Moleskine musings are notes that tend to get into my small Moleskine diary

Life is short. You really don’t know what is going to happen next so it is most logical to make the most of today. Be content and happy. No time for regrets. Keep it simple, get on with it and get it done.

According to Stone, she first noticed the email apnea phenomenon in herself, as she was checking her email one day. Stone realized that she was holding her breath as she sifted through her inbox, as her brain whirled and she tried to figure out where to file things, what to respond to, and how to deal with the assortment of emails which arrives every morning. Once she noticed her own email apnea, Stone started looking around her, and she noted that other people apparently did the same thing, breathing shallowly, hyperventilating, or not breathing at all while checking their emails, using their phones, and engaging in similar tasks.

Read more about email apnea

I would assume this happens more often in the morning when we strive to check our mails before anything else - have they replied? did something go wrong? do I need to reply to this person right away? how am I going to sift through so many emails? etc… What could work is to become aware of the amount of information coming in and then going through/ replying to the ones that matter today. Other stuff can wait for a day or two. ‘Urgent’ and ‘real-time’ are overrated words.

Our founder, Sahil Parikh, pens down his thoughts on starting businesses and cloud computing tools at PrudentCloud.

Startups are a rage in emerging economies. Look at India, China or Brazil, you will find hundreds of startups sprouting all across the country. It just has become so easy to start and market a web business (even in developing countries) – increased broadband penetration, inexpensive computers, smart-phones, easy access to the Internet, free-for-all social networking tools and above all, the availability of software tools that were either out of the reach of a small business or expensive and cumbersome to setup.

Startups today have no IT infrastructure of their own. They are lean, agile, and small. They work virtually using applications that are hosted in the Cloud. According to Wikipedia, a typical Cloud Computing provider deliver common business applications online which are accessed from another web service or software like a web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

You can crank up your startup idea over a weekend and automate every essential function of the business by using services in the Cloud. Here is a blueprint on how to achieve utopia:

Read the entire article here…

Unlike email marketing tools like MailChimp, iContact or ConstantContact, one of the key challenges of adopting a collaborative app like DeskAway is that its value is directly proportional to the number of people using it within your team. The more the merrier. However, realistically, there are chances that even though everyone buys into the concept of using a web-based app, some people might not log into the system to update their milestones or check off their tasks. A vision for a company-wide system to manage and track work remains a dream. See if these 5 things can help you get the ball rolling…forever.

#1 Send out an email or discuss in live with your team as to why you have chosen the application and its advantage over email. Spell out why email is a poor collaboration tool for working in projects where multiple people are involved.

#2 Show examples of other apps. Most people are familiar with a CRM (customer relationship management) app. If a CRM app can track your sales, a project collaboration app can track your work (internal as well as client-driven).

#3 Manage expectations. What can people expect from using the app. Clarity? Accountability? Time savings? Control? Doing more with less? etc.

#4 Start small. Have a few evangelists use the app for a few internal projects. Slowly, let them infect every one else.

#5 Don’t force. It doesn’t work with anyone.

Pulse of Technology, is a blog for Tech enthusiasts. They recently featured DeskAway’s founder Sahil parikh talking  on Cloud Computing Services.

India aims to become the fastest growing economy in 2010. How can a growing small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) benefit with this new technology trend?

That is exactly the area my book will be addressing. Small businesses will now have the ability to use the same tools and techniques that larger companies enjoyed for years. They can leverage Web 2.0/ Social Media tools to connect with prospects / customers, build their brand, and use Enterprise 2.0 tools to automate systems within their workplace using free, inexpensive and simple tools.

Can Deskaway cater to the project management needs of small & mid size companies of non IT sector say manufacturing?

Absolutely. In fact, besides technology companies, DeskAway users are from manufacturing, healthcare, non-profits, accounting etc. We are seeing more and more teams move away from email as a primary form of collaboration (sharing files, delegating tasks, planning work etc.) and use a web-based application.

Read More.

Thanks Basant from Techno-Pulse!!