As I write this, my computer sits stuck on a photo of a beautifully sculpted marble foot. It is a lovely picture from the Musee D’Orsay in Paris. But as lovely as it is, it’s not what I need to see right now. I need to see my email and my word docs and this blog post. So instead of sitting in my cozy office, I am down the hall using someone else’s computer. This computer does not have my Word files. It doesn’t have my passwords saved. And the programs are not in the places where I put them. But at least I can get some work done. It makes the computer crash a colossal inconvenience rather than a major disaster. I have painfully learned over the years the importance of back up systems and of having back up for the back ups. On a side note: to add to the fun of the day, my phone has been having troubles so the kind techs at Sprint wiped it to see if that would help (it didn’t). Much was automatically restored due to the updated technology of Google, but it highlights the risk to productivity and connection if that gets lost.

Thankfully for us creative types who don’t naturally think so systematically, it is easier than ever before these days with all of the devices and the cloud. But still, it’s good to take a step back every now and then to think about those systems and what works well. A few things to consider as you do:

-Where are your documents stored? What will happen to your work if your computer crashes and you can retrieve nothing from it?

-What programs do you have on your computer now and where are they if you can’t get on your computer and you need to restore it? Do you have the disks and the access codes readily available? It’s incredibly frustrating after wiping a computer or getting a new one to discover that you can’t get back into a favorite program.

-If your computer goes down, what will you do to get work done that day?

-If your phone goes down, how will you make and receive calls? At the moment, for instance, my land line is off line. I still have the mobile phone, and I’ve set things up so the land line will ring through to the cell for incoming calls. If that doesn’t work, I have things set up so I will at least get phone messages via emails. I can make calls out through Skype or Google Chat.

-What are your passwords? Auto fill makes it easy, but if you have to use someone else’s computer, you will need them.

-What pages do you need to visit? I, for instance, have book marked several that I go to frequently. These are log in pages with long URLS. Now I have to figure out where I got them in the first place. Thankfully, I have cloud email with a good search function.

-What do you do with the important emails ie the ones with log in pages that you may one day need to access from a different computer?

-How will you find important contacts if you were to lose your phone? Do you have alternative ways to reach people?