Eric Mack On-Line

I've always held that there's no such thing as the paperless office, but that there is the promise of a less-paper office. Well, I hope to prove one of these statements true.

Clients are watching and smiling
A client smiled yesterday, when I described this challenge. As a productivity coach, she's seen too many people get caught up in the tools only to reduce their productivity. I've had the same observation and experience. This challenge maybe no different. I explained that my objective was not necessarily to prove that it could be done, but to learn what was practical. I fully expect that there are areas in which I will become less productive by eliminating paper; at the same time I expect to discover areas where I can honestly say that the Tablet PC has made a significant improvement in my work.

When I advise clients who inquire about the productive benefits of using a Tablet PC along with applications such as OneNote or perhaps MindManager or some other tablet app, I want to be able to tell them (and show them) from experience what I've concluded. So for me, whatever the outcome, this will be a success in that I will know first hand, what works.

Tracy Hooten joins the 8-week paperless challenge
Tracy Hooten, of Student Tablet PC blog fame, reports that she';s going to join me in my 8-week paperless challenge. (Trace and I actually spoke about this a few weeks ago, when she was having trouble getting her Toshiba Tablet back from repair.) I look forward to exchanging notes (digitally, of course) about our experience.

I'm delighted that Tracy will be joining in this challenge. Perhaps others will do, too. (If you do, please post a comment)

My next action
My next action is to MindMap (on the Tablet, of course) the things that I think I will need to do or to learn to make this experiment as successful as possible. I'll also create a list of resources that I've found that I want to learn from.

UPDATE: I see that James Kendrick, has already blogged a note of encouragement with some recommendations for efficient use of the Tablet PC. Thanks James!