GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Digital signatures

Not surprisingly for government, there is a good amount of paperwork that goes back and forth. It may seem like red tape (indeed it may be red tape), but it seems reasonable that public funds are double and triple checked before they are expended.

In the past, that mean there were a lot of sheets of dead trees physically passed back and forth between various individuals to get anything done.

Digital made it easier to move these sheets of paper back and forth.

And now, with digital signatures via a program like Docusign or Adobe Sign, you don’t even have to print anything out to put your stamp of approval on an expenditure.

Plenty of ink has been spilled on automation and blue collar work, and a decent amount of hand wringing as well about AI swallowing professional work. But digital is definitely a threat for these white collar “factory tasks”.

If you’re moving paper around already, your job is possibly secure, but the next position might never appear, quietly streamlined out of existence.