Stay connected — on the go!
Boost productivity while not at your desk
By Helen Bradley
Emily Block, founder and owner of Stampingbella, produces and sells a line of unmounted rubber stamps for crafters. She is only too familiar with juggling home life and a business that recently moved downtown from her home. “I’m a one-woman operation,” she explains. “In the business, I’m everything from chief cook to bottle washer, and I have two children.”
Block relies on her Treo Smartphone, which comes with Windows Mobile, to keep her connected. “My Treo keeps me in touch,” Block explains. “My Treo is my e-mail, my calendar and my life — except for my children and my husband, of course!”
To keep everything up to date, Block synchronizes her Treo with Microsoft Office Outlook on her home and business computers. She uses the QWERTY keyboard on the Treo to answer e-mail on the go. Family, suppliers and customers can phone or e-mail Block whenever they need to. “They’re all important to me because one thing I have tried to do with Stampingbella is create a sisterhood for stampers and that requires me to be accessible,” Block says.
Windows Mobile on a mobile phone such as Block’s Treo resembles Windows on a desktop and runs pocket versions of Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Internet Explorer. Windows Mobile lets you view and edit documents and worksheets. When so many of your laptop’s functions appear on your mobile phone, you might choose, as Block does, to leave your laptop behind.
Laptops to go
But for those people who wish to travel with a laptop, Doug Cooper, Intel Canada country manager, suggests you choose a lightweight laptop with wireless connectivity and long battery life. Centrino-based laptops can extend battery life for up to five hours. The extra time is critical if you are on the road away from a power source for long periods. Cooper explains that with longer battery life, you’re more likely to use the laptop than leave it closed to conserve battery power.
You can also take advantage of the Bluetooth technology built into many laptops. You can use a Bluetooth-enabled global positioning system (GPS) combined with Streets & Trips to navigate as you drive, Cooper says.
For e-mailing messages from your laptop, Microsoft Outlook is also a good choice. “[Outlook] has been designed to deal with intermittent connectivity,” Cooper says. “It will download your e-mail when it is connected but still let you work on e-mail if your connection is lost.”
If you need a webcam as well and don’t want one dangling from your laptop, look for a laptop with a built-in camera.
Meeting Space
Windows Meeting Space is another on-the-go collaboration tool that can be used when you’re in the same location as one or more people who also use Vista. Even if you have no wireless Internet access available, Windows Meeting Space can create a PC-to-PC network using your computer’s wireless capability to connect up to 10 computers. You could use Windows Meeting Space, for example, to make a presentation while everyone views it on their PCs and contributes to it.
On the job, on the go
Working out of the office demands you use time effectively. Tracy Lyn Moland, time management expert and author of Mom Management (Gift of Time, 2003), suggests using her Stop, Look and Listen tool. “Mentally stop, look at what you are doing with your time and why, and then listen to your instinct,” she explains. “Then ask, ‘Is this a good use of my time or not?’”
Moland says that to be successful, you need to
- develop an awareness of time
- recognize there are certain things you can and cannot do on the run
- accept you might need to go offline to focus on an important task (to avoid being distracted by e-mail, for example)
- be prepared to fill downtime if, for example, a meeting starts late
Everyone experiences downtime, but sometimes with a bit of thought you can move tasks you planned to complete at home to fill idle time in transit. Read an article or do something from your to-do list. Cooper says that writing e-mail is an ideal task for the train trip home.
If you, like Emily Block, are turning your back on a corporate career, choosing to work from home or simply trading your traditional four-walled office for a local coffee shop now and then, mobile technology can help you be more productive — wherever you are.
