In my most recent post I wrote a bit about what happens when I leave my office. At events I meet a lot of new people, and when out on the road I encounter objects that aren't familiar to me. It can be enlightening but it can be also dangerous and costly if time is your most precious resource (and time is the most limiting resource for populating this blog).
Here's an example of what we all try to avoid. Eric Picker came to Lausanne to give a 20-minute talk about the use of sensors and telecommunications to monitor water quality and quantity during our IoT-4-Cities workshop. His trip to Lausanne was not as smooth as it could have been but he arrived with few hours to spare. The talk was very rewarding and he met some new people and took the opportunity to get in a few hikes in Switzerland.
It was on the return trip that his flight was cancelled due to strikes by the French air traffic controllers trade union and, well, the French train system failed him as well (he missed every connection). It took two days for him to travel back to Cannes. Without incident, Geneva is one-hour away from Nice (by air).
Last week in San Francisco I was nine time zones out of synch with home base and (on the record) was there only to attend the New Digital Economics Brainstorm and chair the AR Innovator's Showcase on the same evening (March 27). I knew that in a hot bed of activity like the Bay Area, I couldn't miss the opportunity to connect with others. In the end, there were people who I couldn't catch but almost every precious minute was accounted for. Among the meetings, I had a great philosophical session with Gene Becker, another with Erik Wilde, visited the quiet offices of Quest Visual, and had lunch with the founder of Vizor (a project in stealth mode). Caught up with spirit sister Kaliya Hamlin, during which we learned about converting communities of interest into consortia with Global Inventures. I had quality sessions with representatives of Total Immersion, metaio, PRvantage, NVIDIA and The Eye Cam.
As a consultant, my value is a mixture of my knowledge about subjects and the time I have available to dispense it, to use it or to increase it. I do everything I can to manage my time. I've been to many portals and have read books on the topic of time management. Like everyone, I suppose, I try to avoid wasting time, and I use some software tools to save time. It's a topic of much interest to me but here's the ironic twist I've been reading and hearing more about recently: the more you stress about anything, including the time you have, the less of it you (may) have! For example, here, here, here and here. I hate to leave you with this negative thought but it's what's on my mind!