Model of Efficiency

If you have not heard of Scott Adams, it’s likely you know of his most famous creation--Dilbert, the comic strip engineer who daily endures the trials of working for a bureaucratic, cubicle-filled company.

Before Adams hit it big with the strip, he worked at a bank as a teller (robbed twice at gunpoint) and financial analyst, and then at Pacific Bell, where he “worked in a number of jobs that defy description,” as he wrote on his Web site, www.dilbert.com. He gave up his day job in 1995.

Several of his Dilbert and other humor books have been best sellers. His latest book, “God Debris,” diverges in that it’s a non-humor work of fiction that takes on big questions about God and the universe.

Adams, 44, lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he turns out the strip and other projects in his home office, sans cubicle.

DESKTOP: I have two--one that’s a Dell and the other is a Macintosh. All my art has to be done using the Macintosh to be compatible with the art world. And I have to have a Windows machine to be compatible with the rest of the planet.

Question: You really need both?

Answer: A Mac person would insist I could do everything I need to do with a Mac, but I’m involved with various projects that are being developed in one format or the other, even if they eventually end up on both. I have to approve them while they are in development.

For example, we are doing a Dilbert game in Flash animation that is being developed in Windows so I need that machine. The game will go on my food company’s site (www.dilberito.com).

Q: Do you do the strip freehand or on the computer?

A: It’s kind of a cyborg thing--half computer, half man. I do the original drawing in pencil, then the inking of the drawing. I scan that in and use Photoshop to add shading and the text in a font in my handwriting. If it’s a Sunday strip, I use Photoshop to add color.

Q: Which computer do you use to deal with e-mail?

A: Either. The way it is set up on the desk, the PC is on my left, the Macintosh is on my right and my drawing board is in the middle. I trained myself to use the mouse with either hand and I use it to answer most of my e-mail--I have 40 or so typical responses programmed in. It’s not that unusual for me to be looking for a Web page with my left hand while doing e-mail with my right. Or I might be doing something on the computer with my left hand and drawing with my right.

Q: That’s so efficient it’s scary.

A: I did something really cool with “God’s Debris.” I wanted to figure out what it would take to write a book, publish it and do my own [public relations], all from one chair. I wrote the book and then sent out e-mail to a friend who was familiar with the publishing world to ask for an editor recommendation. I got a name, sent her an e-mail and the next thing I knew I had an editor. I e-mailed her my manuscript and she e-mailed back with her responses, and in that way the book was completely edited by someone I had never met.

Then I found the PR Newswire on the Web. I checked with others who had used it [the company sends out press releases to thousands of media outlets] and signed up. I wrote my own press release.

I searched the Web and found Digital Owl to handle the digital rights management because it was at first just an e-book. [It has since been published in book form by Andrews McMeel Publishing.] I used Photoshop to design the book cover.

Q: Do you get out much?

A: That’s definitely a trade-off to doing all the work at one desk; it can get to you. You do need to get out, and I make sure I do.

LAPTOP: I have a Toshiba I use when I travel.

Q: Do you do work on it?

A: Generally I just use it for e-mail. I get a couple hundred e-mails a day. It’s what happens when your e-mail address (scottadams@aol.com) is published right on the strip.

HAND-HELD: I have not found a need for that, yet. If I am traveling and need some information, it’s in my laptop. But because of my love of gadgets, I’m sure I’ll get one at some point.

BOOKMARKS: I’m embarrassed to say this, but one of the ones I go to all the time is Amazon to check the ranking of my books. When I have one that just came out, I am on the site about every 10 or 15 minutes. A book can change ranking 300 points in the space of an hour.

Q: Due to what?

A: Publicity, usually. Sometimes I will check it while I am in the middle of a radio interview by phone. They always go up.

I also do all my banking and my investment stuff online. I read the news on newspaper sites of some of your competitors. And I check to see if my beloved and much-hated Golden State Warriors are losing by 20 or 30 points. I have redefined victory for them as any game they lose by 20 or less points--it makes me feel much better.

GADGETS: I love TiVo. There are only a few pieces of hardware in your life that are not just tools but life-altering. It’s an emotional connection.

I have eight TVs, including one on my desk that is usually on.

Q: That doesn’t disturb your work on the strip?

A: So much of the work is mindless--scanning in the images, the inking.

Q: Haven’t you reached the point where you could hire an assistant to do the mindless parts?

A: My views on manager-employee relationships are well known. The way I figure it, for every task you offload to an assistant, you gain two tasks involved in management.

If you are as reasonably efficient as I am, it’s hard to replace me.

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As told to David Colker