Our tools must keep up with the way we define work
by Celine Roque
I chanced upon some people discussing the changing nature of work and how we seem to lag in addressing it, even with the little things. For example, in Outlook 2007, we can mark our status throughout the day so that other people would be aware of our availability for meetings and other tasks. Right now the only options are Busy, Tentative, Out of Office, Free or Outside of Working Hours. For the common office worker, this system is sufficient. However, as more and more people are working in their homes, on the road, and other off-site locations either part-time or full-time, this creates a few problems.
It’s all a matter of perception and expectations. “Out of Office” becomes misleading when teleworking is part of the equation. You could still be working even if you’re not in the office, perhaps accessible via phone, Skype or instant messenger during office hours. This confusing status may cause colleagues to think twice on asking you their urgent inquiries, set meetings or work with your on collaborative projects.
If you say you’re “Busy”, meaning you’re working, will they assume that you’re at the office and stop by your cubicle to find you’re not there? Is telling them you’re “Free” for a certain period inviting complications? If you’re scheduled to attend a meeting, you might be expected to talk to the boss face-to-face. Questions could be asked requiring data inaccesible to you off-site, or you may be asked to perform a task using a resource-intensive program that’s impractical unless you’re using the powerful office workstations and connected to a fast broadband line. All these could be avoided if expectations have been set correctly with clear status labels.
At first glance, the problem seems trivial, but we’ve already seen that it’s not. Technology is changing the way we work, and we need to adjust our tools to reflect this. Suggestions were made to create a new category “Working from Home” or “Working Off-site”, the latter probably with an additional text field to indicate location. Do you have other ideas? Please write them on the comments section below.
Thought...
