the calendar appointment that is! I have learned (again and again), to confirm the time in advance, particularly if the time changed or was unclear at some point. Otherwise I’ll be on time (if I’m lucky) for the wrong time!
Category: Work
Back Up!
How many times does THIS need to be learned? A colleague got it right today. Not the part in which she spilled the water on the laptop. But the part about how she only lost part of a day’s work, because she is smart enough to back up ALL of her work data on common servers, not her own hard drive.
More on “Write Stuff Down”
Michelle’s lesson prompted Carolyn to share this:
“The one about writing stuff down reminds me of a lesson I was taught MANY years ago but didn’t follow.
A neighbor ran a large international company. He told us a resume policy we should all follow:
Revise your resume after are major accomplishment.
1) You are really psyched and positive and that will show.
2) You won’t be overwhelmed with a large task for you only need to add a few lines.
3) You never have to think about writing your resume when looking for a new job. Your resume is always ready
I wish I learned this when I was younger so I would have good habits now.”
“Write Stuff Down”
learned Michelle, as she is trying to recreate her job and task history, from memory, in the process of finding a new and much better job.
Coasting into Trouble
I learned that before you call the Helpdesk to report a laptop that suddenly shuts down, won’t boot up in the docking station and won’t boot up out of the docking station (note that this would be a Really Big Deal for someone working from home!), you should try just plugging the power cord directly into the laptop. As I say, do this before you call the Helpdesk, not while you are on the phone,
Because it could be that the battery, even though it is brand new, is out of juice, and that something was preventing the docking station from delivering power directly. Like maybe for example something causing the laptop to be docked at an odd angle.
I also learned not to accidentally leave a big thick stone coaster under your laptop, right by the docking station.
Move On
Michelle learned this when she lost her job last week:
“You are easily replaced and people at work might care about you for a moment but then they move on because they’re glad it’s not them. The people who really care about you are the ones you choose to have in your life.”
Bring It In Already Going
I have learned of two different situations in which is is VERY helpful to start something on your laptop BEFORE you go into a conference room to start a meeting, if you have no lead time in the room to set up:
- When you are hosting a WebEx and there will be many people remote. You can start the meeting outside the room. When you get inside (and dial the phone ASAP!) and go on fuss with projectors, etc., the connection will already be done.
- When you will be presenting something from your laptop or from the network, you can set it all up while you are in the hall. Then the only delay is to get the projector going, not ALSO to boot up, log in, open files, etc.
I’d like at least one do-over with this lesson. Learn it here and save yourself that trouble!
Know Thy Meetings
If there is one practical thing that I have learned (or am learning) this year of blogging, it’s got to be: confirm meetings before making the 5-6 hour commute!
This week we were in the middle of switching meeting schedules for two ongoing project meetings. I thought that they both started the new schedule next week, but no, one change was this week and the other starts next week.
The lesson is that I should have double checked and/or been crisper in my questions, because I ended up coming in on the “wrong” day for my objective, which is to have as many customer meetings face-to-face as possible, within my commute schedule.
Clear Desk -> Clear Mind
I learned that having a completely clear desk makes it much easier for me to think and focus, and makes me want to sit down and work.
This is true even if the desk is clear only because I have methodically swept the contents of the desk surface into a big bag in advance of showing my office to a visitor.
Whatever.
Visio Prints using PowerPoint
Visio diagrams are just NEVER going to print right on my 1990’s ink jet printer. So after spending a long fruitless time trying to make that happen, I learned that I can just copy manageable chunks of the Visio to Powerpoint slides, and just print from there.
It worked like a charm!
Jane's Lessons Learned 