How to Choose Your Medium Wisely

Guest Post by Stew Friedman

When Stevie Wonder first sang "I just called to say I love you," no one wondered whether he would have been better off tweeting his message instead of picking up the phone. Not so today.

Recently, in my Wharton MBA course on leadership from the point of view of the whole person, we grappled with the challenge of how to choose among the various media options available today for connecting with important people in all the different parts of your life. We came up with 17 different media currently in use for interpersonal contact, including face-to-face (verbal and non-verbal), phone, email, snail mail, text and video messaging, blogs, podcasts, online forums, even music sharing and online gaming, among others. Quite a few of these did not even exist ten years ago, reminding us that we are all still very much in learning mode when it comes to the social and psychological principles and methods we need to take advantage of the incredibly powerful, and sometimes bewildering, array of choices we have.

Digital technology has added both relief and stress to our lives. These tools can make it easier to move rapidly from one part of life to another and give rapid access to the people who need you. And you can broadcast with them, making communication extremely efficient. Yet instead of realizing all the potential benefits, most people find themselves trapped by the demands imposed by the enormous amount of information surrounding them every hour of every day. A thought experiment: If I told you right now that you had to give up all your digital devices for the next day, how would you feel? Relieved? Terrified? We've become enormously dependent on these tools, and yet we've not spent nearly enough time thinking about how best to use them so that we gain the benefits while keeping them from reducing the quality of our lives.

People complain that using new technologies reduces social interaction and sense of community while others rant about being expected to be available for work 24/7 with zero response-time to urgent messages. While the promise of new media is freedom, choice, and control, the reality for most is crippling overload. On the employer side, many bosses wonder whether people are really working when they are connecting virtually. They also worry about how to foster team spirit when the "team" is invisible. Finally, when performance is measured the old-fashioned way (by time spent in an office) and not on the basis of results (no matter where and when they are produced), digital communications can seem to undermine productivity.

But what if you could use the media available to you to build trust and gain greater flexibility? And what if you could do this without being enslaved and constantly bombarded by your Blackberry, iPhone, laptop, or whatever? You'd feel more whole, better able to integrate the diverse pieces of the social puzzle in your life.

You can learn to use new media to shift time and place in ways that work for all your key stakeholders, including yourself. But the intelligent use of the various media we now have isn't just a matter of doing more digital. Rather, it's a matter of more consciously allocating your use of different modes of communication: for example, making face-to-face communication a priority for those stakeholders with whom it's needed, while using digital less. It all depends on what's going to work best for you and for them.

Studying your forms of interaction will help you generate ideas for how you might capitalize on the benefits of each communication mode (e.g., face-to-face is best when trust is on the line) while minimizing the liabilities (e.g., emails can miss nuances better conveyed on the phone or in person). This might mean shifting to more in-person time with certain stakeholders (such as your children or clients) and less with others (such as with your boss or the people who report to you) while taking advantage of the flexibility of virtual media as a means of staying connected with others.

Here's one way to stimulate creative thinking about exploiting various forms of communication. Think about the media you use to communicate with the five most important people or groups at work, at home, and in your community. For each of these stakeholders, estimate the percentage of your interaction time that is conducted through each of the following forms of communication: face-to-face(F2F), virtual synchronous (shifting place but not time, such as phone, IM, and videoconferencing), and virtual asynchronous (shifting both time and place, such as voicemail and email) communication. For example, you might spend 50% in F2F with your boss, 20% with her on the phone, and 30% by email and voicemail. After you do this analysis, look for patterns. Consider how using different forms of communication affects your capacity to achieve your goals in each part of your life and to align them better by asking these questions:

• What opportunities are there for you to use different forms of communication more effectively?
• Are there stakeholders with whom you should be devoting more time F2F and others less?
• With whom would it be better to use virtual more regularly?

The real value in this analysis is to become more aware of media preferences (yours and theirs) and to learn more about how you can be more effective in meeting expectations by using a given medium. Look for opportunities to explain to your people why you have a preference for one medium over another for certain kinds of communications. For example, if you prefer email, and can justify it as the option of choice to a friend, your father, or a co-worker, that conversation about your preferences will probably make the entire process of communicating go more smoothly. The technology choice should be based on a mutual understanding about why, how, and when you're going to communicate.

