The growth of mobile technology is simply staggering. According to mobiThinking, there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that translates to 77% of the world's population.) By 2014, it's expected that mobile will overtake the PC as the most popular way to access the web. People are using mobile technologies for commerce, entertainment, and productivity.

No surprise, this trend has a definite impact on business and the workplace. The International Data Corporation (IDC) has estimated that the mobile workforce will exceed 1 billion people in 2011. The reasons that businesses are moving in this direction vary - everything from cost savings and reducing the carbon footprint to attracting and retaining the top talent necessary to remain competitive.

As business talks more about mobile strategy, the conversation will not be exclusively about the hardware. In order to effectively leverage mobile technology, it's equally important to use it effectively. I recently finished reading the book "Managing the Mobile Workforce: Leading, Building, and Sustaining Virtual Teams" co-authored by Michael Kroth, associate professor of organizational learning and leadership at the University of Idaho with David Clemons, founder of Achieve Labs Inc., an educational solution connecting learning and mobile technology. The book outlines the case for developing a mobile workplace strategy and the key components for successful implementation using best practices from companies such as LEGO, Citrix and Hewlett-Packard.

As part of our ongoing focus on mobile and collaboration, Michael graciously shared with me his thoughts on the new mobile workplace.

First things first, tell me what prompted you and David to write the book?

"My friend David Clemons and I were mountain biking one day and as we enjoyed a post-ride cup of coffee and a bagel our conversation turned to the mobile workforce. His business, LearnCast, provides great easy-to-use online tools that support and enable organizations that want to go mobile. (At the time he was just getting started, today he has global clients who are rocking the world of mobile work.) My writings and interest had always been about what it takes to create healthy highly motivating work environments. We decided that day that we could learn a lot from each other and from the process of writing a book that combined the two interests. We both felt that the timing was right for this amazing movement to mobile work so decided to go for it. It's been a fabulous experience for us as friends and it's been very rewarding to contribute this incredible move to mobility that is happening worldwide."

If I'm a company considering telework, what's my big takeaway from reading the book?

"The principles of managing mobile workers are the same as for managing co-located workers - but the practices, emphases, and effort can differ. Part of the challenge of working with people who aren't right there is to realize that distance is more than geographic - it is also cultural, emotional, and social. We talk a lot about "presence" - the sense that you are there even when you aren't - as well as trust, autonomy, and motivation."

What do you feel mobile technology can bring to collaboration efforts?

"The better the technology the fewer barriers to communication; the more opportunities for sharing than there ever would be if limited to who you could get into a room or information you could find in a physical library; and the more colorful and complex the kaleidoscope of perspectives from which the group can draw."

What would readers learn about mobile collaboration from your book?

"We have a chapter about developing virtual teams where we share a different configuration of the forming, storming, norming, and performing model most folks are familiar with, and which might make more sense for virtual team development. We start the chapter by comparing virtual teambuilding to what occurs with millions of people playing online games like World of Warcraft every night. Then we share the experiences of mobile managers and thought leaders we interviewed from such places as LEGO and Hewlett-Packard. And lots more!"

Many thanks to Michael for sharing this thoughts and expertise. I really can't say enough good stuff about his book. Go check it out at Managing the Mobile Workforce.com. And you can follow Michael on Twitter.

Al Pittampalli and The Domino Project have recently published a book, "Read This Before Our Next Meeting," focused on the modern meeting and the importance it plays in businesses success. Al provides strategies on how to replace mediocre meetings with well-managed, productive meetings.

With Al's permission we have been allowed to share this exclusive excerpt from the book:

Sometimes, when I'm called into a meeting, I wonder what could possibly be so urgent that it pulls me away from my real work. As with the yellow "BREAKING NEWS" banner that appears on CNN every time I turn it on, I'm skeptical. And after the meeting is over and I'm forced to confront the truth that no, there was no real urgency, I'm disappointed, angry. I feel betrayed.

Once we're exposed to the callous indifference of a false-urgent meeting, we begin to question everything the organization does. If management is willing to regularly tolerate such an affront on our productivity, why bother?

Meetings need to be less like the endless commercial breaks during a football game, and more like pit stops at the Daytona 500. Sure, even these stops slow momentum, but not for long, and only in service of winning. Quick high-energy transactions to refuel, to change the tires, to allow the driver to do the work better and faster--that's the type of meeting that people will walk away from with a continued sense of urgency and energized with a feeling of aliveness.

