Our tech team is very small. I'm the manager of the group, and my management style would best be described as lackadaisical. :-)
So, you're right, this requirement is based upon management weakness. I knew that when I posted the job offer. In fact, I even told that to the employee who was leaving for Washington D.C. as the reason why I couldn't keep him on. He understood completely, having worked with me. :-)
While I agree that it would be ideal to simply pick the best person for the job, this obviously isn't completely realistic. For instance, we have a certain pay range that we can afford, and that will artificially limit who we can consider. Other people won't even know we have an opening. Others still might have a language or communications barrier that makes it impossible for us to work with them. Notice that this is not actually his deficiency, but ours. If we could just speak (insert language here).
I just don't see adding one additional limitation to that by wanting someone to come to the office as all that big a deal. Many people prefer it, and in this economy, help is not scarce and people are willing to go the extra mile. After all, it's not about getting the best person, it's about getting the best work done. If I know that I can't effectively remote manage somebody so it would be silly for me to attempt this in vain.
On Friday, June 21, 2002, at 08:30 AM, Zac Morris wrote:
Old fashioned is right, and disregarding "telecommuters" is also extreemly short sighted and ultimaty limits your ability to provide the most quality solution...
I work for Cisco Systems in our RTP (NC) office. I work with two different groups, one based in San Jose and the other based in Ontario, as a "virtual team member" (what we call our telecommuter positions). I only bring all this up because I'm in exactly the role you've outlined here, and to be honest I don't think I would BE as successful as I am if I were located directly with either of these teams.
The need to have everyone "all together" is usually indicative of a larger problem in team dynamics, and communications. It usually represents a team in which "charasmatic" leadership is more important than technical know how or ability to get a job done. Now don't get me wrong, for a person to BE a successful "virtual team member" they have to have great communication skills, and be open to working with others in multiple formats to enable the best level of teamwork and participation.
With all this said, and based on my own personal experience in this role, I can tell you that what you're asking for here is a person to walk a VERY shape edge between the need to bring the best and brightest from people, without making it seem "personal". Actually having this role as an "outsider" to the day to day politics and interpersonal sabatoge of most bay area offices (yeah I lived there five years during the "boom") , gives a layer of abstraction that makes the job easier to perform. When someone is questioning things like style, or code effeciency it comes across MUCH easier (more acadimic) when that person is a "talking head", an IM box, or a voice on the telephone. It becomes less "personalized" and easier to "pick and choose" the best componants into a greater whole. It also isolates the individual who may end up doing a lot of refactoring to present the final solution.
Just something to consider. Open youself to the best people in the world and don't accept just the best you can find in your area, and you'll find that you solutions aren't also as limited...
-Zac Morris
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Mornini
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2002 11:30 PM
Subject: [JOB] Crack OOP Perl whitebox tester wanted
We're 1 year into development of a system that is OO Perl, mod_perl,
DBI and DBD::Oracle on Linux.
We've spent a lot of energy doing it right and writing tests as we go.
This has given us huge benefits in the life of the project, but our current
whitebox tester has decided to move to Washington, D.C. so we need
somebody to fill his large shoes.
If you're a good Perl programmer who has a strong sense of "the way it
should be" and can be simultaneously mean, nasty, angry, distrustful and
unforgiving to Perl code and the opposite to people then we'd like to
talk to you.
This person doesn't do new development, per se, but he is responsible
for making things better via testing, fixing, documentation and refactoring.
This is a full time job at an office in the South Park area of San Francisco,
California, USA. Telecommuters are NOT what we have in mind. Call us
old fashioned that way. :-)
Pay and benefits are good, though it's no longer 1998. :-) Best benefit
is working with a small group of people that are highly motivated by
doing it right.
--
-- Tom Mornini
-- eWingz Systems, Inc.
--
-- ICQ: 113526784, AOL, Yahoo, MSN and Jabber: tmornini