Thanks in advance
Sophia

Interesting discussion.

This reminds me of the ‘bedouin’ style of working, widely covered last year. See my blog post at http://howwework.blogspot.com/2006/05/going-bedouin-thoughts.html for a recap.

More recently, the company I work for has just been merged with 2 other companies. My department now has some extra people in it, but we are now dispersed over different locations (the extra offices of the merge-partners). I set up an IRC channel to serve as a central place for everyone ni our department to join (during and even after work hours).

IRC is in my opinion a great way to create a sense of together-ness (for lack of a better term). It is NOT the same as instant messaging, which is primarily a 1-on-1 tool. An IRC “channel” is more like a _place_ where you log on to and where others are visibly present. You say good morning when you come in, and goodbye when you leave. It’s not enough in itself, but it has proven to be a great help in our process of ‘joining forces’ while at different locations.

Red flag for me is that it does not appear you are looking forward to self-employment.

If you are not fully motivated and welcoming of self-employment then the virtual office does not sound like the right fit for you. You are better to do work you both enjoy, are comfortable with, and easily motivated to succeed.

Feel free to bounce further questions off of me either through the blog or directly. I am more than happy to help you think through your decision.

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

My experience leans more toward the aspect of trust being the main factor toward a lack of motivation in establishing a virtual office. Managers want to ensure that their employees are “on the job” and productive. Your example of Automattic included employees that had an existing work relationship. Without prior experience with a worker, the manager has not built up the trust that he can be depended on to put the full day at home without the Starbuck’s runs, soap operas, etc. I think this may be part of what you mean by requiring excellent management techniques. Managers want to be hands-on, meaning they can reach out and touch you or look over your shoulder onto your screen. The ability you mention of not just communicating, but over-communicating not only ensures the individuals know what they need but will also provide the manager the oversight they desire. This requires a balance, just like in a classic office setting, of managers not micro-managing but working to ensure the project is on track and the employees are provided what they need.

Communication will also have to relay a sense of team so that all individuals know they are part of a larger scheme. Their input is important to the final goal. This of course is another factor that crosses both into the virtual and classic office. It becomes more important virtually as individuals will lose the sense of team and project goals as they work alone in their space on their assignments.

Another demotivating factor may be that “working from home” has historically been a perk granted to an exceptional employee or someone that requires it due to illness, home care, new child or some other issue. Granting this perk to a whole workforce is not something most managers or business owners are inclined to do.

The technology is here to support virtual offices. Management will need to overcome their instincts and years of instilled processes to make it work. I welcome the day when we can get beyond this and see more virtual office examples. It will be a learning experience for sure.