Staying mindful of the preferences others have means looking for chances to talk about when, where, and how you use different media to stay connected, including when you're available and when you're not. You might, for instance, discuss what it would be like to shut off the digital information stream for a specific period — even for just an hour or two — to focus your attention entirely on one thing.

With so many options, there are plenty of opportunities for you to experiment, even just for a week or so, with how you use media. Try something different, with the deliberate goal of performing more effectively in all the different parts of your life, and see what happens.

This article originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review on March 12,  2010.

About the author:

Stewart D. Friedman is Practice Professor of Management at the Wharton School. The former head of Ford Motor's Leadership Development Center, he is the author of Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life. For more, visit www.totalleadership.org.

How to Fight TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION

Don't laugh.

Technology addiction is very real and very harmful.

It consumes thousands of people from every walk of life - even lawyers. Tech addicts report being RESTLESS when they're not sitting at a keyboard or holding their smart phones. And, when they're at the computer, they lose all sense of time. Their family and friends are often NEGLECTED.

Technology addiction is such a growing problem that experts have opened up the first residential treatment center in the United States. A $14,000 45-day stay at ReStart in Seattle can help people kick the habit of pathological computer and smart phone use.

Addiction Warning Signs

If you feel you have a handle on your technology use - think again. Just look at the TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION WARNING SIGNS:

• Preoccupation with thoughts of the Internet.
• Using the computer or smart phone longer than intended for increasing amounts of time.
• Repeatedly making unsuccessful efforts to control use.
• Putting time online before school or work.

Think about people - lawyers especially - who take calls, send text messages, or obsessively check their emails throughout the day and night.  Maybe I'm describing you!

If you're teched-out lifestyle is wreaking havoc on your work-life balance, here are some ways to UNPLUG.

1. Restrictions

Put some restrictions on yourself when it comes to handing out your cell phone number. Give the number out to the most important clients and colleagues.  This will cut down on the number of calls you receive, especially at night or during vacation.

2.  Turn the smart phone OFF at home!

Emails come in on smart phones day and night. You DO NOT have to check them from home at 11 o'clock at night. Those emails will still be there in the morning.

Turn off your iPhone or BlackBerry at a set time every night. Remember, your nights belong to you - not your clients!

3. Set realistic email expectations.

You should not have to respond to client emails immediately. Instead, have your retainer agreement state that client emails will be responded to within "x" amount of time, unless the sender receives an "away" message. That message, in turn, should indicate how long you will be out of reach and whom to contact in an emergency.

These types of provisions will allow you to carve out more private time.

4.  Unplug at work.

Many people get sidelined while preparing for important presentations or cases because they feel the need to respond to emails or browse the Internet.

Stop!

If there is a project that has to get done, turn off the email notification sound and pop-up window. Or, better yet, close Outlook so you aren't even tempted to wander from the task at hand. The same applies to smart phones.

Don't be chained to technology! Break the chains by setting your own hard and fast rules.

UNWIRE today before you become UNGLUED!

Navigate through almost any social networking site, like Twitter, and you'll find keywords or phrases next to posts and updates.

These terms are called tags, and they are often preceded with a # sign.

Web tag users have embraced tagging as a way to classify content, making it easy for others to find and share that content on the Internet. People use tags to catalog blog posts, articles, and bookmark Websites.

How does tagging work?

As opposed to being forced to  choose from a predefined list of vocabulary terms, people choose the terms that make the most logical sense to them based on the topics they are writing about, their use of language, or how they want to assemble collections of comments that accumulate around a particular post.

On Twitter, you'll find what's called collective web tagging - or INDEXING - where concepts and important keywords begin to merge together. Simply search for a keyword tag, such as "#marketing", and you'll find every tweet imaginable that includes that topic and tag.

It's that simple!

But since tagging is a personal classification system, naturally you'll need your only tagging style. Here are five tagging tips to help make your style more user-friendly.

