

Travel the world and get a paycheque: The allure of a results-only workplace - apineda
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/travel-the-world-and-still-get-a-paycheque-the-allure-of-a-results-only-workplace/article19877929/

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pktgen
> When Alex Pineda’s bosses decided their employees could work wherever they
> wanted, the web developer didn’t park his laptop at home or at the
> neighbourhood coffee shop. He left for Paris. > “If it doesn’t really matter
> where I am,” he figured, “then why am I in my own apartment instead of a
> place in Europe?”

What are the legal implications of this? Technically, this would mean this
guy's employer is now employing someone in France (or Germany, Netherlands or
Spain which are mentioned later). From the employee's perspective as well,
they are almost certainly violating that country's laws if they're on a normal
tourism visa.

Remote work seems to be an area where laws (in most or all western countries,
as far as I can tell) have not kept up. In the above example, you've got a
Canadian remotely working for a Canadian company, but living in a foreign
country and spending his money there. Assuming he's using a tourism visa like
most would be doing in this position, he's breaking the law but this kind of
activity is nothing but beneficial to the foreign country, since he is
spending money in the local economy, not competing in the local labor market
and not drawing any welfare benefits.

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apineda
I don't know for sure that I was within the rules. I simply didn't pay
attention to them. I remember understanding that in the US it is as you say
and I would not be able to work for a company outside the US. I should have
done more research but it was all spur of the moment, all I really cared about
was how long I was able to stay in each country.

more info:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Canadian_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Canadian_citizens)

~~~
pktgen
I agree with you BTW, in your position I'd do the same thing. Pretty much
impossible to get caught with this unless you admit it to a border/immigration
agent.

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JackMorgan
So how do we do this for software developers? It's very difficult to gauge how
much effort a project or bug or story will take. Without that being highly
accurate, some people will finish in a few minutes then chill out while others
will feel oppressed and be scrambling trying to finish their unrealistic
deadlines.

Even letting the team estimate stories then assigning them randomly is
difficult, some members are more skilled than others. What Jim could do in an
hour will take Bill a week.

One thought would be to track everyone's velocity as an individual all the
time and ensure all stories are small, like under a few hours. Then you'd have
a small enough cycle that it should be possible to get a lot more accurate
with estimating and making sure people produce similarly.

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ClassicFarris
Also note similar things have been done by several tech companies:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkiq9FJHQw8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkiq9FJHQw8)

