[Ipg-smz] The train from hell?

[Alan Zeichick]

Full-time telecommuting works great for people like me — people who are quite senior, know what they are doing, aren’t looking for mentoring/on the job training, know how to manage people both up and down the org remotely, and who are assertive enough to make themselves known outside their specific working group.

Telecommuting, by contrast, often leaves behind junior employees, especially those who are looking to grow in their careers. They simply aren’t known, and don’t get to sit in formal/informal meetings where they can learn and gain visibility. 

I’ve seen that often at companies as diverse as IDG, Miller Freeman, my own BZ Media, and now at Oracle — people in the office get asked to join new project teams, get grabbed for informal brainstorming meetings, gain visibility and skills, impress people. They then get promotions within their own department, and elsewhere in the org.

By contrast, telecommuting junior employees can easily be left behind, unless they have a manager who is very good at remembering to loop in his/her telecommuting direct reports, and other managers in the organization who take the time to learn who they are and interact with with them. And that is hard, especially if the manager is very busy with his/her own work, has a lot of direct reports, or simply isn’t a good manager/advocate for his/her workers.

Heck, BZ Media itself wouldn’t have happened if I telecommuted. Instead, I got to know the “B” because, despite working in different divisions of Miller Freeman (I was in Software Development, he was in Electronics), we were in the same building and got to talking. Ted asked me one day if I’d like to work with him on a small project. That led to a bigger project, and then a bigger project, and then we had created a whole new group. Then we left Miller Freeman and started BZ Media. If I was a telecommuting chief editor, we’d likely never have even met.

-A

> On Oct 29, 2019, at 1:09 PM, Kishore Jethanandani via Ipg-smz <ipg-smz at netpress.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
>      Companies are so wedded to on-site work ostensibly because it aids collaboration. Oh my, there is more politics than collaboration. At a recent Singularity University Summit, one speaker reported statistics from a survey which found that, when workers are asked anonymously, ninety-percent said they would prefer to work alone. The conclusion was that we need more co-ordination, not collaboration. 
> 
> Best,
> 
> 
> Kishore
> 
>   <https://mailtrack.io/?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=signaturevirality5&>	Sender notified by 
> Mailtrack <https://mailtrack.io/?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=signaturevirality5&> 10/29/19, 01:04:59 PM	
> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 1:02 PM Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz <ipg-smz at netpress.org <mailto:ipg-smz at netpress.org>> wrote:
> I can understand the freakout. 
> 
> I'm still fully for shared transportation models, especially trains. 
> 
> I've used them across the planet. Why they didn't open doors, I'm not sure. Seems harrowing.
> 
> This happened to me once in Paris on the RER train. They didn't open the doors. We were aghast. Then the doors opened two stops later. Why? Turns out, much teargas around the station due to a local insurrection.... and the fumes were traveling down the tunnel. 
> 
> Ok, good enough.
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
> 
> On 10/29/19 1:51 PM, David Needle via Ipg-smz wrote:
>> 
>> My wife just emailed me this from her office in Palo Alto: 
>> 
>> 
>> very quiet here -- Caltrain horror stories from the SF commuters -- the train doors wouldn't open when they stopped in Palo Alto! same thing in Mountain View!  people were freaking out. Finally got off the train in Santa Clara or something and took an uber to work -- $45 and 2.5 hours...  
>> 
>> 
> -- 
> Tom Henderson
> ExtremeLabs, Inc.
> +1 317 250 4646
> Twitter: @extremelabs
> Skype: extremelabsinc
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> -- 
> Kishore Jethanandani
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