Maybe even more unsettling than the false-urgency problem is that meetings have become a tool to delay decisions. They have become our default stalling tactic.

I fear we have become politicians.

I recently saw a town hall meeting on television, featuring a candidate for state senate. When confronted with questions from the audience that would force him to make tough decisions, he dodged, and instead scheduled future meetings. Not surprising for a politician desperately trying to hold on to votes.

But this scenario is eerily similar to ones I've seen in our organization.

Like all human beings, we're terrified of making decisions. In the face of pressing, difficult decisions, we stall. Meetings are a socially acceptable and readily available way of doing so.

This is why we find them so useful. Meetings provide a forum for us to gather more and more intelligence indefinitely, and the emotional assurance from surrounding ourselves with others alleviates the fear (at least temporarily).

We have to remember that we can never guarantee a good outcome, no matter how much planning we do. Thoughtfulness is important, but so is speed. A system that allows the use of meetings as a stalling tactic leads to a culture of indecisiveness that is no longer acceptable.

The system is broken. But it's not too late to fix it.

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Want to learn even more? In addition to picking up a copy of "Read This Before Our Next Meeting" you can join Al Pittampalli and change expert Seth Godin for a webinar, sponsored by GoToMeeting, on why embracing change is more critical than ever - and how the Modern Meeting can help.

The webinar is on Thursday, August 18 at 10a PST / 1p EST. To register, click here.

This week my company, Citrix Online, launched HDFaces, which is high-definition group video conferencing, integrated simply with GoToMeeting. We've done everything possible to bring a telepresence-like experience to everyone. But it's not all about the technology, I could talk all day about HDFaces, that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to discuss inhibitors to video usage and how we move past these to change the way we work for the better. How can you leverage video to be more effective? What behavioral changes are needed when shifting to video?

First, you have to pay attention again. I know, it sounds awful right? You mean I can't multitask on conferencing calls? I would argue that this is actually a positive thing. The problem with conference calls is that people invite everyone they can with the assumption that people can tune out if it's not relevant. With video, we're forced to think about who we invite to our meetings. This should be a positive for any organization. Less time spent in irrelevant meetings.

Secondly, commitments seem less meaningful at a distance. Any good salesperson knows that a handshake in person is worth 10 times as many commitments via email. Humans are social beings and make decisions based on trust. Video enables us to build trust from a distance. Whether a coaching conversation with a boss, a client meeting or a project team meeting, people make more honest commitments when they can see each other.

I've always talked about how online meetings reduce travel. It's still the #1 reason anyone chooses an online meeting solution. But video conferencing calls ALL travel into question. Over the past year, I've cancelled travel for board meetings, client visits and conferences and replaced them with video conferencing.

Historically, technology has also inhibited the adoption of video conferencing. Telepresence has been reserved for the few within enterprises, while consumer solutions like Skype leave much to be desired in terms of quality, usability and group collaboration features.

Expectations are high for video conferencing in the coming year. I can tell you personally that the use of video has changed the way I work. I've added personal connections to all business interactions, made stronger commitments and eliminated useless travel. To take a line from our new TV campaign: "Simple, high definition group video conferencing will change the way you work and possibly a whole lot more..."

Photo Credit: Citrix Online

In 2009 Forrester Research predicted that more than half the workforce would be teleworking by 2016:

"Fueled by broadband adoption, better collaboration tools, and growing management experience, the U.S. telecommuting ranks will swell to 63 million by 2016. Those 29 million new telecommuters lined up five abreast would stretch from New York to LA! Leading the surge are occasional telecommuters and regular telecommuters who work from home between one and four days a week."

Lots of other respected organizations have made similar projections.

Well, call me a skeptic, but while I'd love nothing better than to see an end to traffic jams, I just don't see it happening any time soon.

For those of us who are lucky enough to work where and when we want, it's easy to forget that the majority of the workforce doesn't. They're bound to the cubicle farm with tethers that date back to the days of sweatshops and typing pools. Those tethers, a.k.a. managers, simply can't imagine not being able to see the backs of their employee's heads from 9 to 5 each day.

My organization, the Telework Research Network, just completed a study that looked at telework trends over the past five years. Sponsored by Citrix Online, our summary report, The State of Telework in the U.S., reveals who's really teleworking, what they're doing, and where they're doing it. We even dared to make a prediction of our own--but it's one that's sure to disappoint the true believers, advocates, and companies hoping to cash in on the trend.

