After several years of full-time telecommuting, I have to admit to myself that I’ve become obsessed with time. I find that I’ve become critical of people who want me to drive into work for a short meeting, or, worse still, fly to a half-day meeting half-way across the country. Since I know that it is easy and perfectly productive to hold a half-day meeting virtually, I just can’t see spending time and money to travel. Here is a quick comparison of the two scenarios:
Virtual half-day meeting
- log-in to a virtual sharing session (1 minute)
- dial the phone conference number (1 minute)
- meet for half-day (half-day)
- log off (zero time)
Traditional half-day meeting
- arrange travel (flight, car, hotel; 1 hour)
- pack my bags (30 min)
- travel to the airport via taxi (30 min)
- endure the craziness at the security checkpoint (20 min)
- wait for boarding (60 min)
- endure the long, noisy airline fight sitting next to perfect stranger who needs a bathroom break every 30 min (7 hours with transfer)
- at arrival, pick up a car (mind you, I don’t check any bags, ever) (60 min)
- drive to the hotel (30 min, typical)
- check-in (30 min, if they aren’t busy)
- eat dinner, sleep, get ready, eat breakfast (time doesn’t count as I’m ‘off the clock’)
- drive to the meeting (15 min)
- meet for half-day (half-day)
- travel back home, repeating much of the above (8 hours)