I think I've been paperless for nearly two years, actually, with the exception of the meeting materials I can't get members of my department to send me electronically. In 2003, as I was forcing myself to wait a year to buy a TabletPC, I was getting more and more indignant about the amount of paper my group (PC support) was going through on a daily basis. It seemed that someone found even more paperwork for us to do every time I turned around. I had two problems with this: 1) I was concerned about the trees; and 2) I kept losing those darned pieces of paper!
Here's how a tech at my workplace could end up using paper during the workday:
- Print a summary of a support call assigned to him/her. The summary contains info about the user location, contact information, PC identifier and the note of the request or complaint. It's also useful for jotting down notes for the work log when updating the call in the help desk database.
- Inventory forms had to be submitted if a machine changed locations or users (or vice versa).
- Software installation and data backup/restoration checklists when doing OS reloads PC or when switching a user to a new machine; these had to be signed by the technician and the user.
- Instructions for installing specialized software or hardware (often, this included information on who to contact for assistance)
- After researching an unusual problem on a knowledge base or tech forum, print out the fix to take to the troubled computer.
- Time trackers
- Submit formal requests for time off
I don't print any of this stuff anymore. Some of these, I stopped printing before I got my Tablet; I had a little help from my department in some of it, as well. My next post will go into how I have achieved anti-paper snobbery.
Oh, and if you don't know what I'm blathering on about, then you've somehow missed reading about the paperless challenges of Eric Mack and Tracy Hooten.