Outdated work practices and transportation nightmares: thoughts on snowjam leon

I've been thinking about the Jan. snowstorm for a while. The problems are numerous: a lack of transportation options, a commuter city, poor planning, unpredictable weather (hee!)... well, the options for where to point fingers are numerous!

As an IT worker who knows lots of other IT and technology workers, I am always surprised by how many of us have 8-5, M-F, jobs in an office. Even if you work a flexible schedule, work *some* weekends, or do *some* telecommuting, it always seem to fall outside of the norm. Melissa Mayer famously abolished Yahoo's telecommuting policy. Best Buy recently abolished theirs, too. If you read Melissa's response she says it is a "wrongly perceived industry narrative"¹ and in my experience, that is true. Even the freelancers, contract workers, and consultants that I know are often required to work IN an office during 8-5 M-F hours.

After this recent snowstorm in the south, I thought about how poor and antiquated our public transportation system, which just makes no sense if we really expect people to work in offices M-F, 8-5. We make it hard for them to get there, which then sets ourselves up for transportation nightmares. Yet, it doesn't have to be that way. For MARTA in Atlanta, it was (and continues to be) about politics - the politics of poor vs. wealthy, the politics of white vs. black². What could have existed as a viable transportation option was never given a chance.³

Obviously, better planning AND better public transportation would help relieve the pressure on the existing infrastructure, regardless if a person lives 5 minutes from work or 50 minutes from work. At some point, we can't just add another lane to the highway. Another answer which SHOULD be equally obvious - more telework. Granted, not all jobs are going to be telework appropriate (although there was a television program in the UK where doctors diagnosed patients using webcams⁴, so hey if it works for that, maybe we need to rethink more professions).

When I hear of resistance to telework for IT and tech staff (not knowing what the employee is doing; not sure of their progress/how much work is done; not really part of the team; don't know the employee, lack of collaboration/sharing information/work -- the list goes on and on) - the majority of the issues are either related to outdated infrastructures and workflows or management issues -- TRUST issues. A person working at home - possibly in their pajamas - how dare they? (I would argue that there are probably few of us who have done telework that actually do wear our pajamas to work - granted I did it once WHEN I WAS SICK AND STILL WORKED. (by the way, would I have gone TO work in that situation? NO.) How many supervisors supervise IT and tech staff via email? Memos? Chat? IM? If you are already doing that, then it seems silly to have someone sit in an office for accountability purposes. Aren't there other ways to ensure accountability rather than randomly popping by to see if the person is there?

I have been on both sides of the telework spectrum. I once supervised someone that had to work at home for various reasons. It was extraordinarily difficult and this employee became the reason (excuse) not to allow telecommuting. Although it was not completely a failure (work did get done), it wasn't a shining success story, either. So, why was it less than successful? I've pondered this over the years and I've come to some conclusions (red flags were rampant but I was under a mandate to make it work):

• Lack of training and skills by the employee who was telecommuting : she was a relatively new and new-to-the-workforce employee (red flag: needed more training and supervision; needed more guidance in establishing good work habits which was very hard to do in a virtual environment) 
• Lack of communication / communication tools: no skype (didn't exist), no webcams, no chat and her phone only sometimes worked. 
• Lack of a good infrastructure: barriers on both sides; our antiquated systems, network, and security protocols were not setup to allow easy telecommuting; her computer was outdated and ill equipped for the level of work that needed to be performed.
• Lack of clear expectations: no organizational/institutional contract or checklist of requirements for telework. We used the same evaluation schema as used for inhouse workers (both of which were vague in outputs, which then made evaluation of actual work exceedingly hard - I did work to change these)
• No plan or protocols for telecommuting; each was handled in case-by-case basis. 

One of the issues that I encountered is that many are tied to a workplace vision that no longer exists --   students expect to be able to connect with their professors wherever and whenever, customers expect companies to be responsive as well. We can fly out of most airports at any time of the day or night. Our news is 24/7. Many more doctors have weekend hours.  Our world is 24/7, why is our work not? I think it is easier to not have teleworkers (change!); thus, most organizations and businesses who COULD easily have teleworkers are just resistant to it. They are not willing to look at their workflows, expectations, infrastructures -- their work -- to see where they can make changes to move their workers to a virtual space.  Yet, resources are available. Training is available (telework.gov, among others). Yet, in embracing telework and making it happen - they would free up office space as teleworkers could share space when they are in actually in the office, save time, help the environment (less pollutants in the environment from the commute), and have more productive workers.

Various studies have found that teleworkers are more productive than inhouse workers, but that they need more organisational support.⁵

Why?

