MobileViews Blog

I’ve been a full-time blogger for 3 months now (check out my day job blog MobileAppsToday.com). I’m pretty happy to be working alone and uninterrupted most of the time. But, it is nice to interact with real people now and then too. Although I used Twitter before making this job-lifestyle change, it has become invaluable as my virtual water cooler weather working at home or on the road (with netbook and smartphone(s) in tow).

I maintain a locked personal Twitter account to talk/tweet with people I actually know for this purpose. It was one of the smartest things I’ve done, I think. I also have a public Twitter account to mostly talk about my work and tweet with people I don’t know personally. You can find this public account at:

twitter.com/toddogasawara

CNN asks…

Bosses worry if telecommuters are really working

This is the question that always came up in discussions over years and different employers. I actually telecommuted one-day per week when my child was an infant. That was great. But, the technology to work effectively from home wasn’t in place in my office or my home back in the mid-90s. Today, the technology is here, but the real issue comes down to management trust.

I telecommute full-time now as Editor of MobileAppsToday. The main thing that is needed, IMHO, is some kind of reasonable metrics. There needs to be some way to measure quantity of work, quality of work, and some kind of ROI on the part of the employer. In my case, quantity is easy: If stuff doesn’t appears on the MobileAppsToday blog, I’m not doing my job. The quality part is, of course, more difficult to get a handle on. And, I don’t have control over the ROI (are my employers getting enough value from their investment in the cost to employee me?).

Are you telecommunity full-time like me? Part-time? Tried it but gave it up? Want to try telecommuting?

I worked remotely when I managed the Microsoft Network (MSN) Computer Telephony and Windows CE Forums back in the 90s. I also had a full-time day job at that time. So, I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep :-). So, I have some experience telecommuting. But, this is the first time I’ve telecommuted full-time for my main (day) job. So, any advice would be appreciated. In turn, as I learn more about full-time telecommuting and, especially, its mobile technology aspects, I’ll share them here.