PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY

Don Degnan
Holland & Hart LLP
Partner and Member of Management Committee
Boulder, Colorado

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Practice focus: IP litigation.

EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY

Laptop or desktop: Laptop. (Do they still make desktops?)

Wired or wireless: Wired while at my desk, but wireless throughout the office, at home and everywhere else (including my favorite café).

Browser: Internet Explorer.

E-mail: Outlook.

Search engine: Google. (Do people really use Yahoo anymore?)

Antivirus: Symantec.

Backups: Snap Mirror to back up our network. I also have two external hard drives for backups, photos, music, etc.

Security on the road: Password is it.

Remote access: Typically VPN directly into our network. I also use Tarantella, which is Web-based and essentially shoves your desktop across an Internet connection.

Cell phone or PDA: BlackBerry.

Substantive tools: Calendaring: Outlook; Case tracking: EasyDocket, our in-house docketing system ; Document assembly: Microsoft Word macros; Litigation notebook: CaseMap (www.casesoft.com), with scans of all pleadings and docs in PDF format organized on a separate network drive; Group tools: Adobe Acrobat 7.0; Document management software: DeskSite 8.0 and an electronic pleading file in PDF format; Presentation software: PowerPoint.

Other favorites: Google Earth, Picasa, Google's picture organizer, and iTunes.

Who do you call when you need help or repairs? Travis, our tech support guy in Boulder. Otherwise, I dial 8400, which hooks me up with our main tech support group in our Denver office.

Greatest technology challenge: E-mail. I can't imagine life without it, but it has become an enormous time drain. Maybe I'm just weak, but I find myself checking e-mail way more often than I should. Inevitably, I get sucked into the e-mail black hole and review all the new e-mails, which distracts me from the more important tasks I needed to complete that day. On top of that, the sheer volume of e-mails we receive is debilitating. People: Think before you hit “Reply to All.” Give me the critical information I need in the Subject line, and tell me—specifically— what action you want me to take in response to your e-mail.

Pet technology peeve: Businesses and hotels that do not have high-speed Wi-Fi access throughout their properties—and getting dropped on cell calls as a result of spotty cell reception.

Embarrassing technology secret: I still keep an old-school Rolodex of business cards.

Working philosophy when it comes to technology: Less is more.