The Rise of Wireless Travel Tech

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/01/13/biz.trav.road.tech/' target='_blank'>http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/01/1...trav.road.tech/</a><br /><br /></div>"Executives on the road can get a little nervous if they cannot be contacted, even for a second or two. Maybe the secretary is calling with a crucial message, or perhaps it's the boss, spouse or client. For business travellers, whether in a plane or at the hotel bar, being able to keep in touch with people, the Internet and corporate files via mobile, wireless networks has become essential. And as the boundaries begin to blur between the different technology kits -- PC, mobile, laptop, PDA --- so does the distinction between work and personal time..."<br /><br />Interesting article. The last line I quoted above about the mixing of personal and business time makes me think of my own life - I truly have no distinction between personal and business time. I work off and on all day and night, always checking my email before going to sleep, and it's often the first thing I do in the morning. When I'm out for dinner with my wife, I check my email using my Smartphone. What's it like in your life - do you have a separation between work and personal time, or have connected mobile devices completely obliterated that? What are the repercussions of that, and how have you adapted to them? (I'm somewhat of an amateur sociologist, so I find discussions like this fascinating...)

[Steven Cedrone]

I find it quite easy to switch from work time to personal time, the minute I leave work, I don't want to hear anything about it until I return the next day... :wink:

OTOH, I find it harder to switch from personal time to work time. The first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I check at night is a certain Pocket PC site. Add to that, regardless of location (home and work or in between) and time of day, I am usually on line, logged in and checking it as well... :lol:

Steve

[RobertCF]

I have to agree there. One of the many reasons I specifically do NOT have (nor does my wife) a cell phone is because I refuse to be contacted when I don't want to be contacted. We carry our PocketPCs everywhere, and if wireless internet were actually available in our area we might find it convenient to browse the internet while waiting in line at the movies or check movie times or look up restaurant food calories, etc., but we draw the line at being available for someone else to bother us. My work is my work. My time is MY TIME. I absolutely refuse to allow myself to become a slave to someone else's whim. Cell phones and pagers invite that specifically. Let some other fool get ulcers or a heart attack at 49 while I'm anxiety free even when I hit 70 (I'm 41 now and feel like a kid!).

[bridgecrosser]

I am a pastor who is planting a church. My office is in the house. I carry a cell that's on 24 hrs. a day. I carry an Ipaq 5450 with my ministry in it. It's a little hard to draw a strict line between personal and ministry. What I do do is honour my day off each week!

[medic119]

Ya know I am just a remote Paramedic and not "an executive", but I don't know what I'd do without all my devices and my GSM Internet. I travel A LOT and just knowing I can get in contact, or be contacted, is a relief.

I wrote up a small piece here (http://www.seadoc.net/sd/archives/individual/2004/01/20040114-living_the_mobile_lifestyle.php). I actually wrote it before I saw this article.. :)

[Jonathon Watkins]

I am so with you there Steve. Work to personal is easy - when I leave work - it's my time.

There's Always time for PPCT! 5 minute work breaks are SO theraputic! :wink:

[maximus]

I have to agree there. One of the many reasons I specifically do NOT have (nor does my wife) a cell phone is because I refuse to be contacted when I don't want to be contacted. We carry our PocketPCs everywhere, and if wireless internet were actually available in our area we might find it convenient to browse the internet while waiting in line at the movies or check movie times or look up restaurant food calories, etc., but we draw the line at being available for someone else to bother us. My work is my work. My time is MY TIME. I absolutely refuse to allow myself to become a slave to someone else's whim. Cell phones and pagers invite that specifically. Let some other fool get ulcers or a heart attack at 49 while I'm anxiety free even when I hit 70 (I'm 41 now and feel like a kid!).

Lucky you. Some of us are not that lucky though. My company assigned a mobile number to all officers, and implied that we have to leave it on all time. I am not even a frontliner. Even when I am on annual leave abroad, someone from the office will find a good enough reason to call me on that number. Silly silly silly.

[crutcherk]

I have broad grey lines between work and personal time. I run my own design studio so the office phone is sent to the cell when I am not there. When I am on my time I just let the voice mail catch the calls.

