🚀 go-pugleaf

bollerud@oslonett.no (Svein Olav Mytting) told us:


>I started it, and it is crossposted through several groups.
>I intended to start a discussion on possibilities of telework and virtual
>organization in the software business, specifically when it comes to
>non-shrinkwrapped programs and physical relationship programmer/end user.
>The original question was rather unclear, I am afraid, but a whole
>lot of nice pieces of wisdom have been shared.

Telework and virtual organization are not a detriment to the
development process -- in fact they work quite well for us.  The
caveat is that _someone_ must define the software project adequately,
before coding begins.

In an ideal world, or with an ideal client, the client's requirements
are thoroughly defined and have been thought through and discussed
adequately, such that a project can be planned, quoted, and completed
remotely.  There actually are such clients (don't even bother
asking...).  But this is the exception, and a very rare exception.  It
is far more common that extensive dialog must take place between the
client and a knowlegable software designer, before an adequate degree
of specificity and definition is achieved, and both parties feel warm
'n' fuzzy.  It is not usually feasible for this dialog to take place
without face-to-face meetings.

There is no reason why the software designer participating in these
dialogs must be the one handling the coding phase, however.  There is
ample opportunity for a "telework broker", in this regard.  Those
virtual organizations that have been using telwork sucessfully for
consulting and contract software development are already using this
approach.

There are also an interesting set of ambiguities when it comes to
using teleworkers who reside in different countries.  The issues of
taxes, licenses, permits, tariffs, etc., are enough to overheat the
brain.  Most of these regulations were composed for traditional
on-site business and employment relationships and do not translate
well to a telework scenario.

--dh

____________________________________________________________________
David Hamilton                    Ursus Information Technology, Inc.