FWD: Fear, Loathing, and telecommuting

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Name withheld upon request. Please reply on list.

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I have some telecommuting experience under my belt. I call the experience
the good, bad, and ugly. The good experiences were on projects with
companies that could manage off-site workers. Some companies do it well. I
still talk to some of these old clients. The bad and ugly experiences were
in companies were project management was a dark art, communication was
poor, and an offsite documentation project was out of sight and out of mind
despite the frequent phonecalls, emails, and faxes from the off-site writers.

I am not discounting the whole trust issue but a bigger management issue
can lurk in some companies. Perhaps some documentation managers realize
they have too many plates spinning, and an off-site project will get lost
in the chaos.

Now as a new hiring manager building a doc group in a startup company, I am
shying away from off-site contractors because in the lifecycle of the
company we are just not ready for it --  the developers, my management
experience, and the company processes included . Hypocritical since I used
to telecommute? Maybe. I made this call based on my bad and ugly
experiences as a telecommuter and where the development group and my
documentation group is in their maturity. I know that I will miss out on
qualified writers but the management and environmental issues combined with
a hot TW job market in my area supersede all of those issues. I believe in
telecommuting and will hopefully revisit the issue as my doc group grows
and the company processes mature.

Some companies are just  better equipped for telecommuters than others.


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