First for the good news. Telework is growing. In fact, based on U.S. Census data 61% more employees considered home their primary place of work in 2009 than in 2005, despite the recession. While the full story on the impact of the recession won't be known until 2010 Census data is available, private sector survey data just released by WorldatWork, suggests that while the overall number of teleworkers declined between 2008 and 2010, the frequency of telework increased.

Now the bad news. Census data shows that only 2.9 million employees work from home more than half the time (not including the self-employed). That's only 2.3% of the workforce. So while 61% growth sounds impressive, it has more to do with how low the number was five years ago than any kind of a wholesale change in the way we work.

How can it be that while 80% of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies To Work For" already offer telecommuting, so few people are doing it on a regular basis? Again, I say, if you're lucky enough to workshift regularly, count your blessings. While a majority of large companies say they offer telework, it's largely granted as an occasional accommodation for only a handful of employees. Our study in fact showed that over 75% of employees who work from home earn over $65,000 per year, putting them in the upper 80 percentile of the workforce.

Employees want to telework-- according to WorldatWork, almost 80% of would do so at least part of the time if allowed. The tools and technologies to support it are widely available, inexpensive, and easy to use. But most companies simply don't have the culture of trust that comes from measuring performance by what people do rather than when, where, or how they do it.

In his bestselling book, Drive, Dan Pink observes "...despite four decades of scientific research on human motivation, there's an immense mismatch between what science knows and what management does."

He goes on to say, "...while the carrots and sticks worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people today."

It's time for managers to wake up from their "management by walking around" stupor. Fact is, their employees have already left the building. According to a recent DEGW survey of 60,000 worldwide employees, knowledge workers are not at their desk 65% of the time. So how's that whole management by walking around thing working? Not so good, I'd guess. If fact, as Pink and the majority of management gurus have been telling us for years, it really never did.

What employees of all age groups want is the flexibility to determine for themselves where, when, and how they work.

They want to be trusted.

They want to do their best and feel that they're a part of greater whole.

They want to be treated like adults.

And if they can't get what they want, they'll go somewhere else or venture out on their own.

This is not your grandfather's workforce.

You can download a copy of The State of Telework in the U.S. report here.

Photo Credit: TylerIngram

Yes, you read that title correctly and no it isn't just title-bait to get you to click on this post. Have you ever wanted the freedom to just let go of work? Of the office? Of the 9-5 grind? A chance to restore work-life balance into your life. If you had the chance to do that, what would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?

We've written extensively about work-life balance and hear stories every day from our community about the inability to take time away from work because of project responsibilities, financial concerns and sometimes just a lack of time to even plan a getaway.

We've heard you yelling from the rooftops and are coming to the rescue. If you didn't hear, earlier this week GoToMyPC launched their GoToMyPC for iPad app and we wanted to find a way to celebrate. Since the teams who worked so hard on this project, and are responsible for keeping the lights on around here, are already heads down back on new projects, we want to celebrate with YOU!

We're giving away $10,000, an iPad and a one-year subscription to GoToMyPC. What if we told you it only took 30-seconds to potentially win all of that and all you had to do was tell us what you would do if you had the freedom to let go. Sounds impossible, right? Wrong. Here are the contest details:

ENTER: Film a 30-second video sharing your "Freedom to Let Go" story, then post it on the GoToMyPC Facebook Page by 11:59 PM (EST) on March 18, 2011. It's that simple.

HOPE: We will pick three finalists and announce them on March 23. Then it's up to you and your friends to pick the winner.

CELEBRATE: All 3 finalists will receive an iPad. On April 1st, the video with the most votes by the public will win the freedom to let go with the grand prize of $10,000, an iPad and a one-year subscription to GoToMyPC.

If you can't see the video below, you can check it out here:

What are you doing still reading this post?!? Get your camera out and tell your story!

PS: Camera shy? We understand! Get creative and tell your story using puppets, drawings, animation, stand in's, your pets! We just need to see your story on video.

Last month we published an infographic on the international language of business based on a study that Citrix Online commissioned from Forrester Consulting. Today we're happy to launch the results of that study. The study yielded surprising findings related to generational and cultural working behaviors that impact how businesses communicate and collaborate in an increasingly dispersed workplace, and the implications for the future competitiveness of SMBs.

