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On 7/8/1999 6:38 PM, Brierley, Sean (Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM) wrote:
>This was an interesting situation that points to a minor shortcoming of
>telecommuting, the immediate accessibility of team members.
What shortcoming? When they're telecommuting, they're on the clock. Why
didn't you and this other programmer hit the Conference button and call
the programmer at home?
This is another myths that needs clearing up. One of the things I do as a
telecommuter is hammer home, again and again and again, that during
business hours (and beyond) I'm *working*, not doing "home stuff." That
means people should call me for anything, and for the most part they do.
I've had people dial me in to a number of impromptu hallway or cube
meetings. I even had some people dial me in for lunch, since they started
talking about the project while eating in a conference room.
If you treat telecommuters as if they're working, the so-called
shortcomings vanish. Also, any telecommuter who complains about "being
called at home" is probably one of those who's afraid of being caught
shopping, doing errands, or watching Oprah, and you'll be able to
identify those by the lack of productivity.
