Laptops, Documents and Calls While on the Move

Sort the tasks before you get in

The most productive passengers decide before departure what the journey is for. A car is excellent for reading, reviewing, listening, thinking and talking. It is mediocre for typing and poor for anything requiring precision with a mouse or a pen. Choosing the right task for the leg is worth more than any equipment.

A ninety-minute run to Birmingham can comfortably absorb a briefing pack, two calls and a period of thinking. Trying to build a presentation in the same window will produce frustration and probably motion sickness. Match the work to the environment rather than fighting it. The passengers who get the most from a car are the ones who decided in advance what it was for.

Laptops in practice

A laptop on the knees works for short bursts. The difficulties are the angle, which pushes the screen too far back, and the small constant movements that make trackpad work imprecise. A folding table where fitted improves matters considerably, as does sitting more upright rather than reclined, because a reclined posture puts the screen at an awkward distance.

Screen glare is the other issue and it is solved by the blinds. Direct sun through a rear side window makes most screens unreadable, and dropping a blind fixes it instantly. Tell the chauffeur which side you will be working on and the route can occasionally be adjusted so the sun is behind you rather than beside you.

• Sit upright rather than reclined when using a screen
• Use a folding table where the vehicle has one
• Drop the blind on the sunny side before you start
• Keep sessions short on winding roads to avoid nausea

Calls: what the other end hears

Call quality is where a well-insulated cabin earns its keep. Low road and wind noise mean a handset picks up your voice rather than the environment, and the other participants stop being able to tell you are in a vehicle. Using a headset rather than a speakerphone helps further, and it also keeps the content of the call out of the cabin.

Coverage is the limiting factor rather than the car. Rural A-roads, deep cuttings and the approaches to some tunnels will drop a call regardless of the vehicle. For a critical call, ask the chauffeur about the route: they generally know where the dead spots are and can sometimes time a leg to avoid them.

Paper, documents and the practical realities

Paper still has advantages in a car: no glare, no battery, no signal requirement, and it reads comfortably in a reclined position. The drawbacks are wind when a window opens and the awkwardness of spreading anything out. A single document or a bound pack works well; a stack of loose pages does not.

Confidentiality is worth a thought in stationary traffic, where the car alongside has a clear view. Privacy glass helps, blinds help more, and turning a document away from the window costs nothing. A document turned face down while the car is stationary costs nothing and solves the problem.

Setting the cabin up for a working leg

Two minutes before departure pays for itself. Set the seat upright, adjust the blind, confirm where the charging point is, agree whether you want conversation, and say whether you need the route to prioritise smoothness over speed. Chauffeurs are used to all of this and none of it is unusual.

If a specific call is critical, mention the time. A chauffeur can often arrange to be on a smooth, well-covered section rather than negotiating a complicated junction at exactly the wrong moment. Chauffeurs generally know where a route goes quiet and can plan the leg around it.

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