Don’t Underestimate The Importance Of Ergonomics

by David Cassel / Sep 15

I learned the hard way about power supplies. I was part of a team interviewing the top executives in our various branches for a major overhaul of the company’s budget, and 20 minutes into the first meeting, my laptop’s battery went dead. I scrambled for an outlet and completed a re-boot, but I ended up losing everything after the last time I’d saved my notes. (Fortunately, we’d brought a cheap digital recorder to the meeting — which became the ultimate backup system. One of my co-workers would even listen to our recordings of the meeting during her commute!) After that I created a mental checklist for the future — “network cord, power cord, tape recorder” — but fortunately, the laptop’s carrying case had a separate pouch for each one.

The project required visiting different offices, but they were all equipped for full and secure network access, so connectivity was never the problem. (Vint Cerf once said the internet would become so ubiquitous that it will disappear — and that was certainly true for us.) Ergonomics were a bigger concern, since there was usually only obvious choice — a set of identical chairs clustered around a single meeting table. If we had to work in a remote location, the easiest solution was to ask our hosts if they had a dedicated workstation that was set up for guests. It was usually possible to score a “real” chair in a real cubicle — one where that could be adjusted for a better ergonomic fit.

I work in California, which has strict regulations about workplace ergonomics. But my company had a dedicated health and safety officer who always seemed pleased when someone wanted to make their workstation more ergonomically friendly. The best advice for ergonomic issues is always to take them seriously. For example, I used to use my laptop bag as a second suitcase, using its pockets to carry all the catalogs and brochures that were given to me at conferences. I eventually learned to travel light, since the extra weight goes straight to your shoulder — and it’s never ergonomic to carry a large weight on one side of your body. The shoulder strap always felt uncomfortable, and when I was carrying my sweater, I’d fold it up and tuck it under the strap to make it softer. And I could never get used to the trackpad, so I brought along a full-sized USB mouse that I can plug into the laptop.

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