Log on at 35,000 feet

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airlines trends, Onboard internet access

Inveterate internet users feel cut off when they board a flight. They miss their emails, their ability to surf the net and their online access to information about a million things.

This may become a thing of the past as airlines begin to offer in-flight internet access. An article in the New York Times says :” JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its planes, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer broader Web access in coming months, probably at a cost around $10 a flight.”

Henry Harteveldt, a researcher with Forrester Research said:”I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available,”  In his view it will soon become a “must have ” feature on airlines. In a few years time,” he added, “if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV.”

Soon airline passengers could clamour for onboard calls too but the public response for this feature may be more muted. Mr. Harteveldt describes it so well when he calls it “one of those ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ types of technologies,” Mr. Harteveldt said. “The last thing you want is to be in a crowded tube at 35,000 feet for two or three hours with some guy going on and on about his trip to Vegas.”

I am sure most would welcome internet access but would prefer not to have others take voice calls on board.

Soon a day may come when you can’t use your long flight as an excuse for not having seen the latest in your email inbox !

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Vital Few & Trivial Many

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, A Step A Day, Vital Few

Did you know that it is vital for you to know your Vital Few?

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist who amongst many things studied the land holding pattern in England. He discovered, not very surprisingly for those days, that 80 % of the land was owned by 20 % of the people.  That was after all the era when the landed aristocracy owned huge tracts of land.  His mathematical formula set out in 1906 came to be called the Pareto Principle.

Based on this observation, came what became to be known as Pareto’s Principle or the 80:20 Rule. This is valid even to this day.

Haven’t you noticed the following?

•    In most companies 80 % of the profits come from 20 % of products/services
•    80 % of the best ideas come from 20 % of employees in your team
•    80 % of road accidents are caused by 20 % of drivers

The list goes on.

The American Qulity expert, Dr. Joseph Juran gave the Pareto Principle a new interpretation saying that it was made up of the Vital few and the Tirvial Many.

What’s important is that in a job context as much as 80 % of your results come from 20 % of the tasks that you do. This means that 20 % of your activities- called the Vital Few- actually account for 80 % of your results. The remaining 80 % of activities- called the Trivial Many- actually account for only 20 % of your results.

What makes managers effective is their understanding of what constitutes the Vital Few in their jobs. While it is the lot of every manager to bear with the 80 % Trivial Many as well, smart managers know they cannot compromise in any way when it comes to the Vital Few.

Identifying the Vital Few in your job helps you prioritize tasks and allot required time and effort (which are limited at the end of the day) to their accomplishment. Don’t let the Trivial Many take over your work and keep you bogged down in trivia while more important activities are allowed to slip out of your radar.

As some one said, there’s no point in polishing the silver, when the house is burning down.

So go ahead, if you haven’t got it on your fingertips already, identify the Vital Few in your job- this can make a difference between success and failure.

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