What is work? Is it something you do or a place you go?

Here's a picture of the office I work in:

I go there to collaborate with other members of Microsoft and to meet customers.

Microsoft measures my worth by the results I achieve. I have clear objectives. If I waste time and fail to do my job then I'll be the one who suffers.

They do not require me to the office every day. Nor do they require me to be there from 9am to 5:30pm. I simply go when it makes most sense to do so based on what I'm trying to achieve and taking into account the traffic and travel conditions.

When I go to London I try to avoid travelling in rush hour otherwise I'm likely to have to go through an ordeal like this:

The image above is actually the queue to ENTER the underground transportation system in London (affectionately known as "the tube"). Having queued to enter the station I then had to queue multiple times until I reached the underground platform where, you guessed it, I had to queue.

I appreciate that many people work for companies who still insist upon them being in the office throughout the working day every day. It's about time more companies allowed their employees to stagger their commutes at least some of the time and ideally work from home sometimes too. Technologies such as email, instant messaging, terminal services, online meeting technologies and mobile devices are tools that can be used to enable people to work remotely and remain effective.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Andy> you're right - measuring something like evangelism is complex. The main measure is "customer satisfaction" which is measured by a survey every 6 months - the thing is we have no idea who'll be asked and it's run by a 3rd party - so we have to spread our "how to" as far and wide as possible

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Work for me is both my hobby and my job, kind of goes hand in hand with software development.  That said it's important to keep a balance, if i was working excessive hours or taking work home with me regularly then that would start to impact on the enjoyment of my hobby.  Difficult to strike that balance sometimes. I too agree that companies are going to have to look at home working and increasingly flexible arrangements.  I only live 7 miles from my work location yet I would much rather work from home at least two days a week.  There is less and less reasons for having to be in the office every day of the week, just to be physically sitting at a desk in the office and seen to be working.

• Anonymous
  June 01, 2008
  Hi Steve, You said, "Microsoft measures my worth by the results I achieve. I have clear objectives" Just wondered what evangelists get measured on? You're role must must different to say a Gold partner account manager who can get measured on sales, etc

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2008
  I definitely work to live but unfortunately I can't work from home. I'm not sure I'm strict enough to work from home. My commute is only a 15-20 min drive anyway, though I am at work by 7am.