Remote work a good idea? I say no.

This pro-remote work post makes me think of a recent episode of the Apprentice. One team decided to save time by having a telephone conference with the client instead of meeting in person. Donald Trump was very mad at this behavior. He said you should never pass up the opportunity for a face to face meeting.

I thought about this a lot, and I have to put myself in Donald Trump’s camp. Work is not about doing the work, it’s about marketing the work. After all, we are moving to a marketing economy. People simply don’t pay attention to a voice over the telephone as much as they do to a person in front of them. If no one you work for is paying attention to you, don’t expect to get promoted. Don’t expect to accomplish anything that requires you to get other people to help you.

Comments

[probligo]

I am with you and Trump despite the fact that I can NOT stand his programme.

As far as I am concerned meeting face to face is directly connected with -

* effort over laziness
* fronting up over concealment
* truth over evasion

Fire the lot of them...

[Michael A. Clem]

Again, I think this is an over-generalization. It depends greatly upon the type of work being done, and the people doing the work. Obviously, in dealing with clients, a face-to-face is usually more desirable, precisely *because* you're marketing something. But not all jobs are or will be about marketing, or one may simply be facing difficult constraints on time and space.
And no, I've never seen Trump's show, and have little desire to do so.

[Michael H.]

Hi Half Sigma
I think in the future, much work is going to be done remotely, in form or another. Firms will be global and they will depend on labor that is thousands of miles away. It won't be practical to bring everyone together for a face-to-face meeting.

Even in D.C. it isn't always practical to bring everyone together. My wife regularly attends "phone-in meetings" because she works in Maryland and the rest of the team is scattered around D.C. and NoVa.

I agree that Face to Face is preferable, and technology may make it possible for us to meet face to face remotely using advanced teleconferencing technology. That actually doesn't sound so sci-fi fantastic to me at all.

[superdestroyer]

The agreement part:

If you are at the face to face and others are calling in, you have almost total control at the meeting.

Also, if you never have actually met a person it is much harder to work with them than if you have.

Now the pro-remote work part:

If you have never worked in Dilbertville, then you do not understand. It is virtually impossible to conduct serious work that requires concentration in Dilbertville. Dilbertville lends itself to repetative work; quick, easy assignments; and to goofing off.

You can prepare a one page memo in Dilbertville but preparing a 70 page environmental Assessment for the EPA is impossible. People should be allowed to work on big projects at home where they can concentrate.

[Dave Desforges]

I appreciate that you're reading and referencing my posts at Future Tense. I'm not saying you never need to show up at the office and I definitely agree that customer meetings should be face-to-face, but these things aren't mutually exclusive. Unless you're in sales or direct customer delivery/support, you don't have customer meetings every day. So why not be able to work from the location that makes you most effective? As for marketing time in the office, guess what? It's rare. Four years ago, when I went into the office once per week, I knew I could find others and do some networking. Today, I have no idea whether they will also be in the office unless I contact them ahead of time. And bumping into the VP in the hall - he's not there either. The point is: you are dead on about marketing the work (and yourself), it just means that you need to do it differently in a remote work world, and I'm just trying to figure out what are the skills necessary to do that most effectively (for the company and myself).

[Andrew]

Working remotely cannot be tied up with marketing works. Marketing needs presence, w/c totally lacks in telecommuting. Yes, some people work at their best when by themselves or in a place suited for them. I, personally loves working remotely.