

Future of Corporations: Results-Only Work Environment--Focus on Output, not Hours or Face-Time - vlad
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_50/b4013001.htm

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pg
Maybe the next step after that would be to keep the results-only part but
ditch the top-down corporate oversight, letting everyone work on whatever they
wanted and keep nearly all the upside. Oh, wait...

~~~
umjames
This sort of thing should be an "industry standard" among programmers. We'd
all be happier if we had the freedom to dice up our work and play time (and
locations) anyway we wanted.

It looks like some people at Best Buy have been reading (or should be reading)
Paul Graham's "What Business can learn from Open-Source" essay. It definitely
makes the list of my favorite readings.

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bootload
_"... At most companies, going AWOL during daylight hours would be grounds for
a pink slip. Not at Best Buy. The nation's leading electronics retailer has
embarked on a radical--if risky--experiment to transform a culture once known
for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for
"results-only work environment," seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma
that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to
judge performance on output instead of hours ..."_

When I read that I think someone is working out the cost per person per square
meter and saying to themselves we pay for that floorspace and nobody is using
at night or it can be done cheaper. Lets get rid of all but the core and let
them work elsewhere.

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portLAN
There's a balancing act here -- trying to maximize your output today can cost
you in your output tomorrow. Everyone knows you can overdo things physically;
you can also burn out mentally.

 _If I stay up until 6 am chasing this one bug, either tomorrow I will be too
tired to concentrate or I'll sleep in and mess up the rest of my schedule_...
been there a lot.

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vlad
"Achen says he would never go back. Orders processed by people who are not
working in the office are up 13% to 18% over those who are. ROWE'ers are
posting higher metrics for quality, too. Achen says he believes that's due to
the new office paradox: _Given the constant distractions, it sometimes feels
impossible to get any work done at work._ "

