You know the feeling when you leave home, and you are sure you’ll miss something, but you can’t figure out what it is. Well, I did. And I knew what I had left behind. It was my laptop.
I’m one of those people who always carry my work laptop with me, just in case. After a short weekend trip, we came home, and I was complaining to my husband about the weight of my laptop, that I should order a new one, which is lighter. He looked at me and asked if I have to take it with me? I was puzzled about the question. Why is he even asking? Of course, I have to. It’s a business trip. Like I would have any other options. After recovering from the shock, I started thinking. I’ve seen this portable universal mobile keyboard laying on our desk at the home office. It was purchased from the US, so it doesn’t have the keys I’m used to, but I can live four days without Ä and Ö. Would it work with my iPad mini? Would I survive with the combo? Without my precious laptop.
At this point, I have to confess; I’m not the sharpest user who comes to new gadgets. I got a new phone about one month ago, and I managed to prepare it ready for use last weekend while listening to a session at SharePoint Saturday in Paris. There are several bleeding-edge new gadgets and thingies accessible in our home, but my resistance towards starting to use those is pretty high. I keep on telling myself that leading change and keeping up with all at work and around Microsoft Office 365 stack is enough. At the same time, I’m a bit jealous of my husband who always brings me the news about the newest gadget innovations and eventually the gadgets as well, and keeps up with the latest from Microsoft and much more.
So this time, I decided to try and do what every responsible traveler would do. I took all the gadgets, made sure all of those are charged and started testing.
Thanks to Office 365, I can access my email and calendar, as well as all the necessary groups made for specific customer projects. Damn, it works. It’s not the winter but the end of the month is coming so I have to make sure I’ve access to our billing system. I found a link and got it working. Not the best user experience to add hours with iPad mini, but it works. I use Dropbox and OneDrive to manage my files. I realized I might need Skype, so I made sure I have Skype for business up and running for possible calls and chats coming through.
There is one thing I’m unable to do, and that creates a VPN connection to reach some company content. I don’t need that kind of content that often so I decided I can live four days without it: all set and tested — time to go. My virgin trip to a new way of working has started.
About 8 am a local time I’m happily sitting down at the Copenhagen airport with my Starbucks cappuccino and taking a deep breath. Time to see how everything works in action.
I open my email and start typing. In seconds my fingers remember where Ä and Ö are located in the keyboard, and there’s a happy surprise when I realize that there is a possibility to change keyboard type in the settings. I was able to do this, all the prep work and setting gadgets up without the help from my private IT help. I feel invincible! Well, maybe not totally, but close.
In a few minutes there comes the normal email flow and nothing can bother me — not my new keyboard nor my iPad mini. I can’t even remember that I forgot my work laptop home.
