OT somewhat: Do you telecommute? What do you wish the boss understood about it?

[estherschindler]

For a lot of IT people -- everyone from software developers to tech
writers to network support folks -- telecommuting is the best personal
option. They get a flexible schedule, they aren't bothered by noisy
cube-mates, they can code during whichever hours work for them (with
the help of IM and email), and so on. Many of us are lucky enough to
live this lifestyle; I include myself in this set, as I've been a full
time telecommuter for several years.

So I proposed to my boss that I write another in my "5 Things the CIO
Should Know..." series (along with "5 Things the CIO Should Know about
Fighting Spam" [http://www.cio.com/article/101475] and "...about
Software Requirements" [http://www.cio.com/article/29903]), this time
about telecommuting. He was enthusiastic about the idea, and I'm
anxious to get started.

My question has two parts:

* If you telecommute, full- or part-time, what *one* thing do you wish
the CIO or IT Management would understand that they don't currently
"get"?

* If you don't telecommute, the question is the same -- what do you
wish the CIO would understand about telecommuting -- but I expect the
answers will be different (such as "they should let me do it"). Or
perhaps you want to tell management something about the difficulty of
dealing with telecommuters ("I really hate that THEY always seem to do
email during teleconferences but nobody would let us get away with
that in person.") Note, though, that most of my attention will be
given to the people who DO telecommute because my context is "if
you're going to do this, we'll tell you how to do it right."

There is, of course, a manager's view to the same question. (I can
imagine a manager saying, "Telecommuting doesn't mean you can stay
home and play with your baby. You still need to get your work done.")
But mostly I'm trying to represent the concerns of the telecommuter
herself.

I realize that you may have more than one "...and THEN I'd say...!"
item. But I ask people to keep it to one answer to help me clarify
priorities.

As you can probably tell, I will collect opinions from a wide variety
of people who work in IT, over the next week or so. I'll collate the
results and then turn them into a <modest cough> brilliant essay which
will be published on CIO.com. I promise to post the URL when the
article is posted, too.

I'm happiest when I can quote someone specifically ("Esther Schindler
is a programmer at the Groovy Corporation") but it's okay to have an
indirect reference too ("Esther is a programmer at a financial
services firm in the midwest"). I can even accept anonymity if
necessary ("a programmer named Esther said..."). You can write to me
privately if you like, but I suspect the question is of interest to
the larger community, so feel free to respond to the thread here. (It
does help if you cc me so that I see your message sooner.)

Esther Schindler
senior online editor, CIO.com
http://advice.cio.com/taxonomy/term/34