I do check the e-mail at the computer in the office, PPC or cell on the road or at home. I sometimes suprise clients by answering the phone or replying to an e-mail after hours.

[ombu]

I spend some time every week-day (2 hours or so) with my three y/o daughter away from my PPC and my lap-top but with the cell phone on, it's on 24/7. Every single minute left when I'm not sleeping I have the PPC or the lap-top (or both) 'on' with me.

Weekends are another story but I bring my PPC wherever I go and check mail every hour or so (I love hot spots :mrgreen: ). Have to say an important mail came in just once or twice in several years, got to visit my doctor I guess, :?: work boundaries are somehow blurred for me.

Regards.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I have just recently returned to the office as my wife is now home on maternity leave for the next year. For the past 9 months though, I've been spending most of my time working from home. I usually worked at home 4 days per week (sometimes the entire week). I found in this scenario the line between work time and personal time got more blurry. As my home was my office, I would do some work at various times throughout the day. On the flipside, as I'm connected with my mobile phone and my Blackberry, I would run personal errands through the day when the need arised.

I really enjoyed the flexibility this allowed. Now that I'm back in the office it's a little more cut-and-dried. I don't imagine I'll be working from home for a few years now (other than a single day here and there). By then I'm hopeful that the technology will be such that I will be able to be 100% as effective as I would be in the office (i.e. network speeds, video conferencing, etc.).

[bkbroil]

I am a management consultant and I work from home. Work life, home life...they're all the same to me.. I work throughout the day and night, I post reviews and news to http://pocketpcaddict.com .. I play with my kids and dog .... surf the Pocket PC sites... It's all the same to me! Right now, I'm lovin' life with all the new technology to keep me connected. My clients do not care if I'm taking calls from Starbucks, the backyard or at the kitchen table.. Why should they? I get all my deliverables done ahead of time and I give them the best possible advice and....I always have the latest gadgets!

Jason - I love this site! Thank you!

[draiken]

Some employers and bosses design policies for company-issued cell-phones, I was a victim of this for 2 years some time ago, now, unfortunately my current employer doesn't pay me that much for me to be "available" 24/7, so once I'm outside the building I might as well be on mars until 8am next morning. If during that time I get a call from work (on my personal cell phone :(() I usually let the voice mail answer, then evaluate if it's worth calling back.

But when I was "slaved" to my company cell, I had to answer, and sometimes it meant calling some one else to get something fixed or some backup done.

What bothers me the most is that there are a lot of people that believe you HAVE to be devoted to work 24/7 ever since you signed a contract, and they get angry if you devote some time to family, friends, hobbies, culture, or simple relaxation. I sincerely hope no-one has a boss who makes this assumptions.

And yes, there's allways 5 minutes everybody should spare to check PPCthoughts :))

[mhills]

I used to be like that. Here's an article about what happened to me because of it (http://www.mellaniehills.com/takecontrol.htm). While the article was written for the newsletter of Women in Technology International, it applies equally to men and women.

I'm not like that any more. And I've since left high tech and am spreading the word about what can happen and how to prevent it.

[Korlon]

I work for a (really) large IT consulting company, but I've never made any attempt to stay in contact after business hours. I rarely check my company or client email from home, my voice mail less often. The only time I carry a pager is when I get stuck with the rotating production support pager, which hardly ever even goes off. Until just this year, I didn't own a cell phone. The reason I got a cell is that I am changing jobs soon and my new employer (a much, much smaller IT consulting company) offers to reimburse an employee for monthly cell charges. And that's my phone, no rules on how I use it. For that, I am willing to accept an occasional work-related call. And I can always ignore it or turn it off and check my voice mail later because it's my phone.

During business hours, I certainly don't ignore my personal life. My wife, parents, and siblings all know how to reach me if they need/want to do so. I do handle personal matters from my desk, if it can be done discretely. On the other hand, I also spend time at home thinking about technical designs, implementation details, bugs, and so forth - ideas just happen. I don't think I could get very far if I tried to charge in that time, though.

Oh, yeah... and I also read/post on Pocket PC Thoughts forums at work. :)