Key Findings

The study asked information workers of all ages in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia about their business communication habits.

Gen Y does not have the monopoly on technology use and social tools during the work day. Meanwhile, the older generation is getting with the program.

• Gen Y is least likely to share information via text message (26%, compared to 47% of those aged 55+), and least likely to use video conferencing, video chat and web conferencing tools.
  
  
• Gen Y uses social networking the least frequently (40% of Gen Y workers who use social media do so daily, compared to 50% of those aged 55+).
  
  
• Older Boomers (55+) have increased their business use of social media 79% in the past year.  

The younger you are, the less you value meetings - and pay attention.

• Gen Y is least likely to think meetings are efficient. Only 29% of Gen Y workers think meetings used to decide on a course of action are very efficient, compared to 45% of Older Boomers.
  
  
• Gen Y is least likely to pay attention in meetings and barely half (51%) believe it's very important to do so in meetings to decide a course of action.

Americans have more meetings - and pay more attention.

• 90% meet in person to communicate and build relationships, more than any other nationality.
  
  
• Of those, 51% meet daily, compared to a mere 31% of French.
  
  
• 75% of Americans believe it's very important to pay attention in meetings to decide on a course of action, compared to 50% of the French.

The in-person meeting is alive and well, but not necessarily effective.

• 84% of all respondents have in-person meetings, but meetings often don't achieve their goals.
  
  
• Only 45% are very satisfied that planning meetings achieve the task in hand, and only 30% believe such meetings to be very efficient.
  
  
• Across all categories of meetings for designated tasks (e.g. review of documents, plan projects or initiatives, decision on a course of action), less than half of respondents believe those meetings are very efficient.

In an era of multitasking, it's still considered rude in a meeting.

• 83% believe that side conversations are unacceptable during a meeting, and 77% frown on those doing other work on a computer or smartphone.

We still like to look each other in the eye.

• Germans like to see others during meetings (75%), while Americans find it less important (55%) though they have the most in-person meetings.
  
  
• 79% of those aged 55 and over think it's important, compared to 65% of Gen Y.
  
  
• Why? To read body language, say 78%.

Usage among users of collaborative technologies is rising fast.

• 64% of those who use social networking tools in business use them more than last year. Video chat, team document-sharing sites and web conferencing also experienced significant increases in usage, with 56%, 55% and 52% respectively.

If you would like to download a copy of the report, you can find it posted in our Downloads section here.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles, books, blogs, and Websites filled with advice about how to manage remote workers (or telecommuters, or workshifters, or distributed teams--we tend to use these terms interchangeably, even though we know there are subtle distinctions among them).

However, most of that advice amounts to broad generalizations or "bumper-sticker"-like slogans that are well-meant but rather shallow: "Pay attention to your staff's personal life," "Measure what they produce, not how much time they spend," "Hold regular conference calls," "Check in with your subordinates on a regular basis."

While those slogans do point in the right direction, they tend to be stated as universal truths even though the real world is full of complexity and varying contexts. Worse, they don't begin to deal with why and how companies choose to embrace workforce mobility. And an organization's motivations and experiences make a huge difference in what works and what doesn't.

In our latest research (full report here), we identify and discuss five major things that leading organizations do to make workshifting work for them--and for their employees:

1. They do it strategically. That is, the workshifting program is formal, explicit, and sponsored by senior management. Everyone knows why the program has been launched and what specific business outcomes it is intended to help achieve.
   
   
2. The organization and its members learn to work differently over time. In most respects employees continue to do the same basic work even though they are in different places. However, "going mobile" requires some fundamental changes in how they get that work done. And distributed work essentially forces organizations to measure and reward work outcomes instead of just monitoring employees' activities through "management by walking around."
   
   
3. Training is a central part of the program. And the training programs include both managers of remote workers and the remote individual contributors themselves.
   
   
4. The effective deployment and use of collaboration technologies is central to making distributed work "work." And we are not referring just to the basics like email, conference calling, and instant messages. Successful organizations today make a wide variety of collaboration tools available to their distributed workforce.
   
   
5. Success depends on planning thoughtfully and implementing aggressively. It's an old idea, but an important one: plan the work, and work the plan. Distributed work programs aren't just about redesigning facilities and letting people move about the country; they almost always include significant organizational and cultural change, and must be treated as such.

