From: vernak@fenris.com (Verna Knapp)
Subject: Re: Earning a living in the country
Followup-To: misc.jobs.misc
Summary: What are the barriers?
Keywords: work at home, telecommute, specifications
Organization: Fenris Information Exchange, Corvallis, Ore.
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 03:10:20 GMT

In article <1992Sep5.062415.26143@ultra.com> marke@ultra.com (Marke Clinger) writes:

> It is a mind set thing...engineers need to be where the work gets done,
> where the customers are, where the sales reps are. It has been this way
> for so many years, it is going to take many more years for this "older"
> management to trust the remote office concept. I don't mean age by
> older, but years of experience...those who where in management before
> computers and communications where really big in the work place.

> Not that what Sun does, everyone should do, but this is a good example
> of a major corporation implementing the remote office. Why not have
> development or other branches where people want to live? Software has
> to be merged back anyway...just as jointly developed documents do. People
> in the same company, in the same location, often use the telephone
> to communicate. What difference does it make if there are 3000 miles
> between them?

> Lets really put some of this great technology to work in an innovative
> way that will make the quality of life better. 

> I believe the 1990's will be the information age and that
> data/tele-communication will be a big part of this. By the year 2000 we
> might just have this figured out well enough that management will not
> be so scared of remote offices. Then engineers can live where they
> want, not just those who are "brave" enough to start a business or hang
> out their shingle. 

This is a hot button with me, too. I have chosen to live in a small community
with excellent quality of life but poor employment prospects. As a result
I continue to commute 86 miles each way every day to a job in a place I
do not care to live in. Overcrowding is just not my idea of the good life.

I do the kind of work that lends itself to working at home; I am writing
software. With a decent specification, I would need almost no interaction
with my coworkers. However, I have not seen a decent specification in the
last 10 years. By a decent specification I mean one which lists the inputs,
the outputs, the transformations which turn the inputs into outputs, the
hardware the program is to run on, and any interactive queries which may
be received along with the required responses. And don't forget the formats.
This seems to be a cultural thing. We have allowed the people who get their
social jollies by talking to define how we do our work. This "talk to each
other" mode has been substituted for specifications, much to the detriment
of time to market, I might add. This cultural factor is always cited as
an absolute barrier to my requests to take my work home. 

There are probably other similar fixable barriers to working away from the
main office. How about let's do a bit of brainstorming on what those barriers
are and look for ways to fix them? I know I would be a lot more productive
if I were away from the constant interruptions of the office. And the
extra 3-4 hours per day could be used both for fun and for improving my
skills. Not to mention the pay level I require to pay for that commute$$$.

Verna Knapp
vernak@fenris.com




Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc