Digital Culture is the collection of behaviors, beliefs, values, laws, customs, and collective knowledge in a digital environment. This type of culture crept into office environments years ago to much fanfare and caused frustrations for others. I’ll long remember an IBM Lotus Notes commercial where an executive is sitting in his office, gazing at all the various photos on the wall showing him in business meetings at famous international locations. The technician explained that he no longer needed to waste money on airfare and travel and that Lotus Notes—it sounds fancy, but it was just email—would allow him to communicate with all his international business partners instantly.
Talk about digital culture shock.
Instead of picking up the phone or walking over to check in on the engineering team, the intrepid project manager needed only to send an email. Soon after, instant messaging became an office necessity, and the masses—all in the same room—huddled at their computer screens, messaging, sending memes, or communicating in real time about a big project. It started with AOL IM and soon moved to mature platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. The manager could walk into the room to check in on the team of people as needed, but in-person collaborative vocal work was a shell of what it was in the 1990s.
The Digital Work Singularity Approached Fast
While my work has always been digital, I increasingly felt the irony of waking up, getting dressed, and commuting to a building several miles away, only to use a different computer than the one I had at home. For a while, the Internet service at work was far superior. If you had a T-1 line or business-class Internet, you could brag. But today, the speed ratio is a non-issue for most.
Cellular data rapidly climbed out of the throughput gravity well. While fast cellphone data is ubiquitous today, in the past, it was only a privilege for business users embedded in large urban areas. In 2024, most U.S. carriers plan to shut down their 2G networks to focus on new technology.
As speeds continued to increase, the utility of instant video and audio communication became a reality.
Enter the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic forced most companies to switch to an all-remote work model for some time (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). For all the voices claiming it wouldn’t work, the experiment silenced many. The void left in expensive office space mandated a hybrid or total return for some; others embraced the experiment’s success and the extra rent money in their pockets. The latter made the switch permanent.
If the pandemic had occurred in 2010, the outcome would have differed. The fast Internet speeds and newer technology that enable modern remote work did not exist a decade ago, and the economic impact of a shuttered population could have been drastic. Instead, many of us kept working, albeit from home. This pipe dream of long ago suddenly became a reality.
Working in a hybrid digital way vs. an utterly digital way mandates a different way of thinking about work.
The Need for Digital Culture
Like analog culture, digital culture happens naturally. However, acknowledging and nurturing its aspects can make it successful. Just as managers in the early century had to adapt to the computer era, today’s managers should embrace the cloud era. We are all connected over the web—arguably too connected—and how we operate digitally matters.
Digital managers must utilize instant messaging, email, and other digital collaboration tools to properly supervise employees over the web. If you don’t, you are doing a disservice to your digital culture. Sending an employee a message is akin to walking into the room and asking them how things are going.
Famous tools such as Adobe’s Photoshop have seen a disruptive shift. Users abandoned it to use the multi-user collaborative Figma. Adobe took notice: they bought Figma (Adobe, 2022). There is no need to stand over a web designer and point and talk; you can follow along with your cursor and even audio chat right in the browser. You don’t have to ask; inspecting work within the Figma workstream is possible with standard permissions. You might even see an employee’s cursor in motion, who is busy manifesting work for a project.
Developers used to need the office to work on code. All the code sat on network-connected drives attached to backups. Source control existed, but it was only helpful for projects that needed it. Now, source control exists mainly in the cloud. A developer can download a project’s source code using a cellphone connection in the mountains if required.
Online Communication is Tough
Online communication can be challenging compared to everything you can see and hear in person. A few words sent across as an instant message is information, but it’s only part of the story. The sender could be driving, sitting, eating, walking, running, or even picking up groceries. People also have trouble expressing emotion. An angry and pleasant message may differ only by using an exclamation point.
However, digital culture necessitates newer types of communication. Audio and video chat are available as replacements for analog interactions. Today, nearly all laptops and phones will have an embedded camera. Some clients used Google Hangouts for meetings years ago, but I had a legacy PC tower with no webcam or microphone. They had a high digital aptitude for communication, but we only used analog interactions at the time.
As you absorb and nurture your digital culture, it is essential to nail down your methods of communication. For all the anxiety you had about contacting your upper or lower reports in person, that all remains in the digital world. Each player has different needs, but you can smooth the chaos by pushing digital customs, laws, and behaviors as part of a digital culture.
The Digital Work Singularity Is Here
Workers can perform most computer-enabled jobs online today. We’ve drastically changed how we work, and a pandemic allowed the masses to evolve. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you will succeed when doing it. It takes a digital culture for a manager and a worker to succeed. The manager and worker both must learn how to communicate digitally. To do so, remember that digital culture is just culture with a digital focus.
Your behaviors—such as when and how to communicate—will be essential to maintain productivity. Discuss your beliefs about what type of software is best and your level of product quality. What values does your team hold itself to when collaborating and producing work? Laws are essential; don’t message after five unless it’s crucial, and avoid lunch-hour meetings. Customs such as catching up once a month can mean all the difference. And last, don’t forget to record your collective knowledge. Document it if you comprehend something. You can use a company Sharepoint, Wiki, and many other online tools for storing information.
By embracing digital culture, you can show your co-workers that you are still tangible and productive in an increasingly digital world.