1. Be consistent.

Be as consistent as possible when applying tag terms. Decide whether you'll use singular or plural  words, nouns and/or verbs.

Find a preferred style and stick to it!

2. Don't repeat terms.

Tagging is designed to fill gaps where traditional categories leave off.  So, for example, try to use terms or phrases that are relevant to your content but not mentioned in the body.

Avoid repeating the same terms, or applying different stems (e.g., "-ed" or "-ing") to the same word.

3. Use multiple tags at a time.

As many as 10 tags may be appropriate to convey both the content and the concepts in your content. But remember, you don't want to replicate terms that are already embedded within the content.

4. Limit abbreviations.

Make sure abbreviations or acronyms are recognizable.  For example, the tag "ALA" is an acronym for the the American Library Association and the Association of Legal Administrators.

5. Consider the search engines.

Any time tags are applied to a public Web collection, term aggregation pages will show up in the search results and become new entry points into the collection.  Select tags based on your audience's familiarity with the terms. Obscure tags will get little or no attention.

Tagging is a user-driven and unique approach to classifying information.

It's new and far different from anything we've ever seen before. But, like most Web 2.0 tools and technology, tagging should be embraced and used -often.

Think of tagging as another tool to get yourself seen on the Internet.

And, it's free!

Must-Have iPhone Applications for Busy Lawyers

Some of the best apps for lawyers come with the Apple iPhone.

Sure, there are some BlackBerry apps for lawyers that are mighty convenient. But iPhone users insist the following apps take the cake when it comes practice management and social media marketing.

1. QuickOffice. The key feature is the ability to edit Word and Spreadsheet documents.
2. Cliff Maier reference apps allow you to access tax codes, patent laws, civil and appellate produces.
3. DaysFrom. This is a quick and easy way to count days. For example, you can count 20 days, 100 days, etc. either forward or backwards from a specific date.
4. Wikipanion. This free app lets you quickly find information on Wikipedia.
5. Google Mobile App. Its voice activation feature makes searching on the go fast and convenient.
6. Various weather apps. The Weather Channel and AccuWeather apps are great for lawyers who travel.
7. A Twitter client. Check out Twitterific or Tweetie for managing one or multiple Twitter accounts. This is ideal for lawyers who do a lot of social media marketing.
8. Facebook. Facebook’s iPhone app is a convenient way to keep in touch with friends from college and law school.
9. Black’s Law Dictionary. This is a personal favorite for many lawyers, but is more expensive than other iPhone apps - $50.
10. NetNewsWire. A great free app for quickly reading RSS feeds to keep up with websites and blogs.

Of course, there are literally thousands of iPhone applications available at the iPhone app marketplace.

Which applications are YOUR favorites?

We live in a tech-crazed, crash-strapped world.

We need technology to increase productivity, cut costs, and to make our lives easier.

We also need to get the most for our buck!

IT consultant Ben Schorr, author of Free and Low Cost Technology Tips for Solos, offers these tips for budget-conscious professionals.

1. Podcasts.

Podcasts are like recorded radio shows.

You can download them for FREE to your MP3 player or to your computer and listen whenever you like.

There are podcasts on just about every subject, including politics, government, law practice management, technology, science. They can be great sources of information, handy to listen to at the gym, on your morning commute, or even while working at your desk.

2. Get automated with AutoHotKey.

Are you sick of navigating through the computer's start menu to find your favorite program?

Are you tried of typing a certain phrase or sentence over and over?

AutoHotKey can automate all of this for you. It's FREE... and it works across multiple programs.

3. Make the most of your mouse.

Did you know that you can program the wheel and side buttons on your mouse for other commands, like delete and cut/copy?

In many cases, the buttons can actually be programmed to do different things in different programs!

If you don’t have a mouse with these capabilities, there are a number of them readily available from popular computer retailers. Check out Microsoft's Intellimouse and the Logitech M500.

4.  Get FREE safe software.

Before you shell out big bucks on anitvirus and antispyware software, take a look at Microsoft Security Essentials.

