Re: Not permitted to be productive at home

[Mike Stockman <mstockman -at- mac -dot- com>]

The attitude Wendy describes (and I've run into it before as well) comes 
from management missing the point: Deliverables matter more than "time 
served."

It doesn't matter whether an employee is distracted a thousand times a 
day by the doorbell, telephone, or (as in my case) refrigerator -- what 
matters is whether the work is delivered with the expected quality and 
on the expected schedule. Results are far more important than 
supervision, goofing off, or working later than the boss.

Fully-supervised cubicle workers can still goof off, and do -- it's 
amazing how adept some people can be at hiding solitaire and Web 
browsers. People who will deliver quality work on schedule generally do 
so with or without supervision.

For myself, I've always expected that I'll be called on the carpet if I 
fail to perform, whether I'm in a cubicle or my living room. I've also 
had decent results telecommuting for many years, with no complaints from 
clients/bosses. Go figure.

Mike

Wendy Cunningham wrote: