by Chris Bodenner
A reader writes:
I'm so sick of these schemes designed to motivate people to commute outside of peak times. Does anyone think most commuters WANT to drive when things are at their most hellacious? But until we change the tyranny of the 9-5(-ish) workday, which has to begin at the top-down of our business culture, these schemes will accomplish nothing.
Case in point: I'm currently working an internship for which I conduct open-source research to support various arms control programs for the DoD. That's all I do. No interaction with the clients from the DoD, the teams that actually use my research during their missions, or anyone else for that matter, besides maybe a once-a-month sit-down with my immediate boss. Why, WHY, do I need to be in my office for 8 hours some time between 8am and 6pm to do that?
For that matter, why do I need to be in an office at all? My personal laptop and desktop are light-years better than the dinosaur my internship provides, and I don't need access to any kind of secure network to do open source research. Hell, I could do this work from my real home in Hampton, rather than spending a summer in my parents' spare room in the DC area. But common sense reforms to address these kinds of issues have never felt so unobtainable.
For us at the Dish, our most efficient work gets done when we aren't in the same room, or even the same state. And we often blog on trains, planes, buses, taxis and sometimes sidewalks. And once at a wedding. The flip-side of that freedom, however, is that it follows you everywhere.
The Dish 