My Grand Experiment (Part 1)

Although I am no Apple fanboy, I did preorder the original iPad, and I have to say I LOVE my iPad. However, beyond media consumption, my iPad has not "broken through" to become an essential part of my day-to-day workflow - until now. This breakthrough came as a result of a thought experiment that I took on during a recent vacation (itself the subject of another upcoming blog post).

The thought experiment was to seek out a few, very specific, high value use cases that the unique features of the iPad might be able to address in my day-to-day work life and to see if I can find my killer app for the iPad among those use cases. I am happy to say that I have found several such use cases, which I will describe in this ongoing series of posts under the title, "My Grand Experiment".

This thought experiment began with the challenge posed by a two-week vacation and "the look" that my wife gave me as I informed her that I was going to carry my laptop on our planned cruise. That look quickly inspired me to consider leaving my laptop at my office and to carry something more portable and less obtrusive. She is so accustomed to seeing me reading on my iPad, I figured why not carry that and see if it can serve my day-to-day requirements?

My conclusion, so far, is that it can, to a remarkable degree, including solving some nagging productivity issues that I have never found a reasonable way to solve with my laptop or my smartphone. This series of posts will share what I have learned so far, in the way of iPad apps, accessories, and workflow tips and techniques that are rapidly transforming my personal workflow and productivity.