Re: Long-distance contracts

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

Janet Manry wrote:

> The question is: how do you handle long-distance projects, that is,
> projects for clients who are too far away to visit on a regular (say
> weekly) basis?
>
There is a long tradition among conservative companies that tends to
follow the belief "If I can't see you, you're not working."
Telecommuting has made some dents in that belief, but it's still more
prevalent than most of us would like.  The truth is that there are lots
of small studies around demonstrating that people who telecommute on a
less-than-full-time-basis believe that they get more done on their days
at home than when they're in the office, primarily because they have
fewer distractions.

We've done LOTS of contracts where we go in to visit the client when it
seems necessary, and then do the real work back at our own offices.  One
of the necessary times is at first, when project definition is the
subject and everybody's still kinda groping around for just what each
person will be doing.  Establishing a comfort level is the most
important part of those visits, and it's hard to do that
electronically.
Once the project is under way, how often you need to visit depends on
how much the source people are willing to use electronic communication.
If you're having trouble getting updates to software, you may need to go
in to get them, or make some sort of arrangement with whoever does
configuration control to get the latest copies sent to you.

If you can't run the software on your own machines, if at all possible
rent the hardware necessary to do so. Some companies will loan you the
necessary hardware.  The less you bother the team, the more they like
you if you're not physically there every day.

We've done a number of contracts where we never or rarely met the source
people in person.  Book contracts are done like that all the time - the
publishers are in another part of the country, your agent is in yet
another part, and your co-author may be in till another part.  Yet as
long as you have reliable power and phone lines, and FedEx delivers to
your door, you can work anywhere.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

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