Steve's Seaside Life

Daily Archive: May 8, 2005

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More evidence that going paperless is a good idea!

Shot6I have thought for a long time that going paperless was a good strategy. Now I know why, Microsoft has posted 3 great videos that demonstrate the dangers of office stationary.  They really are worth watching, preferably with the family as they are very funny.  Another tip,  make sure you watch them through a few times watching the background characters as well for best effect!

First up, the Elastic Band next the Paper Cut and finally the Bad Pen

Visit the web site for more information

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GTD, Life Balance, Lotus Notes, OneNote!!!!

ProjectI only work part-time and have been struggling to find a way to manage my time, it’s been a long process and has so fair failed to control overload.

I started off using a traditional task list in Lotus Notes, this failed miserably as it seemed impossible to visualise the mass of tasks in a way that allowed me to make sensible decisions.

Next I tried OneNote, but this didn’t help, just another way to get confused

Then I tried Life Balance along with the GTD methodology.  This was better, as careful adjustment of the importance of each task relative to its parent objectives allows you to balance all areas of your life. Unfortunately Life Balance has no robust concept of work content, parallel activities, progress etc.  As a result  have found I have gradually accumulated activities and become hopelessly over-committed.  Life-balance had shielded me from this by showing me the priority activity to work on each day and by hiding next actions until the current action is completed.

So after probably 9 months of trying different approaches I am now able to state my needs clearly:

  1. I need a way of visualising the work content of the tasks, and scheduling them out …

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Windows Mobile 2005

Wm2005Here is a great review of a leaked version of Windows Mobile 2005, code named magneto, from Mobile Review.  Features are expected to include:

  • Improved support for one handed operation, (via two soft keys and improved joystick support), no stylus required for many tasks
  • Seamless roaming from one network to another
  • Push email, similar to that provided the Blackberry
  • Pocket Office, re-branded as Office Mobile
  • Improved Pocket Word and Excel, with text formatting support and charts
  • PowerPoint Viewer added
  • Support for pictures in Contacts, synchronised from Outlook
  • Additional field in Contacts (bringing the total to 37!); IM, Company Tel, IM2, IM3, Manager, Govt. ID, Account, Customer ID
  • Windows Media Player 10
  • USB Storage Device support (ie no drivers required to use it as a mass storage device)
  • A single OS merges the current different versions used for Smart Phones and PDAs

I think I will stick with my Treo for now!

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IT Conversations – Evaluating Horizons

BrinListen here.  In this talk David Brin, Ph.D. who has a triple career as scientist, public speaker, and author discusses Horizon Evaluation; a process for exploring what threats and opportunities may await us beyond the near term. It can suggest plausible scenarios for science fiction stories. It can also suggest ways to minimize threats and maximize opportunities. It may be particularly relevant for determining where to make investments. 

The talk rambles a bit, but don’t let that put you off.  To mitigate the rambling or disjointed nature I suggest that you listen when you are able to give it your full concentration, otherwise your mind will drift, and you will miss some great insights.

You can find a great write up on the talk on the Future Salon Blog.

David also has a infrequently updated blog and a more comprehensive web site.