Going Mobile
I’ve been drowning in paper files, magazine clippings, and notes taped all over my desk and my computer. Well, enough’s enough. I’m purging my file cabinets, scanning important documents, and shredding the rest (I’ve been shredding so much the darn machine broke down). I’m going to go all-electronic, well, ok, 90%.
I’m also going to go mobile before the end of the month, out of desire and necessity. What freedom.
Expect other changes around here soon.
(Image by nogontrol)
I’ve been tempted to use the Bizhub at work after hours, to scan in a bunch of bills and documents and such.
My home scanner is too slow, and it’s not automated enough.
(sigh. jealous sigh.)
Congratulations, Andrea. Say no to dead data on dead trees!
My scanner, too, is the handicap. Great for a company involved in publishing, but not efficient enough to create the paperless office. But a great deal is conducted online, thankfully.
Thanks guys. Yeah, mobility and the added benefit of no dead trees is a major driver here. Wonder what the best portable scanner on the market is.
Good luck, I mobilized myself late last year and I am still printing out PDFs, printing google maps, articles etc. I now have 2 printers, 1 photo printer, Canon ip4000 and HP 3in1 something to interface with my analog friends and colleagues. You could always ban you non digital friends………
Greg, I’m trying to create an “office on the go” or something as close to it as possible that I can carry with me (if it’s not portable it’s no good to be right now), but it sounds like you still have a lot of gear that you consider a part of your necessary set-up.
Another thing Greg, what’s with not allowing comments on your blog?
Sounds familiar Andrea. I’ve been purging after the move. Trying not to fill up my new place with boxes of papers and junk that I never/will never look at.
And as Mike says it’s even green. Just make sure you remember to back up, back up, back up
Andrea. Dont get me wrong, it did reduce paperwork, especially the Treo syncing with Entourage and being able to carry documents on it. But sometimes paper is just better. However fax is down significantly but there are times you just need it. On my blog I had serious problems with spam bots. Still trying to get the captcha working. 0-:
I now work in a paperless office (shameless plug: digitalgrit.com) and it’s easier in many ways, but, having been in mostly paper trail agencies, you lose that sense of back-up when you want to see a physical copy that was marked up with changes.
Good for you, Andrea. Here’s what stops me from shredding all those notes, letters and newspapers clippings I have: What if I actually WANT to refer to them someday? You know, sit down with a cup of tea by a fire, and actually sort through stuff? It’s the same feeling I have about our family photographs being kept in digital form — sure there’s no more boxes of old photos molding in the attic. But we lose the experience of paging through an old album and experiencing it.
Sam Smith has a post about uncluttering http://publickthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/06/its-not-easy-being-green.html
and he references the following from Howies http://www.howies.co.uk/content.php?xId=85&xPg=1 , which I think is brilliant:
Own Less
If you don’t own the latest thing, it won’t go out of date.
If you don’t own much, you won’t have much to lose.
If you own next to nothing, you won’t worry about ending up with nothing.
If you own less than you want, you will still have more than you need.
If you spend less money on things, you can spend more time on you.
If you own less, you will value it more.
If you own only what you can carry, you will carry
less baggage around with you.
Travel light.