My first blog of a new Era is all about my thoughts and the way that I Work.
The beauty of working in Technology is that we always get to try the latest gadgets and equipment to see how we can make it work for both us and a product that we can sell to make others lives better.
If you are reading this at home on your sofa or any other place apart from your office then STOP NOW and read on tomorrow.
I currently use a PC in the office with 4 screens to allow me to multi task with multiple servers and Outlook as well as our own in house systems.
I have a Dell Laptop which is a small lightweight model with no DVD and was bought for speed and portability. I use a Vodafone USB mobile broadband dongle or connect it to my phone using a USB cable.
My current phone is an HTC Desire on Vodafone I have had it for 4 months and it replaced an iPhone.
My latest Gadget which gets used frequently is an iPad. With a 10 hour battery and such an easy way to navigate and read things it's used for many different tasks which I will talk about in a different blog.
My main method of communication is via email. I know this seems obvious but we still have customers that get all their orders on fax !
I will talk about all the technology later. My main thoughts now are how we decide to use technology to either allow us to work flexibly or intrude on our own or private time.
As the MD of Cobalt Technology I work longer hours than I probably should. This is no different to any business owner or employee who is passionate about their work. Without the ability to work flexibly I wouldn't have be able to take time off in the early years or work from where ever I am.
What is the negative side of this now ?
Well a few years ago I would probably be able to tell you what pictures my dentist had on the wall where as now I have my nose in my phone looking at emails or reading twitter.
Walking down the street and you have the vibrate on in your pocket you need to take out your phone and see if it's a vital communication. Sat at lunch with a colleague of friend do you ignore it or does the urge to read the message win over. When I am sat at home my laptop or now ipad is always handy and I feel the need to multi task and that I can watch the film or programme with my wife whilst I email and tweet.
I know many others are in this situation that are getting the work / life balance wrong and I have spent years educating and working on the technology to enable this. My next plan is to evaluate how I spend my time and then educating others in flexible working with the ability to ignore or put it down.