It's FREE for home users and home-based small businesses.

5. Knowledge is power.

If you have a little extra time in your day, dig into the manuals (or online forums) for the software products you use in your practice. One good Outlook, Word, Excel, Time Matters, or TABS3 trick that you didn’t know before could improve the way you practice and make you a little more profitable.

When it comes to technology don't become a creature of habit!

Learning just a few new tricks may save you a lot of time, money and headaches down the road.

Big changes are coming to powerhouse legal research sites Westlaw and LexisNexis.

Ashlee Vance at the New York Times reports that in effort to keep up with the likes of web services offered by Google and Microsoft, Westlaw and LexisNexis will undergo some modifications in order to make it easier and faster for lawyers to search for the documents they need.

The highlights:

• Better-looking interfaces
• More relevant search results
• New tools for document sharing

What won't change are the fees.

Westlaw and LexisNexis will still charge lawyers and researchers to go online to find court cases and other legal documents.

For more on these modifications and when they'll be introduced, read Legal Sites Plan Overhaul as Rivals Compete on Price.

With the legal industry in a state of flux, one thing's for certain: Westlaw and Lexis are on a mission to keep up with the times - and to ensure that they won't disappear anytime soon.

It seems all of us have some sort of love-hate relationship with our email inboxes.

We hate the time management issues associated with email overwhelm, yet we can't bare to live without our accounts.

We love email simply because it's the easiest and fastest way to communicate with clients and colleagues.

Unfortunately, though, it can also be DANGEROUS.

There are email security loopholes that may very well put you and your firm in ethical hot water.

Before you hit Send - here are 12 ways you can guard against costly email security dangers.

1. Be aware of metadata.

When you create or edit just about any document on your computer (like Microsoft Word, MS Excel or Corel WordPerfect files), hidden information about you and the edits you make is automatically created within the document file. This information is called metadata—which can be simply described as “data about data.” It is dangerous because it can include past edits, deleted text or tracked changes, and information about others who work on the document—the kinds of things you likely don’t want the client or opposing counsel to see. Thus, if you are emailing documents in native format to others, you may be unwittingly sending confidential information to them.

2. Know how to remove metadata from documents.

Converting files to PDF with Adobe Acrobat or other PDF creators will usually strip out most metadata.  For this reason, many firms have adopted a practice of sending only locked PDF documents to clients or opposing counsel, especially if the recipient doesn’t need to edit the document. Also, newer versions of Microsoft Office include features that can identify and strip metadata from documents created in Office applications.

3. Don't share or compromise passwords.

You wouldn’t give your house key to a complete stranger, so don’t do the same with your passwords!

4. Beware of email address Auto-Complete.

Having your email software automatically fill in recipients’ addresses is certainly helpful when it comes to saving a few keystrokes or having to remember an e-mail address. But it is also a recipe for disaster.

Too often we are hurried and do not confirm an address that the software has filled in before hitting Send.  Just about everyone who has used the Auto-Complete function will tell you they’ve accidentally sent an email to the wrong person. Save yourself the potential exposure to a confidentiality breach by turning Auto-Complete off.

5. Who is james007@aol.com?

When adding email addresses to your contacts list, you want to enter full names so it is obvious who a message is going to, since the contact’s full name will then appear in your "To" line.

6. Double-check before you hit Send.

Before you touch that Send button, you should make it a practice of always checking and verifying that the email addresses in the "To" field.

7. Check your spam box daily.

Spam filters are essential for keeping junk mail out of your inbox. But they can be dangerous, too, because they can erroneously catch a message from your client, opposing counsel, the court or the like. This is called a "FALSE POSITIVE." So if you don’t check your spam box daily, you could miss an important message.

Most spam filters let you create a "WHITE LIST" of parties you know and trust so messages from them will never be stopped.

8. Don't assume that an email was delivered.

In addition to spam, there are a number of reasons why your email may not be delivered - email server problems, a wrong email address, or the message went through but the person didn’t open it, just to name a few.

