Five puzzle pieces for wireless independence

Filed in archive Wireless on June 5, 2007

"Tech without wires" means to me a person who has learned how to work anywhere regardless as to whether she/he has a physical office at home or at a physical work location. The reason we have the word "tech" in this term is because you, as tech without wires, solve the puzzle of working independently through employing technical strategies or technical solutions that makes it possible to be independent of location.

This is not saying that we are extremely technical people; what we are saying is that we employ technical resources almost beyond our capacity to get where we want to get. We are always pushing the boundaries.

So to be able to work independently there are five puzzle pieces we need to have in place to be able to work independently of office and computer.

ONE: we need to subscribe to online services instead of buying software. So instead of using Microsoft Word we use Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Any subscription needs to have not only the software to use but also a place to keep the created documents.

TWO: any repository of documents we have out there, such as the location where Google allows us to store documents, needs to be backed up online so that we can get at the backups anywhere.

THREE: we must travel with a laptop wi-fi enabled and USB memory stick so that we can use a laptop anywhere there is a wi-fi connection and/or use portable apps contained on the memory stick if no network is available.

FOUR: keep current data (documents) on the portable apps memory stick, in the repository provided by the online software service, and in the backup location.

FIVE: document how your system works so that if you were not able to get at your documents, or work online, there would be clear instructions on how to work the system to get the documents.

With these puzzle pieces in place you will be able to produce work anywhere you are or even have it produced for you by following the instructions/documentation you can provide.