The Challenge - Technical update

Just a quick update on this little project.

Immediately after posting the previous post, Open Office kindly informed me that version 3.1.0 was available, so I have upgraded to that version.

Also, I have now installed OO 3.1.0 on my home computer, where I am using Vista Home (yes, I am) and Office 2007.

And a couple of additional keys to success:

4. The ability to manage different headers/footers depending on the page - ie Different First page etc.
5. Something I've previously found quite nasty to do in OO (although to be honest, it's not exactly simple in Word unless you know how either) - having a page, or a couple of pages in the middle of a document with a differnt orientation - so in a 20 page portrait doc, have pages 7&8 as landscape pages.
6. Just occurred to me - printing needs to be predictable and repeatable as well (have seen others in the office having issues with this in the past).

And as a teaser to my next actual update on how this is going, I spent a couple of hours last night working through some of the milestones, and to my suprise, I was seriously impressed. And at a technology level, I have high expecations and am not easily impressed. Watch this space, will update this weekend.

The Challenge - Part 1

Ok, I've been thinking about this for days now, actually, I've toyed with it years, but I've been seriously thinking about it this time around for days. No more thinking, time to take action.

The challenge: switch from using MS Office Word to Open Office Writer.
The fear: oh dear god, there are so many!

• I am a power user in Word, and have been for years. I don't so much use VB to simplify things like I used to, but I am completely at home in Word and am confident I can make it do whatever I need it to, and I tend to ask more of it than the average user.
  
• I love efficiency & I love, no, EXPECT logical, intuitive interaction with technology - now admittedly, what I'm calling intuitive, may simply be more about familiarity in this instance - I'm now simply too familiar with Word to be able to judge if it is in fact intuitive or not.
• I have used Open Office Writer and so far, my experiences have ended in frustration, disillusion and a sigh of relief as I have returned to using Word. (Not to mention getting seriously agro with Open Office apps randomly crashing in the middle of operation.)

The motivation:

• I work for a company that is passionate about Open Standards, (which I get) and Open Source - which I kinda get, but not as much as I want to. (I confessed all of this to my manager the other day and did seriously wonder if I was severely impacting my future career options! He responded with a comprehensive reading list - which I'm working through (in fact, I just stopped reading "The Cathedral & The Bizarre" to write this.))
• I don't do things by halves. I'm not comfortable with being passionate about the company I work for, but not being fully on board, or at least not fully understanding, the things that my employer is passionate about.
• I'm not a programmer (although I did learn to be one), and I'm no longer a hands on tech (and haven't been for years) but I am technically savvy, and most importantly, I am passionate about 'Invisible Technology' - ie - a user should NOT have to think about using technology, they should just be able to do the things they need to do. Full stop. (I need to write a more detailed entry on this as it will take more than a couple of sentences, but you'll have to wait for that one! Suffice to say - ease of user experience is high on my list of priorities).
• Other than email, a word processor is probably the most common office tool people use in a work environment, or at the very least, it's right up there. (ok, I'm also not quite ready to let go of my Excel comfort zone - yep, power user there too, but one step at a time!).

3 keys to success

Without thinking about it too hard, I can think of 3 things that I am going to have to get comfortable & confident with in Writer to consider my switch a success.

(Oh - important point - this HAS to be a success, I am not even considering failure as an option - I am confident that I can become as confident & at home in Writer as I am in Word and can hopefully contribute some helpful suggestions for others making the switch as I go)

• Beat outline numbering into submission - this is a challenge that has caused me to give up this quest in the path - despite reading multiple articles and spending some considerable time, I have never managed to fathom the logic in Writer's particluar implementation of Outline numbering (and maybe I'll read back on this and wonder what sort of dunce I was in the past to have not got it, but there it is for now).
• Fields - I use fields extensively in Word documents - especially for monthly reports & contracts where the same name, term, number, word etc. needs to appear in multiple places throughout the document (including in headers and footers). And yes, this is another thing that I have so far failed to master in OO Writer.
• Interoperability - and yes, I appreciate this one could be a big ask. I will have a need to copy graphs from Excel into Writer. I'm not the only one (I tend to be the go-to person for all desktop apps). If I have to go via OO Calc, so be it, but I need to be able to do this and have the graph turn up in Writer looking professional and not mangled - which has been my experience to date, and also my observed experience where I am receiving Writer docos from other people needing to do this.

Technical bits
Version of MS Office Word: 2003, SP3
Version of OO Writer I have currently installed: (waiting for it to open................) (can you see I'm really very apprehensive about this??? :) Rest assured, I am committed (and am still waiting)) There it is! 3.0.1
OS I'm Using: Windows XP Pro, versio 2002, SP3

So there it is. I'll update as my journey progresses.

Another confidence trick

Huge day tomorrow, starting with an interview (I'm conducting, not attending!) at 9am, so unlikely that I'll get a spare moment to post my thought for the day. So, instead, a lesson from last week:

Another trick if you're not feeling all that confident:
Be prepared.
Find out as much as you can about the situation while you're approaching it. Ask questions, plan your approach, dwell on your desired outcome (not your feared outcome!)
If you walk in knowing you've done as much as you can to face the situation as well equipped as possible, you'll have that to believe in and consequently you'll walk in taller, stronger and far better placed to come out even more successfully than you've planned to. (and of course you've planned to be successful - that's the 'dwelling on the expected outcome' part of preparation - and worth a 2nd mention!)

How you think about it (preaching to myself)

If you're faced with a situation that you perceive as being "stressful", "bulls***" or god forbid "impossible", then you're hardly going to get through it with a sense of calm or satisfaction or anything vaguely positive.

Instead, approach the situation with confidence, knowing that you will get to the other side (sometimes you may have no choice but to do so!) and that you do have the resourcefulness or the creativity to rise to the occasion.

With a confident approach, you're far more likely to have a satisfying outcome. (and if you don't feel confident, tell yourself you are anyway, square your shoulders back, stand tall, and stride on in boots and all! Make them steel capped if you need an extra boost!)

Another one (or: mixing metaphors)

You're accommodating. Fine.
Make sure you have some house rules, respect them yourself and make them clear.
Otherwise you'll find yourself sleeping on the street after you've accommodated everyone else. (and without house rules, they may never leave, and almost definitely won't leave things as they found them)

Jane's Thought for Today

Be consistent.
If you expect it of yourself, why not of others?
Conversely, if you won't expect it of others, why do you expect it of yourself?