You should always follow up on important messages that you send, and you should always reply to important messages sent to you (even if it is just an initial acknowledgment of receipt). This way everyone involved knows that critical emails have been safely received.

9. Don't use the "Remember Me" feature.

It is so tempting to let Windows and other computer applications remember YOUR LOGIN NAMES AND PASSWORDS. However, while it may make sense for your Twitter access, you should never have Windows or other programs remember your password for access to any program or system that has sensitive or confidential information in it (as in your computer login, accounting systems, bank accounts, practice management software access and so on).

In the law firm context, this is especially critical for those who use the family computer at home. Letting Windows remember a username and password gives anyone sitting at that computer full access to the program and all the data in it.

10. Never use a public computer to log on to your firm's network.

Public computers (like those in libraries and hotel business centers) often have SPYWARE on them that surreptitiously captures login names, passwords and other data typed in by people using them. That information can be used to compromise the integrity of your network and leave you open to breaches of attorney- client confidentiality. For this reason, typing user names, passwords or other confidential information on a public computer is an absolute do-not-do.

11. Screen remote users.

A compromised computer that has remote access credentials can bypass firm security and let bad guys or malware get on to your firm network. Require all remote users to have the same level of Internet security on their computers as the law firm has on itscomputers. Any computer seeking to access your network must use firewalls, anti-virus software, anti-spyware protections and the like.

12. Enforce and update your technology use policy.

Every law office should have an up-to-date and enforced technology use policy. The policy should clearly state what people can and can’t do when using office computers and when working on client matters on computers outside the firm’s walls.

Remember, technology can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

Don't let yourself, your data, or your firm fall victim to a costly email mistake!

These simple steps are your best protection against future malpractice headaches.

Adapted from: Costly Technology Gotchas - A Dozen Tips for Email Security and More, Law Practice Magazine (March 2009), Dan Pinnington & Reid Trautz

Top 10 Applications to Keep You Organized, In Touch, and Online.

Walk into any law firm and chances are you'll find many attorneys carrying around a BlackBerry.

Unlike Apple iPhones, BlackBerrys are the smart phone of choice among lawyers simply because of their texting capabilities.  Punching in an email is a breeze.

And now, thanks to some incredible applications, BlackBerrys can cater to lawyers on an even higher level - keeping them more organized and in touch.

Here is a list of the top BlackBerry apps for lawyers as recommended by The Young Texas Lawyer.

1. The Law Pod - View the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence and the U.S. Constitution all on your phone.
2. LawPDA - State statutes for California, Texas, and Florida.
3. DateMathica - Helps you figure out the date of a deadline so you don’t miss it. See how many days you have left until a deadline. Easy to use and accurate.
4. BizTrackIt - Simple to use, project-based, time tracking tool. Only provides the functionality you really need to track your time painlessly so you don’t miss out on a single billable hour. Just select a project from a list you create, clock in and clock out.
5. WikiPock - Allows you to search and read the wiki encyclopedia articles without an internet connection (offline). All the articles are stored in your mobile phone’s memory so there is no need to download anything from the network. Over 2.8 million articles in English
6. Evernote - Allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.
7. RDM+ - Remotely access your computer, even through NAT and Firewall from your phone. You can send and receive emails, edit word documents, surf web, manage files and folders and do hundreds of other things that you usually do sitting in front of your home or office computer.
8. Google Maps - Offers most of what you love about the desktop version—including satellite views, turn-by-turn directions, and local business searching—and adds a GPS-enabled, location-based search component for use with your BlackBerry.
9. WorldMate Live - Lets you check flight status, book hotels, connect with friends, and share your itineraries right from your phone. There’s also a currency converter, a time zone calculator, and BlackBerry Maps integration.
10. Quick Pull - Offers the same functionality as pulling your battery and can even be scheduled to do so at predetermined times. Sometimes your Blackberry will begin to slow down and this is a quick way to reset it and start fresh.

All of these applications can be found at the  Blackberry App World marketplace - and are guaranteed to get the job done, even for a busy lawyer.

If you're a successful, practicing attorney who's tired of working out of a stale office or dealing with daunting staff issues, don't despair!

