Session held Saturday, August 16, 2008 at Alt.Net 2008 open-spaces conference, Calgary, Canada
WORKING REMOTELYTools / Facilities- Live Meeting
- WebEx
- Remote Desktop
- Instant Messaging / Twitter / Skype
- A dedicated home office
- Great equipment
- Faster internet connection you can afford
- Possibly a dial-in teleconference service for hosting remote meetings
Selling Yourself- Create an Online Presence for yourself
- Online profile with bio / photo and possibly a blog - Prove you are self-managed, trustworthy, and productive
- Suggest a short term contract (eg. 3 months), then renegotiate work locale during renewal - Show your value and productivity
- Get things done, on time
- Provide detailed time tracking (1/2 hour granularity) - Provide excellent communication
- You must work even harder to be clear and articulate - Demonstrate ongoing visibility and accessibility
- Make your work hours clear to the client and always be contactable during those hours
- Give multiple avenues of visibility, accessibility: I.M. presence, calling in, quick e-mail response times, etc.
- Provide daily status updates or attend daily stand-ups by phone
Selling the Idea- Economic arguments
- Lowered infrastructure costs to client. They don’t need to provide expensive office space, parking, coffee/tea service, etc.
- Lowered equipment and software licensing costs to client. - Weaning
- After your proving period (see above), propose a weaning period where you might be able to work 1 day from home, etc.
- Demonstrate that you can be as productive during that one day as the rest of the week
- Demonstrate that your physical non-presence at the office is not a significant disruption to your employer or fellow employees