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Not only have our employees telecommuted when appropriate for the work they were
doing (in other words, they didn't need direct access to the files, equipment,
and other things we had at the office), but we have landed many contracts, some
with major companies whose names you'd recognize, where we were expected to work
remotely and come in for meetings or hands-on time on testing machines or things
like that. I just completed one contract where, although I had a cube and a
machine at the client company, I did far more of my work remotely. And I'm
currently working on another contract where two direct employees are
telecommuting almost all the time.
Andrew is right about one thing: some companies like to control. Their
philosophy seems to be "if I can't see you, you're not working." Then there are
scads and scads more companies with more mature attitudes that focus on simply
getting the job done in the most efficient way possible - and if that involves
telecommuting, so be it.
There are pluses and minuses to telecommuting: you're not around for the
impromptu hallway meetings, you sometimes don't have the greatest tools, you may
not get to know people's faces (although you can get to know them fairly well
via email), etc. Where day-to-day contact with others, especially in face to
face situations or in impromptu meetings, is important my guess is that
telecommuting is probably best used as a day or two to focus on paperwork or
other things where you aren't likely to be bothered. Where simple productivity -
such as grinding out multiple chapters of a book where at least most of the
source material is readily available - is what's important, the more you can
control your working conditions, the better - and that usually means
telecommuting from the relative isolation of your choice.
Far from being a myth, telecommuting is very much a fact of life in Silicon
Valley.