• Proximity breeds complacency 
• Working remotely makes people try harder to connect with one another. 
• Physically separated people and teams maximize the time they spend together. 
• Virtual teams make better use of tools. ⁶

However, I did have other experiences with telecommuting which were (and continue to be) great. In those cases, expectations are clear and the process itself is very organized. So, telecommuting is definitely possible with the appropriate workspace and support for all involved.  Certainly telecommuting won't solve all of the transportation issues (better public transportation is needed) but it will help remove some of the load from the existing infrastructure, while building a more productive and forward thinking workforce. 

1 Marissa Mayer on telecommuting: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/19/marissa-mayer-telecommuting/
^↩ 2 Fight over Atlanta Mass Transit Raises Race Issues
^↩ 3 Where It All Went Wrong: If only we could undo the MARTA Compromise of 1971
^↩ 4 Embarrassing Bodies (Wikipedia entry)
^↩ 5Trans-Tasman Survey Finds ‘Hybrid Teleworkers' Are More Productive and Satisfied With Their Job, but Organisations Need to Provide More Support
  6Do Teleworking Employeres Have Higher Productivity?

  Related:
Atlanta Snowstorm: The day we lost atlanta http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/atlanta-snow-storm-102839.html
Telework.gov, http://www.telework.gov/
Techday – Are ‘teleworkers’ more productive? http://techday.com/it-brief/news/are-hybrid-teleworkers-more-productive/172527/

Fixed thinking vs. fluid - creativity, problemsolving, and technology

I found this article fascinating as I am definitely not of a fixed mindset. :-) I have been berated more than once by fixed mindset people and colleagues who question why "I'm not happy" (I am usually but they see my inability to be static as unhappiness or being unsatisfied - I'm neither but I am quest oriented).

I think this ties in directly with creativity. Critical creative thinkers are needed more than ever now, I believe. We are needed to solve our global issues and given our limited resources (heck, even helium is in short supply!) we need to find new ways to do things. Recycle/reuse/repurpose. With the advances in technology, there is more opportunity for intersections between art and science.

I'm really eager to read this book as I could use more insights in dealing with fixed mindsets, especially when I threaten them (I still don't understand how my success is threatening to them, but whatevah).

" A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness. "

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/

Interview scenario questions

Here are a few sample interview questions (these are not the exact questions I use, by the way) 

• You are responsible for hiring a new employee. A friend has asked you to hire them. How would you handle this situation? 
• Please explain your supervisory and management experience including review of work, training and hiring. What is your management and training style? Have you ever fired or dismissed someone? What circumstances led to that situation?
• How do communicate with your staff? Give examples.
• Someone from outside the department tells you that they have seen your employee talking on their cell phone when they are supposed to be working. How would you handle this situation?
• How well do you work independently? How do you determine when you need to ask for guidance? 
• A coworker asks you to do a task. After you agree, you discover that it conflicts with a policy. How would you handle this situation?
• The fire alarm goes off and no other supervisors are present. What would you do?
• Your new employee seems to be struggling to learn the basics of the job. How would you get this employee on track? What if your efforts were not successful? 

Emergency planning survey

-------------------------

Dear Colleague,

As part of an on-going research project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we are seeking responses to a brief survey on the roles librarians could play in emergency planning and response activities. This information will be used to help develop appropriate learning experiences for current and future practitioners.

The survey asks you to rank the appropriateness of a variety of possible roles that have been identified for librarians. The answers should reflect your personal opinion about the appropriateness of the roles; they do not need to reflect an actual role that you have played. You will also have a chance to provide more detailed comments about additional roles that you believe librarians could/should play in emergency planning and response activities.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Data will be kept confidential, and the results of the survey will only be reported in the aggregate.

Here is a link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=0ir_2f1rFDWnsCUJDhitFL3w_3d_3d

If you have any questions regarding the survey or the research project, please contact:

Dr. Lisl Zach
Assistant Professor
The iSchool at Drexel
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875
lisl.zach@ischool.drexel.edu

Collaborating in the Cloud (or maybe stuck in the quicksand...) [video]

Collaborating In The Cloud

view presentation (tags: collaboration library2.0)

Nice overview of distributed information, collaboration (Wired recently also has a great graphic about the hivemind vs. the individual brain, too) and web2.0 -- lots of the usual candidates (google products, del.icio.us, etc. etc.) but nicely organized.

One thing I am wondering though: What are the emerging technologies in libraries -- not the same ol' same old we've seen in presentation after presentation? Surely there are new things are the horizon (and drupal is not new, people...) Koha? Vufind? Endeca? Evergreen? Penntags? MTags? Those are all catalog or catalog related and some of those projects have been around for a while, too.

Second Life? Virtual worlds?
I don't know, are libraries really going to go there? 3D/Virtual worlds would seem to be the next evolution but considering the sheer computer power to run most of those, budget cuts, staff reductions, etc. I could see where staffing a 'real' reference desk would take priority.

Google maps mashups? Geo services?

Finally, am I just cranky or is lolcats on the way out? (please, let it be so... the cute factor is long gone....)