After learning that I purchased a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC last month (thanks to Mike at TLC), Bruce Elgort asked me to comment on the types of business people that can benefit from a Tablet. As I've been using my Tablet over the past month, I've been thinking about how to respond. I see five main groupings:
- Business People that Spend Lots of Time in Meetings ... and need to take notes, sketch out ideas, and capture action points and reminders. A notebook PC on the meeting table does create a physical barrier that is generally unhelpful, whereas lying a Tablet flat on the desk or holding it on your knee provides a way of capturing notes without that barrier. As you move from meeting to meeting, you have a complete history of all your meeting notes with you for ready reference when needed. Collaborative note taking, such as through the use of Microsoft OneNote Shared Sessions, would be particularly useful in the following types of meetings:
- Supplier Negotiation Meetings: Your side can co-create a single version of the truth when interacting with representatives from the supplier, including posing questions that someone else could ask to clarify a point or seek further information. A OneNote Shared Session would provide an invisible collaborative back-channel directly in the meeting room, and enable the coordination of joint action without requiring private verbal exchanges.
- Software Requirements Gathering and Confirmation: You are working with an external software development organization, and you have regular sessions to gather requirements and confirm progress. Whereas each side currently takes their own notes, a OneNote Shared Session would enable both sides to work together on a single version of the truth. The OneNote page could also be projected onto the wall, so that everyone in the meeting could see what was being committed as the conversation proceeded.
- Business People that use Sketches and Drawings to Communicate ... Product Managers, Designers, Strategists, and even the odd remaining Middle Managers use more than just text to communicate their thoughts. A Tablet enables them to draw directly in the context of what they are working on, and then the ability to seamlessly share that with others. Work doesn't have to be digitized and then sent later; it can be done in context of the actual work and workflow. Mindjet's MindManager X5 is a favorite application of mine (and many others with Tablets) for visual thinking and planning, and Microsoft OneNote enables the intermingling of freeform drawings with text.
- Business People that Lead Seminars, Courses and Workshops ... have been using notebook PCs and datashows for years, but a Tablet can add greater "humanness" to the leadership of the session. When I presented my 7 Pillars of IT-Enabled Team Productivity Workshop for IT Professionals at CTC 2005 in New York last month I used OneNote to map out the session objectives. These were projected via datashow onto one of the two displays I had for the day. There is a certain clinicalness in typing such material onto a notebook PC, although there is always the option of writing it onto a flipchart or whiteboard. Those latter two are okay, but involve you turning your back to those in the workshop. I've never liked that aspect of using a whiteboard ... and so a Tablet PC connected wirelessly to another notebook that's powering the datashow enables you to keep looking at the people you are working with, or even to walk away from the podium and sit in their midst while they give feedback and provide comments.
- Business People who Review and Edit Letters, Documents and Other Papers. Does this scenario sound familiar? You get sent a document to review, and the author wants written feedback. You print the document out, take your red pen, and go through it to mark up comments, questions, and points of clarification. You then swivel back to your computer, and transcribe your comments as text into the electronic version before sending it back. Doing the transcription piece takes just as long, if not twice as long, as the original red pen mark up. A Tablet enables you review a document on screen with a "red" pen in hand, and then send it back just like it is. You don't have to transcribe anything into text, and the author gets your feedback in a form that looks natural. If you are reviewing and commenting on 3-4 documents a week the old way, then a Tablet PC will make an immediate and ongoing productivity improvement in your work.
- Business People that Like to Use a Whiteboard for Communicating and Sharing Information. Building on the seminar and workshop point above, a Tablet can be a replacement for using a whiteboard in a meeting. Get two computers ... a notebook PC to power the datashow, a cross-over cable, and a Tablet PC. Start a OneNote Shared Session, sit around the desk with the others in the meeting, and pass the Tablet to whomever wants to graphically or textually contribute to the meeting. Thoughts are immediately displayed on the wall, and you have been able to remain seated and involved in the give-and-take of the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, you already have an electronic edition of the meeting notes that is easy to share with others via a collaborative workspace or email.
In conclusion, I don't think that every business person needs a Tablet PC, but I am firmly of the opinion that adoption will trend upwards in the next 2-3 years. And if Apple releases a Tablet Mac, like I hope it will, then I'm betting that Michael Hyatt will be one of the first on the block to acquire one.
What Do You Think?
Do you use a Tablet PC at work? Do you see promise or peril ahead? Please share your thoughts in a comment below or via an email to me.
