Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector :: <br style="font-family: verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font size="4">Ok, it isn't exactly life in hell, but I don't like working from home.</font>

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Ok, it isn't exactly life in hell, but I don't like working from home.

by Deborah Elizabeth Finn on Mon 17 Sep 2007 01:50 PM EDT | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Now that I'm not at Third Sector New England all day every day, I've been working at home a lot. I love my clients and I love their projects, but I sorely miss going to an office every day. What I like best is to be part of a team, working with a wide range of nonprofits but seeing the same faces and working toward a shared mission over the long run. I also like having a very clear division between home and office.

A number of friends and colleagues have teased me, "Tough life! You can sit on your sofa in your pajamas, and work from your laptop!" And of course, it's not a tough life, especially when I compare it to the kind of humanitarian crises that some of our nonprofit colleagues are working hard to prevent or alleviate.

But what I want is for someone to offer me a free desk in a nonprofit or philanthropic organization.*

I don't know whether this has ever been tried, but it occurs to me that - in exchange for a desk and modest use of the amenities - I could make myself useful. After all, clients pay me well for strategic IT planning services and for my knowledge of resources in the nonprofit sector. Perhaps I can persuade a nonprofit or philanthropic organization that it's worth it to have me around, so that they can pick my brains for free?

* Preferably in downtown Boston, or within walking distance of an MBTA Red Line station.

Keywords: StrategicIT, ProblemSolving, NTAPs, NPtech, Nonprofit, Massachusetts, CyberYenta, ConsultingServices

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Re:
Ok, it isn't exactly life in hell, but I don't like working from home.

by MarkTZ on Tue 18 Sep 2007 08:19 AM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

Quick response...
Stay nimble! Ride the circuit. Like the judges and ministers who rode from town to town, you could ride from place to place. Mondays at X, Tuesdays at Y, etc. Choose organizations and locations strategically. Make it easy to drop the ones (quickly) that don't prove to be good fits for you. Minimize your deliverables so you don't get tied down prematurely. Having you there once a week to listen in-person and offer sage advice and open a door to one of your many resources over sushi will fill your plate with an assortment of terrific people and tasty early-stage projects. You'll see who thinks well and which projects thrill you. You'll learn each organization's cultural values, effortlessly. And you'll be providing great value to them: They won't have to jump through hoops to have multiple people available for a meeting...because you'll be there. Speeds up the cycle time, wonderfully. So be a Circuit Rider when you can. But upfront, let everyone know that when a project grows large, that's when you'll have to ride less and focus more. FYI: I had an office on Newbury Street with 65 people. Not my cup of tea. Now I do my own version of off-road circuit riding; a free-form version that fits my skills and strengths to a T. Actually, I wind up driving and spending a lot on garages and parking tickets. But I'm getting incredible joy by working this way. Together, clients and I are making healthy things happen quite efficiently, and we're spotting new exciting opportunities along the way. I like shaping assignments strategically; I don't like mucking through an ill-defined plan. I'd rather do the former for free than the latter for pay. So far, so good. Literally haven't had a bad day since making the transition. I'm happy to share more with you over sushi.

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