Swoon

One hour of international realtime collaboration on our work plan = Dave <3 the Googles

With one eye on my own hyperbole, what is the parallel construct in history to an environment in which you could have even four-way global input editable simultaneously and instantaneously? Oh, and then with a click of a button, the entire document was translated into Swahili. And free. Google Docs Rocs.

It almost makes me feel bad that I'm boarding a plane to do this work, since so much of our high-content input could be delivered remotely. Almost - there is no substitute for the interaction with the government officials who will have to fight for and then live with our recommendations to sense priority, urgency, hestitation, concurrrence, cynicism or passion. Translating those intangibles through the body language, expressions, and social interaction of a new cultural context is an intoxicating challenge. But certainly laying the groundwork through the extraordinarily level of presence which can be achieved today with any connected collaborator should and will become the default standard for business.