Big Insights

Phil Montero of The Anywhere Office told us:

Too many organizations stumble into flexible work on an ad-hoc basis, and then adapt to it only when they realize that it's happening. Successful organizations make sure their managers are trained in how to lead remote employees and take a deliberate approach and strategy.

Kate North, Vice President of Global Business Development for e-work.com, an online training program firm, made a similar point:

Today, the primary driver for many organizations adopting mobility strategies is cost reduction driven by a shrinking real estate portfolio. And as the implementation team launches, if they have not done their homework and properly prepared their mid-level managers on how to successfully lead a distributed team, their program could hit a wall.

In the past, managers picked up a tremendous amount of "visual queuing" when their teams were office-based. They were able to "see," quickly and subconsciously, how their team was doing, what they were working on, and who was connecting with whom. When visual queuing is no longer available, a manager can feel quite vulnerable and frustrated.

In addition, if individual employees sense that their manager has not cultivated these skills and doesn't feel secure, they too may resist a mobility program--especially in today's economy. On the flip side, when a manager has honed the necessary skills and continually demonstrates best practices, employees will begin to thrive in the virtual workplace by developing their own skills; and, needless to say, their engagement and productivity will soar.

Workshifting Requires Redesigning Work Processes and Management Practices

We also identified five specific ways that successful workshifting employers transform they way they get work done:

1. Going paperless. People can be much more mobile when they don't have to access paper documents that are by definition stored in only one location. The real magic of centrally stored digital information is that once it's online it can be accessed and processed from almost anywhere.
   
   
2. Supplying workshifters with the mobile technologies they need. One government agency we studied no longer has any desktop computers. Everything is portable, although all laptops have physical security devices and are assigned to individual employees. This degree of technology mobility increases the likelihood that people will work wherever they are--because they can.
   
   
3. Making time to practice new tools such as job-specific software applications. The winners give their employees time to learn how to use new collaborative technologies well before they are expected to integrate them into their work style.
   
   
4. Ensuring that workshifters are "contactable" (i.e., published times when they are available to peers and managers). When people work in a single central location everyone assumes that if they can see you, you are available to talk. When people are remote they must set aside specific blocks of time for calls and other real-time collaborative activities. One remote manager called these times his "open-door hours."
   
   
5. Teach workshifters personal discipline, including knowing when to "unplug." Gil Gordon (one of the thought leaders we interviewed) is famous for promoting the value of getting offline. Burnout can become endemic among remote workers unless they learn how to disconnect regularly.

This research has been both enlightening and confirming. We've been tracking distributed work and workforce mobility for many years. We've helped clients write telecommuting policies; we've built the business case for flexible work programs; we've designed, implemented, and evaluated pilot projects and training programs.

We have always been major advocates for flexible work. Yet interviewing other thought leaders and experienced practitioners over the past several months has re-energized us and strengthened our belief in the "rightness" of flexible work.

In the end, it all comes down to an abstract but critically important aspect of organizational culture: trust. Trust the organization and its people to do what they're asked to do: hire people to accomplish a specific task; measure and manage them on the basis of results; and don't worry about controlling where and when they do their work.

Photo Credit: Round Indigo Rock

Today we are releasing the results of a study that was conducted by Forrester with Citrix Online (you know, the GoToMeeting folks who help us keep the lights on around here) that looks at how business people communicate and collaborate across the globe.

As workshifters, we all know how liberating it is to work when, how and where you want, and that technology helps us do that without comprising quality of work or efficiency. But does the rest of the world get it? Forrester conducted a study with Citrix Online that looks at how business people communicate and collaborate across the globe, and it turns out that the in-person meeting is alive and well with 84% of respondents still having them. However, these in-person meetings often are inconvenient to coordinate and don't achieve the agenda's goals. In fact, only 45% are very satisfied that planning meetings achieve the task in hand and less than half believe any type of meeting to be very efficient! What is it then, fellow workshifters? Are people just in plain denial about the effectiveness of in-person meetings?

Communication isn't simple as people deal with complex and challenging work environments. From dispersed workforces, an accelerated pace of business and changing attitudes and work styles, it's important for companies to look at such snapshots of current trends and practices. It provides the opportunity to think about the implications for how to build the right organizational meeting/communication structure.

