Iâve written many times on this blog about ROWE (the results only work
environment). Itâs the structure under which I work, and Iâm a big fan. One of
the key tenets of ROWE is that itâs available to everyone: itâs not something
reserved for those at a certain paygrade, itâs not restricted to leaders, itâs
not something you have to apply to be a part of, or provide some kind of
justification of your particular circumstances to gain entry. There should be
no barrier to entry.
When I first
wrote about ROWE on this blog, I lamented that at my organization there is
a barrier to entry, to a certain extent. Not by design, but simply because our
communication mechanisms are restricted by our firewall and access to them from
outside the corporate network is barred. The barrier to entry, as I see it, is
having a company-issued cellphone. If you have one you can be available from
wherever you might happen to find yourself, and if you donât youâre tied to
your computer.
I didnât have a company-issued cellphone when I wrote that,
but I do now. There it is above. Itâs the one with the darker wood effect
amongst my bamboo effect personal devices.
I love it, and I hate it. I donât want it, and I wouldnât
give it back. Read on to learn why!
Why I Love It, and How it Supports ROWE
Quite simply, when I thought not having this device
constituted a partial barrier to ROWE entry, I was right. Last week Flo and I
went to Winnipeg and I worked from there for the week. I spent most mornings
sitting in Floâs sisterâs kitchen working at my laptop, then weâd typically go
for lunch together and Iâd spend the afternoons with my extended family. I was
available throughout to respond to emails and IMs. If somebody called my office
phone number then their call was seamlessly forwarded to the phone in my
pocket. Most of the work people I interacted with would have had no idea I wasnât
at my desk, let alone that I wasnât even in the same time zone. That wouldnât
have been possible if I didnât have this phone.
Why I Hate It, and How it Contradicts ROWE
The point ROWE is that Iâm an adult, and I work how, when
and where I choose to. I could be
working at any time and from any place. Having the phone feels a little bit
like I am working at all times, from all
places. Essentially having the phone means the thing I find most challenging about
working in a ROWE â knowing when to switch off â is magnified exponentially.
Obviously the phone has an âoffâ button and, being an adult and all, I am free
to use it as I choose, but I simply donât find it as easy as that. Take last
week as an example: when I was out spending my afternoons with family every now
and then Iâd receive a work-related message of some description. I probably
dealt with 80% of them right away, because 80% of my job is more about getting
the right people in contact with one another than it is about actually doing
something myself. The remaining 20% I flagged to deal with the following morning.
The inward flow of these messages is not overwhelming, but it is constant. If I
disconnect entirely, even for an afternoon, the sheer volume of stuff that
builds up is overwhelming. I donât
like to feel overwhelmed, so I keep my phone on because itâs easier to take a
couple of minutes out of what Iâm doing a few dozen times than it is to try to
deal with a few dozen things at once when I eventually choose to reconnect.
There are certainly times where I hate remaining available
and connected and doing so gets in the way of other things Iâm doing at that
moment, but despite that the logic above kicks in and even when I need a break
I end up being reluctant to take one. And, as I mentioned, the inward flow of
messages really is constant. With most of the people I work with also being in
a ROWE it starts at about 6am and continues until about 1am, each one bringing
with it a little âdingâ noise. I feel like Pavlovâs dog sometimes.
Why I Donât Want It
Despite the occasional strength of my negative feeling
toward my phone, none of that has anything to do with why I donât want it. The
benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and the issues I have with it are a function
of my choices, not of the technology. I can get better with it, and over time I
will.
The reason I donât want it is that I have a perfectly good
phone already. You may have noticed it in the photo up top: itâs the bamboo
effect one in the middle. Why do I need to carry two phones with me? Thereâs no
technical barrier to my company turning on the ability to support a âbring your
own deviceâ policy, and in fact the technology required is already in place. Itâs
disabled, because the policy is that the IT department wonât allow you to get
email on your phone unless they have the ability to remotely wipe the whole
thing. Not just securely erase company data, but securely erase everything. I
assume this is a case of policy failing to keep up with emerging business trends.
Iâd think they must realise that weâre going to have to BYOD policy someday, so
I get hung up trying to understand why they wonât just get it done right away.
Iâll continue to advocate for a BYOD policy in my workplace, exceptâŚ
Why I Wouldnât Give it Back
My inability to switch off was a minor problem when I
carried a laptop. When that laptop was supplemented with a phone it became a
bigger problem. If that work-only device were replaced with an app on my
personal device through which I access work stuff? It could be disastrous. I
never switch my work phone off, but I do leave it at home when we go out
somewhere in the evening or on weekends. I take my personal phone with me
everywhere though. I assume that BYOD technology includes functionality that
would let me turn âworkâ off while keeping âpersonalâ switched on, but am I
disciplined enough to use that function? Probably not.
