Last time [in Part 1] we looked at defining our terms and got a little into the history of why anyone would ask such a question. I also started out pointing out one of the first problems of a digital schedule and it is one that should not be a problem. Unity. If you use multiple devices and locations then it is hard to keep things synced and unified. One solution to this is pretty simple… Keep everything in one place that you have with you always [cough]your phone[/cough].

Today, however, it is time to look at some of the more serious issues that digital scheduling might pose. Including privacy concerns, backups, and access. Access is related to what we talked about last week but it is not the same. With that said let’s start with access.

* Side note I wrote 90% of this 3 years ago

Access:

Can You Get Your Schedule When Needed?

Innocent enough question right? But I have some more innocent questions to go with this one. Such as what if your phone battery dies? What if that happens and you don’t have your laptop with you? etc… However, in today’s environment, it seems if one lets their phone die they are likely irresponsible… Now before you burn me at the stake these are not the words of someone that would judge you as irresponsible, but rather that it is my observation from letting my phone die on occasion that is what many others think. Now I don’t do that.

Before I take this too far down the wrong path the point is about access. Can you get your schedule when you need it? Can you make changes quickly and succinctly in a way that doesn’t interrupt? For the most part, this is not a big deal and most people are fine in today’s society just whipping their phones out and making changes in the middle of a conversation. As for access, I don’t have much of a leg to stand on here for claiming this to be a real issue. Most people have access whenever they want.

The overarching truth here is a simple one. Digital with all of it’s issues can in general be easier to access. The way we live our always-connected lives now I’m willing to bet you have your phone within arms reach. I’m also willing to bet that rarely changes throughout the day. As a matter of fact my actual bet here is you are more likely to forget your keys or wallet than your cell phone. I know I am.

Privacy Concerns:

Who Really Has Access?

Coming off a bit about when you have access what about others? Here things get a little more interesting… Your schedule is not something you often think of as being overly private. For me I have in the past wished my family or others would look at my schedule just so I could hear them say “man your busy” or “wow, good job”… LOL at that notion; we are all busy.

The truth is when it comes to our co-workers, friends, and family letting them have access to what we have going on can be a good thing. It can help keep us from overbooking and limit requests when we already are close to being overbooked. But what I am talking about here is the scare word every security professional runs to hackers. I’m sure most of us wouldn’t care all too much if some kid in Burkina Faso looked at our schedules, but what if instead they went in and deleted things? Or possibly worse added things you were avoiding?

Calendar Spam It’s All The New Rage

* Thank goodness this little practice went away quickly. I’m sure it still happens, but thankfully I haven’t had to deal with it much.

What if instead you just found random inserts into your calendar and the best part is they are from people you don’t know?

Fears aside. You can relax in knowing whatever problems you run into it is a little bit easier to do things like have a ‘Family Holiday Calendar’ shared across everyone so people can organize and visit. I know I wouldn’t want to miss a free meal so now with this feature I can pack in 1 to 2 extra Thanks Giving helpings LOL

Competitive Advantages

Let’s take things wholly different direction for just a moment and say that it was a business competitor that gained access to your calendar. I could imagine how funny you might find it if you suddenly found a lot of appointments you had with business clients were moved to say 1hr away from their original location. Then your lovely competitor just needs to show up to take your place.

This wouldn’t work under a lot of real-world conditions, but you really could ruin someone’s reputation at least for the short term simply by deleting a bunch of meetings, deadlines, or other appointments. However, I say short term because most people are going to pretty quickly stop trusting their phone and start writing things down.

Really what I’m getting at here is I think having a system to meet with people or follow-up with a client for business is a must. * (Some New York hot shot is wondering if I’m from Bedrock and my last name is Flintstone) I’ve learned since I wrote this how normal this is in a lot of different businesses. One of my favorite new sayings I learned for a New Yorker is, “why weren’t you here yesterday?” Although, I’m not going to live that way.

Backups:

What If The World Power Grid Fails?

hhhmmmm

What If The Internet Fails?

again hhhmmmm

The point of these 2 questions should be obvious. They won’t happen, and if they did you have bigger problems than missing your scheduled 40 min of watching The Office before bed. Proper use of today’s digital calendars pretty much ensures you are not going to lose anything. Which brings up some interesting points I will explore in the future.

I have a post ready that starts in on the paper side of things, and once we are done looking at schedules I have several posts about notes, and then pictures and video. I plan to update links as I go.