Another article on Telecommuting. The Ugly, The Bad and The Good
by Vidyut Luther on Aug.20, 2008, under mysql, php, rants, telecommute, web
Computer World has an article about Telecommuting . So, I thought I’d chip in my inflated $0.02. Telecommuting, doesn’t mean working from home. This is one of the biggest myths, and truths people will realize over time. What makes me such an expert? I’ve been telecommuting for the past 3 years, straight, full time. I’m not talking about moonlighting, and doing part time work for companies who post on craigslist. I’m talking multi million dollar projects. I haven’t been fired, I haven’t left the company, and I’ve been rewarded with a raise, and more importantly, I haven’t missed deadlines.
You still have a job, act like it. (The Ugly)
Telecommuting, is not that hard. But, it’s not the holy grail for workers either. You’re not going to become productive because you work from home, you’re not going to save a lot of gas, and you’re definitely not going to “make your own hours”. The last part is true, if you want to be a telecommuter.
Just because you work from home, or remotely, doesn’t mean your responsibilities to other people go away. Deadlines are deadlines, people need to know what you’re up to, and what the status is. The only time they can get this information is when they’re working. So therefore, you’re still working when they are. Sure, you can actually do the work later, but you better be awake and available to answer phone calls during the 9-5. Your client is being nice enough to let you make your own hours and work remotely, but they can only do so much, you must extend the favor back to them, by being available when they need you.
Working from home isn’t so awesome after all (The Bad)
You’re not going to work from home, if you itch to telecommute, you itch not because you love your home, it’s because you hate the monotony of your cubicle, and your office. You’ll hate your house soon enough. I’ve found that if I work from my house for more than a week, I go crazy, and productivity drops. I’ve found many cool coffee shops and bars that I work from. Yes, I said bar. No, I don’t drink while I work. Get yourself a good pair of headphones, a 3g card, and a good laptop. You’re finally free to work from where you want to, don’t waste it at home.
And the commute shall set you free! (The Good)
I’ve found that I’m more creative, I get more done, and more importantly I’m happier. I don’t have to worry about the morning traffic report, and I don’t have to worry about inclement weather. I make sure I’m available during the day, even if I’m not working, I can answer a phone call from the pool, if the call requires me to get on the computer, I can very quickly. It’s a type of freedom, that can only be experienced once you understand your new responsibility.
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August 20th, 2008 on 9:59 pm
The ugly is in part due to bad work habits such as with email.
Checking your email every 10 minutes does not improve anything, it will in fact reduce your productivity by a long way since you become “interrupt driven” with most of each day wasted on refocusing.
Status updates are generally not needed in real time, and you being there while your boss or customer is does not actually define your productivity or effectiveness either.
What matters is effective reporting and status info, and of the meaningful kind rather than fancy KPIs.
August 20th, 2008 on 10:19 pm
Arjen,
Very good points, I have a newbie question though.. what’s a KPI ?
August 20th, 2008 on 10:30 pm
Ahh Key Performance Indicator.. I should’ve googled first
August 20th, 2008 on 11:50 pm
Great thoughts on this. Alistapart.com was calling for comments on the subject, you should share these. As a new remote employee, I’ve experienced a lot of this, and I’m still searching for just the right routine.
August 21st, 2008 on 6:40 am
I used the buzzword bingo on purpose. A KPI to me is a key indicator that management might have gone gaga and is trying to measure the wrong things for the wrong reasons.
KPIs make it possible for complete morons to remain in an organisation and even attain promotions, while others doing the real important work “fail”. Basically, it promotes dumbly following orders from above - as dumb as possible to optimise time used. This is of course silly, unless you employ semi-trained monkeys. I however prefer humans with independent brain function, and I also wish to encourage them to use that wetware at all times - otherwise you don’t manage but puppeteer, right?
August 21st, 2008 on 8:31 am
Arjen,
I agree, KPI’s by their very name, can be gamed. They’re analogous to the “state proficiency tests” kids have to pass these days. A lot of curriculums teach you how to take the test, not the actual material, it’s a real shame.
But, my point is also, that if you are doing important work, you need to be communicative and let people know what you’re doing. If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind, and you can’t risk that if you want to continue to remain out of sight in the office.
When a PM needs to tell his boss about a status, or ETA for something, he should be able to get a hold of you, the boss doesn’t care if you work from home.
August 21st, 2008 on 1:05 pm
Vidyut,
Thank you for your contribution and honesty on this issue. I have focused on the development of another model approach for working remotely - distributed workplace. I will be the first to say there is no one solution but I would also argue there must be more ways than what we are currently using. I would be interested in your comments if you have the time to visit http://www.pocketsnet.com regarding this effort.
Best regards,
Michael Shear
August 21st, 2008 on 1:25 pm
I have been wanting to telecommute for years. I have found that when I have the opportunity ( e.g when my car is being service ) I am more productive and I also start my day earlier ( 7AM ) and end it later ( 6 PM ). I am not distracted by the water cooler chat about the game or last nights TV show.
I get the idea that being home each day would get boring and I have already scoped out every cafe and wireless hotspot in town in preparation for the day when I am actually able to telecommute on a more frequent basis.
August 22nd, 2008 on 7:44 am
Depends on the job I guess. My day is full of interruptions as I hold an pager.
I worked 2 years straight from home without a problem after 10 years doing the commute to work.
Now I do 2-3 days in an office, and the rest from home. Can’t say the Bad (working from home) ever gets boring. Especially considering you get back the commute time to do something else.
The only way you are going to convince your manager that they don’t need to micro-manage is produce the results whether you have to use KPI’s or not i.e. they trust you to deliver.
August 27th, 2008 on 7:33 am
Such a wonderful article!..Thank you for the “enlightenment”..Honestly I am on a “see-saw” right now on whether or not I will keep myself be satisfied on the job that I have now. Currently I am working as clerk processor but I really love to work as a telecommute graphic artist, but my love ones always throw me a discouragement to keep my butt away from the computer to seek client for telecommute job..I am jealous to you guys who established already yourselves in telecommuting world! How I wish I can stumble a long-term client soon..
Cheers to all!
August 30th, 2008 on 11:31 pm
Hi,
I work from home almost 90% of the time now, and just had my review in which my boss commended me for the ability to “get the job done”. I would say the difficulties for me are the family (3 kids and my wife stays home with them). I find most of the time that concentration can suffer, but my head phones, etc can go a long way to easing that. Another thing to note, is that if you are the dedicated sort, you may feel at times like you need to put in more time to offset the loss of productivity, but then again, with the current state of software in the industry, I waste much more time fixing silly mistakes/decisions than I do with distractions around the house ;-), and thus have to spend time fixing that. Its a trade for sure, but with my drive (~45 - 60 minutes each way/25miles), I can afford to put in a little extra time to save the gas and time of the cummute.
December 8th, 2008 on 2:32 pm
I’ve had nothing but good experiences with telecommunicating, but I guess it could be bad and ugly as well.