and I certainly hear and read real stories based on actual accounts. It’s very easy to misconceive that “the homeless” are somehow a different class of people; however, nothing could be further from the truth. Some homeless people are highly intelligent and resourceful due to their conditions. There’s a lot that can be learned by understanding how they cope with their situation.

Paul Weston, a 29-year old hoping to be a computer programmer someday was laid off in December from his job as a hotel clerk and was forced to move into a shelter. With his PowerBook in hand, he stations himself at places that offer free Internet service. Once wired, he’s free to search for work, and even write the computer program that he hopes to sell someday.

This economy also took its toll on Robert Livingston, a 49-year old who quit his job as a security job late last year. Unable to find a new job, he lost his apartment in December and was also forced to move into a shelter. When he realized he was going to be homeless, he bought three things: a backpack, a padlock (for his locker at the shelter), and a premium account on Flickr to display the digital photos that he takes. And although his only monthly income is a $59 welfare check, he stays clean cut and meticulous, with notebook under arm.

Long time veteran of the streets, Skip Schreiber knows a thing or two about staying wired without a permanent address. The former HVAC specialist took a turn for the worse 15 years ago and has been living on the streets ever since. These days you might find him in his van working on his Mac laptop. He draws power from his van’s battery and saves power by keeping the wireless antenna off, and avoiding videos. He also cools the computer down by setting it on a damp cloth. Using these techniques, he is sometimes able to get 16 hours of life out of his computer’s battery.

These are just a few examples of many, on how people without homes are managing to stay connected to technology and the information highway. No, I’m not homeless, but when forced into the unusual circumstances of the 2008-2009 economy I had to become resourceful just like the rest of us.

The point is this. We as human beings are very, very good at being resourceful: much more than you realize until you’re forced to. The opportunity here is that you can absolutely make your compliance program much more efficient than it already is, but you need to realize the following:

• You need to be absolutely crystal clear on what you’re minimum future state and ideal future state is. You can have grey area in between, but you must be extremely clear on the scope boundaries of your future state.
• Achieving your minimum future state cannot be optional.
• You need to know how to get help. Know who to trust for advice, and then trust them.
• Lock in the outcome, but allow the means to be fluid. It doesn’t matter how you get where you need to go, as long as you get there.
• Trust the power of the collective wisdom of a team to solve problems. As humans we have our shortcomings, but our amazing ability to solve problems is what makes us the higher species. Enlighten the human spirit and anything can be accomplished.

Your potential for an efficient operation is already within your team; you just need to tap into it. Don’t wait until you’re forced into an urgent situation like a lawsuit; this is the worst time to rally resources and get your act together. And don’t ever believe it’s not possible to reduce your company’s exposure for less cost. If Robert Livingston can survive on $59 a month and still stay connected to the Internet, you can get more out of your compliance program for less cost.