BY MIKE VON WAHLDE
Associate Editor, INTERNET TELEPHONY

Thanking The Technology Tikis: 
Thoughts From A Wireless, Telecommuter

7:40 AM, en route to Chicago. No longer a kid, barely an adult, I don't think I struggle with responsibility like most twenty-somethings, yet my brain sometimes stresses in the confines of the carpeted walls of my cubicle. As any of the creative set can tell you, inspiration can happen anywhere, but there are certain places where that spirit is stronger especially when one is free of their office environment. My father was always keen to point out that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, and if he reads this column, he'll be proud knowing that his son is now accountable for his work 24x7.

Many workers who have not spent time working out of the office find it hard to understand the motivation needed to work remotely. They view this as "time off" while telecommuters see the entire day as an extension of the office. If there is a gray area surrounding breaks, leaving and starting work, who is to say where that gray area begins and ends. Freelancers know this better than anyone else: The ability to finish a job correctly, efficiently, and in a timely manner is the way to get ahead. If a freelancer sits on his or her laurels all day and watches TV, he or she knows that kind of mentality is the surest way to losing every they have, including that TV.

I recently read an article on a popular news site damning telecommuters. The point of this piece was that telecommuting, or commuting from the home office, is a sorry excuse for in-office work. The author goes on to point out how he blew off his day of telecommuting by doing odd chores and avoiding work. One is forced to wonder how his time is spent while he's in the office -- as many inflamed telecommuters and freelancers responded in like with their follow-up posts to the article.

In my mind, a motivated worker is a motivated worker despite their physical location. As the technology allows me, I will find myself doing much more, in even more interesting places. Tell me this: Wouldn't you feel more refreshed "at work" if you could stare out over a beautiful vista for two or three minutes instead of taking a trip to the water cooler for the mandated hourly wrist break from the keyboard? 

Telecommuting is very much in its maiden stages. For most employers, it is either a dirty word -- sparking up images of lazy workers lounging about the home, watching re-runs of Fat Albert, and eating potato chip after chip; or it applies to traveling workers, who simply must log in wherever they may be. The verdict is still out on the feasibility issue of the new workplace. However, as more of us are forced to travel for our jobs and at the same time produce interesting, insightful material, one's ability to work "on the fly" and out of the office is being rethought. If they can do it on the road, right away, without supervision, why can't they do it from out of the office?

I started using wireless technology in order to facilitate production. Through much of college and into the working years, I have often found myself in the middle of nowhere inundated with thought and furiously scribbling on any loose shard of paper, hacking out a 2000 word article in under two hours while parked under an overhanging rock face. I've actually loosened the bindings of my snowboard, run to the car, and pushed out two columns back-to-back in the middle of a perfect Saturday afternoon. The beauty of telecommuting, especially now with the developments of wireless, is that the office hours are extended to reach into the wee and off hours when creativity, imagination, and the like often visit. Even better is the fact that I am not limited in my medium of communication or production -- e-mails, teleconferences, or data transfers can be completed from the most interesting of places these days.

What these devices and technologies give is a special freedom, but at a substantial cost to the anonymity of the cubicle and the time "off work." If I am not in the office, my cell phone may ring from a forwarded call from our office phone, at any time. If I am away from the desk, my e-mails are now forwarded to an @ctivelink port, which rests on top of my Visor, which sits next to me unless it is in my hand. Even en route to Chicago, I have fired off two responses to product releases and a thank you e-mail. Rest? Pssshaw.

Wireless devices, with the time encryption, identification protocols, etc., award businesses with the ultimate answer to what is getting done in a day -- it is right there in the display! While wireless may grant more freedom, along with it comes more accountability -- anywhere and at any time of the day. To quote a co-worker, work can be viewed as work, not as physical presence in the office, hiding behind the walls of your cubicle.

With the technology available, and a force of employees with solid work ethic, telecommuting is a benefit to both employers and their workers. Reduced transportation costs (both in dollars and in employee-energy use), an "always in the office" mentality, and reduced location costs will begin to start the sway towards working remotely. Mobile technologies and increasing wireless bandwidth are also beginning to make telecommuting even that more feasible and understandable by the managerial force. Now by no means am I saying that everyone, in every position, should telecommute, but there are days, times, and work that are lent to out of the office work.

The wireless telecommuting world seems to be based on escapist philosophy, but in fact, we, the army of wireless workers are excited to be allowed the freedom from wire-bondage at the cost of more work and accountability. We welcome technologies that allow a shifting workplace because we know that in the end, the added responsibilities are worth the rights. So next time I am e-mailing a PR firm on a Saturday on my way to an afternoon of climbing, I'll smile and thank the technology tikis for their gift of freedom, and my boss will be impressed that I am working on a Saturday!

Mike von Wahlde welcomes your comments at mvonwahlde@tmcnet.com.