Killer App

A few years ago, while on a plane to Seattle, my neighbor was reading an article in Wired magazine entitled “PowerPoint Is Evil.” I couldn’t help notice the title and once he finished with the magazine, I sttuck up a conversation with him about the article. It was an interesting discussion and my new friend let me walk away with the magazine. I am sure I sitll have it with the rest of my junk stuff somewhere which is very foolish considering I can read it anytime I’d like online.I was reminded of this recently when I heard about the role PowerPoint may have played in space shuttle disaster.

“It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,” the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded, citing Tufte’s work. The board devoted a full page of its 2003 report to the issue, criticizing a space agency culture in which, it said, “the endemic use of PowerPoint” substituted for rigorous technical analysis.PowerPoint: The Killer App?</p> I am very sorry that people may have had to die to bring this to light, but I am glad that somebody is saying what needs to be said about this software.

Perhaps I’ve sat through too many PowerPoint presentations lately, but I think the trouble with these critics is that they don’t go far enough: The software may be as much of a mind-numbing menace to those of us who intend to remain earthbound as it is to astronauts.PowerPoint: The Killer App?</p> While checking for more info about this post, I learned that perhaps using slides to prepare a speech or presentation is not all bad. This article gives tips on good and bad use of PowerPoint for lawyers, and this one, while not about PowerPoint, explains how ‘picturing’ your speech can help give it focus. It’s an old piece, but still worth reading in my opinion. I also ran into a great story about a man who was upset because, though his presentation was a success, he didn’t get to show his slides.To make this whole episode even more rewarding, I found quite a bit of info about someideas about replacing PowerPoint. Keep in mind that these alternatives still present some of the same problems. According to Edward Tufte (the author of the Wired article), the problem is the culture of the sales pitch.