In my second year at the University of the Witwatersrand, in 1972, (yes, people were alive then and could do sums an’ all) the HP 35 calculator was released onto the market by Hewlett Packard.

The calculator weighed only 255 g. Named for its 35 keys, the device enabled users to make complicated calculations in the field faster than a slide rule. It sold for R400, or about R32 000 in today’s terms. Nedbank, faster then than most banks, offered a loan to any student who had a Nedbank account (or opened one).

When I saw the HP 35, I knew the world had changed – forever. Calculations were fast, fast. I knew, too, that slide rules were gone forever (although not forgotten – my Faber Castell slide rule is in my desk drawer, waiting to be called to service, if required). The slide rule was invented in 1622, so it had a good run. But, in a year, the HP 35 rendered it obsolete. I was (and am still) thrilled to be around for the invention of the calculator and the personal computer, the cellphone, laser distance-measuring devices, email, the Internet, sophisticated sound pressure level measuring meters . . . the list goes on.

It has been said that 2020 is a year which has a plot by Stephen King, filmed by Quentin Tarantino. Perhaps so, but, as a year, it is as important as the year of the pocket calculator and the year of the personal computer. In a stroke, now there will be no more construction site meetings other than those in which inspection of construction work is actually required. Before 2020, the contract project manager or the architects or the client representative would cause the entire professional team to meet on site (often at 08:00 so as to get full benefit of the morning traffic). The team would then sit around, while the project manager or the architects or the client representative discussed each and every aspect of the project, while the professional team had their time wasted. We would call these meetings “architect site meetings where design is by meeting on site”. If we were involved in three contracts, we could quite easily have half the week wasted by simply attending meetings. But! No more! Now, if asked to attend a physical site meeting which does not require construction approval, we simply refuse to do so. Let’s Zoom, we say. And so we do. No travel. No getting up early. Just switch on the computer and away we go. Even better, we can record and file the meeting so there is no doubt about who said what to whom. Even better, if our client is in Johannesburg or Uganda – meeting is simple. They do not need to get a local consultant to them.

In the 28 years I have lived in Cape Town, I have never seen the major roads without traffic jams that start at about 15:00. Now they are clear. Traffic flows freely. Most of my work is done at home and all my staff work from home. No morning drive to work for them. We communicate regularly and do it often and well. The work gets done well. Better, in fact, than before. Since I am at home, there is no need to live on takeaways (not that I did). But on that subject, the home purchase and delivery system has grown out of all belief. We can get all stationery, hardware, and so on, by just logging on to a website.

But what of the ‘office camaraderie’? Yes, it has gone. I don’t miss it. The concept of a large group of people coming to work at ‘the office’ is finished. Apart from manufactured goods. We have gone from home crafts to large factories to offices and to home again – all in 172 years. The only small cloud is: if all work from home, how do you employ and train new staff? I have no idea but solving this may be yet another gift of 2020.