Take your law practice HOME!

Sure, the thought of moving to a home office may seem a little foreign to an attorney.... but really, it's quite common and easy to set up.

Charles "Chuck" Newton, who practices law in his own virtual law firm,  writes:

"The practice of law is not about physical property, it's about intellectual property and the high tech means by which we communicate what we know in this day and age."

That said, Newton asserts that a lawyer can start a law practice at home for just a few thousand dollars, maintain it for hundreds of dollars a month, and make a reasonable living in the process.

According to Newton, here are the four crucial components you'll need in order to successfully work from home.

1. Broadband

This is the lifeblood of any home office. It's important in that it provides the connectivity that makes communication, collaboration, and paperless practices possible.

Broadband access can come from a cable subscription, DSI, WiFi, or a 3G/4G network. You'll also need a computer, of any type or model, with sufficient memory, storage, and the latest OS software to support the broadband connection.

2. Ability to operate paperlessly

You'll want to keep printing and mass copying jobs to a minimum. Newton recommends an inexpensive scanner called Fujitsu SnapScan, which - combined with an older printer - eliminates the need for a copier.

3. Backup and automated filesharing

Invest in syncing software, such as Microsoft's Live Mesh, which allows you to maintain and update files on multiple computers.

Also, inexpensive online services or content management systems (CMS), such as Basecamp, allow for easy case collaboration.  These programs allow you, or multiple users, to maintain case notes and calendars, share and archive documents, and to obtain feedback from clients and referral sources.

Need a faxing service? eFax can provide online faxing and receiving of documents.

You can also send certified mail through your computer.

4. Telephone communication

Next to broadband, person-to-person communication is crucial for legal practice. The key, however, is to effectively and cheaply make phone calls.

For calling out, you can use a traditional landline, wireless, VoIP, web-conferencing, or any combination of these.

For calling in, you may want to consider using Grand Central or Google Voice that provides you one number that rings all of your phones. These services also provide voice prompts, call screening, and allows conference calls. Onebox and Vocalocity also have similar calling services.

The life of a lawyer who has no commute, staffing issues, or business signs is really not that far-fetched.

The ability to practice law at home is attainable!

All you need is the technology - or the glue - to hold it all together.

Net-Blocking Software to Curb Bad Online Habits

It's shameful, but we're all guilty of it:  Wasteful web surfing.

How many times have you sat at the computer - with every intention of working - only to fritter the day away on the Internet?

For some of us, digital distractions include online shopping or looking at YouTube.

For others, it's visiting social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Whichever online vice you prefer, take comfort in knowing there is help to get you back on the straight and narrow.

Enter RescueTime and LeechBlock.

These applications, also called NET-BLOCKING SOFTWARE, really mean business.  In a nutshell, they are designed to block various parts of the Internet so that when your mind strays, you're stopped from giving into your unproductive ways.

First, RescueTime.

RescueTime works by keeping track of everything that happens on your computer, and then reports your habits in a series of charts and graphs.

Tech writer Farhad Manjoo recently gave RescueTime a whirl and says he found the app to be incredibly "illuminating."

"I learned, for instance, that during a typical month I spend more than 70 hours surfing the web, much of it on news and social networking sites," writes Manjoo.

By comparison, Manjoo found that he spent half as much time in Microsoft Word.

Now, if you are already aware of your bad online habits and just need some good old-fashion help taming them, then LeechBlock may be the best medicine.

LeechBlock is a free add-on for Firefox and functions like a stern nanny. Users tell the program which Web sites to keep away from them at certain times of the day, and at the appointed hour you have chosen,  LeechBlock will stop you cold.

LeechBlock is also quite flexible as it lets users block different sites at different times of the day. Or, users can set a maximum daily or hourly limit for certain sites.

Certainly, there is no way to tell whether these "digital nannies" will help you kick your bad online habits once and for all. The mind is a restless place - even for the most seasoned professional. But these net-blocking software applications can be helpful in getting you to at least consider how you waste time on the Internet.

Now, if only these apps could help tame our email inbox too.