Comments for The Alchemy of Soulful Work http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com Finding Purpose In What We Do Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:42:07 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Challenge Yourself: Keep a Dare Journal by Sonya76 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/2012/01/challenge-yourself-keep-a-dare-journal/#comment-9 Sonya76 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:42:07 +0000 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/?p=45#comment-9 I'm quite a risk taker - got together with my husband at 19, started my own business and moved abroad at 23. But I've always wanted to write and I've never had the courage. Perhaps a dare diary is the thing to get me started. I’m quite a risk taker – got together with my husband at 19, started my own business and moved abroad at 23. But I’ve always wanted to write and I’ve never had the courage. Perhaps a dare diary is the thing to get me started.

]]> Comment on People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System by JoeCascio http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/2012/01/people-before-tools-creating-a-better-remote-working-system/#comment-8 JoeCascio Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:07:21 +0000 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/?p=41#comment-8 @ChrisBailey Yes, people have to agree on what modes of communication they'll use, but my feeling is that this too can be overanalyzed and thrown into committee where 8 different departments have to sign off on it as is usually the case in corporations. There are so many options for people to use nowadays, all it takes is a little bit of experimentation and people will find the path of least resistance. Again, I'd point to open-source as a model. Usually people end up using what the project initiators use and it all seems to work just fine. What's interesting is that 37signals developed their products by designing distributed working tools for themselves. I would be very interested to hear about your experiences where lack of planning led to a disaster with remote working. @ChrisBailey Yes, people have to agree on what modes of communication they’ll use, but my feeling is that this too can be overanalyzed and thrown into committee where 8 different departments have to sign off on it as is usually the case in corporations.

There are so many options for people to use nowadays, all it takes is a little bit of experimentation and people will find the path of least resistance. Again, I’d point to open-source as a model. Usually people end up using what the project initiators use and it all seems to work just fine. What’s interesting is that 37signals developed their products by designing distributed working tools for themselves.

I would be very interested to hear about your experiences where lack of planning led to a disaster with remote working.

]]> Comment on People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System by ChrisBailey http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/2012/01/people-before-tools-creating-a-better-remote-working-system/#comment-7 ChrisBailey Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:33:10 +0000 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/?p=41#comment-7 @JoeCascio Really appreciate you adding your perspective, Joe. And I think you're right. It does start with management and a change in their mindset. In order for a business to align culture and systems need to make remote work successful, there needs to be management buy-in. But once management does cast their buy-in, they can't leave the success of remote working up to chance hoping that it'll all just "work out." That's a recipe for disaster and one I've seen play out far too many times to count. We'll label it as Doomed to Fail. That's where the culture, process, and systems are so important. @JoeCascio Really appreciate you adding your perspective, Joe. And I think you’re right. It does start with management and a change in their mindset. In order for a business to align culture and systems need to make remote work successful, there needs to be management buy-in.

But once management does cast their buy-in, they can’t leave the success of remote working up to chance hoping that it’ll all just “work out.” That’s a recipe for disaster and one I’ve seen play out far too many times to count. We’ll label it as Doomed to Fail. That’s where the culture, process, and systems are so important.

]]> Comment on People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System by JoeCascio.net » Blog Archive » On Remote Working http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/2012/01/people-before-tools-creating-a-better-remote-working-system/#comment-6 JoeCascio.net » Blog Archive » On Remote Working Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:26:13 +0000 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/?p=41#comment-6 [...] Chris Bailey published People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System, which was a commentary on a previous post, Stop whining and start hiring remote workers, [...] [...] Chris Bailey published People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System, which was a commentary on a previous post, Stop whining and start hiring remote workers, [...]

]]> Comment on People Before Tools: Creating a Better Remote Working System by JoeCascio http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/2012/01/people-before-tools-creating-a-better-remote-working-system/#comment-5 JoeCascio Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:38:51 +0000 http://www.alchemyofsoulfulwork.com/?p=41#comment-5 I commented on that very post, saying that a lot of what holds back remote workforces, at least in knowledge-based enterprises, is management insecurity and self-justification. But it's also some curious cause-effect feedback loops in organizations and offices. Offices need to be managed in large part because it's working together in the same physical space that causes a lot of the problems that need to be managed. If people aren't in the same physical space, a lot of issues just go away, reducing the need for management oversight. Also, attempting to centrally plan and perfectly coordinate every person's contribution so that no time is wasted and no mistakes are ever made is what causes most of the wasted time and mistakes that require yet more planning and coordination to remove. (It's so ironic that free market corporations internally resemble nothing so much as a centrally-planned communist dictatorship :). Open-source projects have always operated in a distributed, remote fashion and are successful because the people who actually control what code gets into the releases aren't concerned about "being in charge", "keeping an eye on people" or "eliminating redundancy". So I think all the talk about tools and culture is secondary. The thing that will most encourage remote work is for managers to get over themselves and take a chance. I commented on that very post, saying that a lot of what holds back remote workforces, at least in knowledge-based enterprises, is management insecurity and self-justification. But it’s also some curious cause-effect feedback loops in organizations and offices. Offices need to be managed in large part because it’s working together in the same physical space that causes a lot of the problems that need to be managed. If people aren’t in the same physical space, a lot of issues just go away, reducing the need for management oversight.

Also, attempting to centrally plan and perfectly coordinate every person’s contribution so that no time is wasted and no mistakes are ever made is what causes most of the wasted time and mistakes that require yet more planning and coordination to remove. (It’s so ironic that free market corporations internally resemble nothing so much as a centrally-planned communist dictatorship :) .

Open-source projects have always operated in a distributed, remote fashion and are successful because the people who actually control what code gets into the releases aren’t concerned about “being in charge”, “keeping an eye on people” or “eliminating redundancy”.

So I think all the talk about tools and culture is secondary. The thing that will most encourage remote work is for managers to get over themselves and take a chance.

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