In May, Slaughter Development’s founder, Robby Slaughter, compared productivity in technology to that of Murphy’s Law: “If it can go wrong, it will.” Yet, he suggests there are steps that can ensure better, more efficient use of your computer.

In a guest post published on the Golden Technologies Blog, Slaughter educated readers on three separate ways they can achieve productivity despite particular shortcomings in technological understanding. Below are his tips:

• Figure out what can go wrong: If you’ve personally experienced catastrophic issues with computers, this is easy to do: just think about your worst experiences. But even if your computer productivity problems mostly take place in nightmares, it’s still not that difficult to come up with scenarios. A machine could be stolen or irreparably damaged. Files could become corrupt or go missing. Services could grind to a halt. A mission critical software feature could suddenly stop working. It’s not too tough to think of what could go wrong, and doing so is the first step.
• Take simple, preventative actions. You should rely an expert IT team and legal team to mitigate major organizational risks. But as an individual, you can give yourself a great deal of comfort by preventing major issues on your own. Make a copy of your most critical documents and put them on a USB disk inside a locked drawer at your desk. If you’re working on a major document on deadline, frequently save extra copies with the current time and date in the file name. If there’s a chance you might run out of toner and paper, always keep extra reserves in a cabinet. Take steps on your own to prevent the  worst from happening!
• Look for patterns – If you find yourself repeating the same task over and over again on the computer, take note of the steps involved. You may be inadvertently taking the long way around, or a technology expert might be able to help you automate your work. If you record these patterns—and then show them off to others—you may just  a smarter, faster way to work.

Achieving productivity at work isn’t just about being organized and getting specific tasks done. It’s also about establishing workflow that leaves you prepared ahead of time for future projects, events and even problems. If you’d like to learn more about how Slaughter Development can help you, check out our services.

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