In the Meeting Or In Your Computer?

The New York Times has an article featuring Dean Hachamovitch (GM for Internet Explorer at Microsoft) on the use of mobile devices in meetings that focuses on issues that have been discussed in the Tabletscape for quite some time. (Do laptops create a barrier? Do Tablet PCs erase that barrier?) The article also goes into meeting etiquette when mobile devices are present and covers some recent trends. Mostly a rehash of things that have already been discussed, I point it out here because I’m seeing a growing trend in our work with our employees bringing their devices (alas, I’m still the only Tablet PC owner) and quickly doing whatever post meeting follow up they need to do before they leave the meeting site.

I’m not sure if this makes us more productive or not. It makes it easier to track follow up or follow through. But I do see it impacting our discourse occassionally in the meetings, sometimes negatively so.