No, no, I’m not suggesting that one can serve jury duty remotely - I don’t think our society is quite that far along yet. Although I can imagine an environment in our future, evocative of the sci-fi shows I’ve watched, where the jury box for a trial is filled with monitors showing the faces of the jurors who are at home or some other location watching the trial remotely. But I digress…

My point today is that I am actually writing this blog post from the courthouse juror waiting room. I received a jury summons some time ago and in the letter with the details, it stated that the juror waiting room had wireless internet access. So today I brought my laptop along with me. I sat down in the waiting room and while I was waiting for them to start the check-in process, I opened up my laptop and got online. I connected into my company’s VPN (secure network) and got to work.

This is really impressive. Often we like to joke about how our government services are behind the times. But I’m quite jazzed about this. I can sit here and get my work done while I’m waiting - without missing a beat. Now that’s efficient! And that’s what telecommuting is all about - the ability to get your work done from wherever you are, even if that’s in the juror waiting room at the county courthouse

 So next time you open that dreaded jury duty summons, take heart. Check to see if there’s any information in there about network connections and if so bring your laptop and keep your day productive while you wait!

Technorati Tags: telecommuting, jury duty

Never let the subject of this post be a questioned aimed at you just because you’re telecommuting. The out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon is one you must work extra hard to thwart when you are working from home. If your boss has a question about your product or project and he needs to get an answer quickly - just because you’re not there physically is no excuse for not being there virtually.

If your boss can’t track you down he’s going to have to start going to someone else.  If the question is very specific to your area of responsibilities it should be obvious why this is bad for your career. But even if he has a general question that your coworker can answer just as easily as you can, you don’t want your boss only coming to you as a last resort. You don’t want to be the last person your boss (or peers for that matter) goes to because you’re not as easy to find. This is the beginning of a slow, gradual decline of your involvement in the team. You will no longer be as involved in the interconnections between your projects/products and your teammmates. You will no longer be given the good assignments. You will no longer be at the top of your boss’s mind when he’s thinking who to promote or give an expanded role to.

Since people can’t talk to you face-to-face, one of their best options is to talk to you by phone. But they need to be able to find you by phone. Does your company have a corporate directory in which people can look up each other’s phone number? If so one option is to list your home work phone line in that (if you have the ability to change it). If not, does your work phone have the ability to be forwarded? If so, forward it to you home work line. In other words, make it effortless for people to find you.

If you go back and forth between telecommuting and coming into the office, then change the number in the corporate directory or turn the call forwarding on and off each day. Sure, this may take a minute of your time. But the last thing you want to do is give your home work number out to your boss and coworkers and tell them that on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday they should use that instead of your office number. Do you think with everything else they have to worry about that they’ll remember these instructions? And what happens every time you modify your schedule?

No, don’t let yourself be hard to reach. When it comes to your boss and coworkers you do not want to make your telecommuting arrangement cause extra effort for them.

Technorati Tags: telecommuting, home office, work from home

I have spoken to expecting parents before and asked them how they will handle work and kids. I’ve been surprised by a few of them who have answered that they plan to watch the baby and work simultaneously.

“Oh, I can work while I watch the baby - especially when he’s napping. I may have to cut my hours back a bit but I can probably get a good chunk of work done each day.” 

This is a more common mistake, perhaps, amongst parents who run their own business or are freelancers and just get paid for the hours they work.

However, if you are thinking along these lines, as soon as your child is born you will discover the mistake you have maken. A new baby is incredibly time consuming. For one thing, after your maternity leave ends, even if you’re lucky enough to have a baby who is already sleeping through the night, did you realize the definition of “sleeping through the night” means 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep? That means all you’re getting is 5 hours uninterrupted sleep (and that assumes you go to bed the second your baby does and don’t use the time to try to do anything else).

Basically, while you have a young baby, you will be spending every moment your baby is sleeping either napping, eating, showering, trying to get caught up on the laundry, cooking, etc. The first few months are gruelling. And when the baby is awake, she wants to be held, held, held! No letting her play on the playmat while you sit and work at your laptop nearby. Yes, as the baby is older you might have enough of a routine that you can work for an hour or two per day during her naps. And maybe even do a little email while she sits and plays with toys (although nothing that requires intense concentration). But as soon as she starts crawling, it’s game over. You will spend all her waking hours chasing her around, and all her sleeping hours picking up the mess.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my kids and caring for them, while exhausting, is definitely a joy. But I don’t get much of anything done on the days daycare is closed - that’s, without doubt, going down as a vacation day for me at work.

Bottom line - do not think that telecommuting can replace childcare. It can make your life easier (the time you would have spent commuting can now be spent with the kids, you’re nearby when your child is sick with a fever, etc), but you need to arrange for a nanny or daycare if you plan to get any significant amount of work done.

Technorati Tags: telecommuting, children, childcare, daycare, nanny

For those of you who have been enjoying my blog, now there’s more. I am creating a free Telecommuters Club for people like you who are interested in learning more about telecommuting and virtual presence. I will send useful tips, tricks, and techniques to help you improve your telecommuting skills and make sure your work at home is just as successful as if you were in the office, face-to-face with your peers.

Sign up at http://avoidgoingtowork.com.

Those who join my Telecommuters Club will get:

• My ongoing tips, tricks, and insights into telecommuting success
• My Top 10 Rookie Telecommuting Mistakes list to get you started - learn the most common mistakes people make so you can avoid them!
• When my e-book is finished I’ll send the details to my club members first - with a discount offer exclusive to members only!

Sign up at http://avoidgoingtowork.com. Your privacy is respected - I promise to never rent, trade, sell, lend, drop hints about, or in any other way give anyone else access to your email address! You will only receive emails from yours truly. And if you change your mind later (that would never happen!) I will always provide a handy link at the bottom of each message for you to unsubscribe.

Technorati Tags: telecommuting, telecommute, work from home, free club, members,  top 10 list, e-book