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February 20, 2006
Sync often
This may seem obvious, but I have found that synching my Palm handheld frequently builds trust with my system. Frequent can be different for everyone depending on how often the data is being changed on either the handheld or desktop. But I want to know that wherever I look the information is current and complete. Letting one or the other become stale means my system is only partially useful to me. So usually at least once a day I'm doing a full sync so that my calendar, contacts, to do's and memos are current.
Frequent synching also has the benefit of creating a current backup should one or the other go down. Have you ever known someone who had their Palm crash? The agony of this happening isn't so much that the device crashed--since Palms will often come back to life with a hard reset--but it's that they had not done a sync in a while and just lost the latest version of their life.
There is also a joy that comes forward for me in synching when the items I marked done get updated in both places. What a great sense of completion.
Posted by Kelly at February 20, 2006 05:43 PM
Comments
I'd argue that "often" means "more than once a day" if you use it for appointments/calendar items and Next Actions.
Posted by: Andy Cunningham at February 21, 2006 12:55 AM
I try to keep my PDA in the cradle when I'm in office so that it's syncing continuously (Pocket PC syncs automatically when in cradle) or I sync at the end of the day when I'm travelling. You're right: it builds trust in my system when I know it's up to date!
I enjoy your blog!
Posted by: Dean at February 21, 2006 08:51 AM
Thanks Dean and Andy. Also, one more thing that has made synching more effortless for me is setting up Bluetooth synching. No cable or cradles to worry about. - Kelly
Posted by: Kelly at February 21, 2006 11:31 AM
My PDA goes in my pocket when I leave the office. Gotta sync just before you leave, or calendar, task, etc (I use a GTD template in Lotus Notes)may not be accurate. Having suffered through a few crashes, I've learned this - Syncing does NOT backup everything. In particular, trying to find registration codes after a hard failure can be a nightmare.
Posted by: Dave at February 25, 2006 10:09 AM
I found out *exactly* why you should synch often. During my weekly review on Friday I reorganised my '@' contexts. Forgot to synch (as I was trying to get out of the office early) and effectively couldn't use the Palm all weekend. And I'd been unable to synch on Thursday evening as the mail server had died!
Must get a cradle!
Posted by: Steve at February 27, 2006 12:34 PM
Kelly,
Glad to see that you've got the Bluetooth working. It's MUCH slower than using a cable, but certainly convenient. I use a combo sync/charge cable with my Treo so I sync as a matter of habit. Of course, this is the same as using a cradle.
As for staying in sync, I use wireless synching ($15 data plan) so that my Treo stays in sync with the server at all times and changes on either side are pushed to the other. I set up a law firm (our law firm) this way so that anything the staff do shows up centrally and individually.
Eric
Posted by: Eric Mack at March 1, 2006 07:21 PM
Eric,
My Bluetooth synching takes about 30 seconds to do a complete sync. How fast do you get with cable? Kelly
Posted by: Kelly at March 6, 2006 08:00 AM
