Article
Keep Teams available while working on paper
Some of the best work still happens with a pen. If that's a normal part of your week, it's worth ten minutes to set things up so Teams stops marking you Away in the middle of it.
Paper work is real work
Plenty of jobs still involve paper. Editors print drafts because errors that hide on a screen show up on the page. Anyone who interviews people takes notes by hand, because typing at someone across a table is rude. And lots of us just think better with a pen. None of it touches a keyboard, so Teams has no idea it's happening. After about five minutes your dot goes yellow, and colleagues start assuming you're at lunch. (Why that happens.)
The setup
1. Decide your paper hours
Handwritten work tends to happen at the same times. Maybe you read submissions first thing, or your review meeting is always Thursday morning. If yours is predictable like that, set it up once as office hours in Ticking Along. It turns on and off by itself on the days and times you chose, and after that you don't have to think about it again.
2. For one-off sessions, pick a duration
Sitting down with a long document? Open the menu and pick "1 hour" or "Until 5:30". The app keeps your computer awake and your Teams status green, shows a live countdown, and stops itself when the time is up.
3. Leave the lid open
This one no software can help with. A laptop with the lid closed is asleep, and a sleeping computer always shows Away. If you're working at your desk, keep the lid open.
4. Add a status message
It's also worth setting a status message, something like "Working on paper at my desk. Message me, I'll see it." Anyone who does read it knows exactly what's going on.
Why this beats improvising
You can wiggle the mouse yourself every few minutes, and plenty of people do. But then part of your attention is always on the clock. You read a paragraph, reach over, tap the trackpad, find your place again. It's a bad way to read anything long. Setting the schedule once means you can forget the screen and just work.