The study includes interesting findings that shed light on similarities and differences across generations and countries with how people like to interact with coworkers and what they need to be productive. For instance, contrary to what people probably assume, Gen Y does not have the monopoly on tech use and social tools in the office. They're actually least likely to share information via text messages and use social networking the least frequently!

And how do the different surveyed countries compare in their individual business languages? Check out the infographic below:

Most people would agree that when you vacation in a foreign country, it's best to stay with a local (or at least spend some quality time with one). I would say the same is true for workshifting.

My recent workshifting trip through Denmark was probably the best vacation/work/travel I have ever had. My Danish hosts were not only warm and welcoming, they treated to me to a taste of Denmark I would not have had the opportunity to experience otherwise. From traditional Danish food and drinks, to spending time with the family, to seeing the city sights and enjoying the beautiful country serenity - I got a complete insider's peek into Denmark.

Workshifting was easier while I was in Denmark too. This surprised me since I thought it would be hard to find time to work when staying with a friend. But in fact, my hosts and I often set up shop together; at the kitchen table after dinner or on the sofa over coffee and butter cookies, laptops and phones would appear and we'd get some serious work done. Staying with my friends also meant a guaranteed wifi connection - something that has proven a bit allusive on this trip. Most coffee shops, restaurants and hotels do not offer open wifi like they do in the U.S. Happily, I purchased an international data plan for my phone before leaving home (a must if you plan on doing any email, social sites, maps, etc. while traveling). I have not purchased a European SIM card for my iPad (as you need to purchase one for every country you plan on using the device in), so the lack of wifi access has been a challenge for being able to get most of my regular work done. The good news? In Germany, you can get 2 free hours of wifi access at Starbucks (and most of the staff at these stores speak English so they can answer any other basic questions you might have). There are also a great deal of T-Mobile hotspots in Europe, so purchasing a monthly plan is also a pretty viable option at 29 Euros.

My other main learning on the trip is that while most businesses are accustomed to accepting plastic for payment, many will not accept a card that only requires a signature (i.e., a credit card). Your debit card will often work since it will require you to use a PIN, but many businesses only accept an European Community (EC) card (which are currently only available in Europe). So be sure to bring your debit card along and carry plenty of euros to take care of a night's stay in a little B&B or breakfast at a little bakery in town.

In spite of how technologically advanced the European economy is, there has still been a great deal of amazement at how simply we are able to travel and work. Our tools are basic but effective - the bike, a computer, a phone and a wifi connection are all we need.

It's never a good time to take a vacation. There's always a reason to wait until next month, next quarter, next year... Eventually, you have to just jump in and decide, okay, it's time to take a break or do something a little bit different.

The problem for me is, making a trek to anywhere that requires a passport means I definitely want to go for more than 1 or 2 weeks, and ideally it would be for more like 3-4 weeks. But who can afford to be completely away from the office for that long?

So, about a month ago I casually mentioned to my co-worker at Citrix Online that I would love to workshift from charming cafés while cycling through the European countryside. The next thing I knew, she, my manager and I were planning the trip!

Using GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC, I can work from anywhere (I've done it many a time when traveling home for the holidays or visiting friends), so why not workshift while doing some of the other things I enjoy? I love cycling, and I've been dreaming of another trip to Europe since last I went in May of 2004.

Now, I'm in Germany with my partner, Carlos, a brand new tandem bicycle, three changes of clothes, an iPad, an iPhone, a couple of cameras, GoToMeeting and Citrix Receiver. The journey will be 6 weeks total: 3 weeks on the bike and workshifting, 1 week working at the Citrix Synergy event in Berlin, Germany, and 1 1/2 weeks of pure vacation in Spain. (Yep, going for a complete "unplugged" experience in Spain - though I do have peace of mind knowing I can easily check in if needed!)

The adventure has begun and I am already meeting and connecting with people from all over the world - which is a large part of what this trip is about for me. In fact I've already worked with one of my Danish colleagues at his home in Slangerup. I had breakfast with him and his family one morning, raced with him in a bicycle criterium that afternoon, and later we worked together from his kitchen table - what a great way to spend the day and evening.

I'm excited to see how this experience takes shape and looking forward to learning new tricks for being totally mobile, both while traveling and working. I hope you'll follow along as I learn and share - and I hope you'll share any advice you have for me as well!

There are a lot of ways you can check in with me from my web site, Kelley Checks In, to all my social sites including Twitter and Facebook.