As for the podcast on my recent paperless challenge., I plan to share some of my experiences and lessons learned and make a few recommendations. If you have a question that you'd like to ask, send me an email with your question (typed or audio file attachment) and I'll include it in the podcast. I do not presently have a co-host for this podcast. I thought it might be fun to extend the invitation for a co-host. If you'd like to nominate yourself, drop me an email and tell me why. I hope to do this in the next week or so, schedule permitting.
Discussion/Comments (15):
Oh, the temptation to nominate myself (and in part satisfy my NY resolution to be more forward), but I'm sure there are many more qualified people out there. Tracy from the Student Tablet PC site, perhaps?
Posted at 01/17/2006 6:38:53 by Chris
I'd asked Tracy to see if she could come up with a flowchart to determine how to handle paper that entered her life. She did and it has been helpful.
Questions:
Do you still retain paper? What do you retain, and how do you decide what you'll retain?
What tools did you use and what tools would you consider needed to be successful at going paperless?
Did you find any difficulty working with others who weren't paperless? (People who wanted or needed you to work in paper). How did you deal with this?
Did you find or do you think that going paperless reduces your expenses or costs of doing business?
Where did you miss paper the most in your life or in your workflow - where would you still retain paper if you had the option of chose to do so?
What types of tasks in your daily routine did you find particularly hard to adapt to being paperless?
What did your clients think of your paperless challenge?
(You wanted questions - you got 'em Eric :) :) Grateful for you man.
Posted at 01/17/2006 7:10:40 by Walter
Can't wait for that podcast. I had no doubt that you would succeed - My ultimate question Is the cost of paperless ( time, energy, money, etc) worth the benefits?
Posted at 01/17/2006 7:22:19 by Rob Bushway
Eric,
what about the battery autonomy. I have a tablet myself (an Acer C300). What I like about it is the big screen, however the battery only holds for 1 hour... :-(
Did you connect to the power network, or mainly worked on batteries?
Posted at 01/17/2006 11:39:20 by Dominique
Eric - I've been mostly paperless for several years, and have been filing everything in folders using explorer. I'm wondering if you use a different method for filing.
Thanks,
A Big Fan!
Posted at 01/17/2006 16:27:39 by Doug Whitney
I'd be happy to co-host, if you'd like ^_^. No promises on how good I'd be, though.
Posted at 01/17/2006 21:53:12 by Tracy Hooten
I'm with Walter on his question about how do you interface with other, paper-centric, people ?
I get given printouts of emails & documents I might be interested all the time (despite telling people to just forward them to me). Do you end up scanning them back in, or just keep a Read/Review hard file?
Looking forward to the podcast.
Posted at 01/18/2006 3:44:53 by NickR
If I were to go paperless (and I want to!) I would need to get dozens of books and manuals into paperless form. I am willing to sacrifice the bindings of my books. I have a band saw; I can cut off bindings. I have a drill press; I can drill holes in books or in stacks of paper to permit use with 3-ring binders (or something similar). But how do I scan thousands of pages? Use an automated document feeder on a flatbed scanner? Suggestions and experiences about how to approach scanning several dozen books, please.
Posted at 01/18/2006 6:14:17 by Marc C
Another question Eric. Did you change your backup strategy since going paperless? It would seem that this doubles or triples the need to be absolutely sure you have backups. Did your strategy have to be modified - if so, how?
Posted at 01/18/2006 7:10:17 by Walter
I'm making a mind map of questions. I'll be sure to answer all of them as best as I can.
Posted at 01/18/2006 10:40:25 by Eric Mack
Eric, could you please comment on the various file types that could be used for electronically storing copies of books, in particular which is the best for a long term solution (I don't want to have to digitalize everything twice). I tend to think pdf+text is probably the best because everyone is using it, but are there any long-term benefits that you can see for using, for example, .mdi (microsoft office document imaging)? Is there an open source equivalent of pdf+text that will eventually be adopted?
Also, you have said often that you think it is more efficient to have a less-paper office than a paper-less office. Can you explain what documents you prefer to keep hard copies of? Related to this, I'm currently learning about GTD. What strategy do use for deciding what goes into a hard copy general reference filing system, and what goes onto a hard drive? How have you set up your digital general reference filing system? Is a windows explorer folder system (with backups) a good way to go, or are there more useful programs?
Thank you. Can't wait to hear your podcast!
Posted at 01/18/2006 18:11:48 by Nick Cizek
I too work in an office where people e-mail things out to others - and then bring a paper copy in to you to talk. Or in a meeting, they send you an agenda via e-mail - and then print you a copy out for the meeting. All this when they know you have the tablet with you all the time.
This may be a hot topic - like others have posted - How do you deal with people that always have to work in paper?
What did you do with items that came to you in the form of paper, but needed to have with you?
Posted at 01/18/2006 18:18:20 by Tablet PC Daily
Hey, Eric.
Is your machine always on? Is it always in Tablet mode?
Because I find that most of the time (in the office or at school) - my little tablet isn't in a "proper" position to doodle on, and so I have to use paper. The magical "4 seconds from off to operational" is far from real, and converting to Tablet mode isn't that easy when you have cables sticking out from both sides of the machine (I use a Lenovo X41).
Ariel
Posted at 01/21/2006 4:17:45 by Ariel Raunstien
Actually, what I want to know is, what is that stand you have your Tecra on in that picture above?
Posted at 01/21/2006 6:46:46 by Frank McPherson
Frank, I made that stand from a modified EZ Book reader stand, cut to fit the Tecra.
Total cost $10
I've made a note to blog about this in the future.
Posted at 06/05/2006 2:13:15 by Eric Mack
Discussion for this entry is now closed.