1st off I don't game at work or even on my phone. I was just stressing the abiility to do so with this technology. Of coarse having this much freedom at work is not hte norm, I fully understand that. Its completely up to me whether I let my employees game or not. Yesterday I let 4 of them watch the World Cup. Why? They wanted to, the workload was light, and we had more hten enough staff to do our work without them. I asked my other employee's if they cared if they turned on the game in the other room, and no one cared at all. Office and work politics are tricky. Right now I oversee 35 people, who then oversee 350 people. You guys are really taking this all wrong though. I'm not saying I play games at work, only that with this new technology its possible in ps3 quality. Heres another example of when it would not be an issue. We have meetings in the field all day. Many times our employees are late or push the time back. So I,or an employee is sitting in a burger king for 2 hours waiting on some guy. I don't expect them to start cleaning burgerkinds bathroom while they wait, I tell them to bring in their laptop and do what you want till they show. Whats funny is out of 300 branches were ranked 3rd in the nation. Also we never have to worry about regional people showing up because our numbers are so good they don't bother checking up on us.

 

I understand. And that seems cool. The thing is, EVENTUALLY the company is going to hire a consultant to cut costs, and when they see or hear of stuff like this going on, things will change for the worse.

I have worked for startups where if you started to get stressed, you could go shoot pool, get a massage, watch TV or take a nap.

If you were bringing in the numbers, no one cared. The company was working. We were growing.

Then we got bought out. New management tore through there like crazy. No more massages, no more pool table, and no more paid lunch.

Many day 1 employees got fired because I took them too long to convert to the new way of doing things. I was one of them.

I felt like someone stole my girlfriend. I enjoyed this place. The original thought when the business was started was: We are not working for a boss, we are working for ourselves. It didn't feel like work. Once a big company saw that money was being made, they think ONE thing:

If we can get in there with our capital and our management 'experience' and cut the fat, this place will make us rich(er).

If you are that highly ranked, the change will come sooner that you think.

When people start thinking about retirement, they will start packing the load on their other workers to get a extra boost the years before retirement so they can live well. Things will change, thats the only guarantee.

As for the technology, I said earlier, that stuff is quite amazing. I love the speed at witch things are progressing. I like the fact that someone thought of the idea of doing this, and did it.

Very powerful stuff. Instructables has a thing: "try to fit your electronics in an Altoids tin" soon enough it will be: "fit your project into the hole in a lifesaver"

And people will. And the circuits in that hole will be more powerful than what we went to the moon in.

..even though thats not that hard, already

 

Your right, but there are many companies run like mine that are incredibly successful and don't fail. I also firmly beleive our numbers are so good in part because the freedom and responsibility we each have. The guy I replaced was a micromangaer like you guys described and the numbers always sucked because he didn't know WTH he was doing, and tried to micromanage everyone instead of working with them and getting it done. Every business is different and we all have to fit in.

 

Agreed. I wish I had that job

 

I also firmly beleive our numbers are so good in part because the freedom and responsibility we each have.

I agree with that statement. Many times I've outlined what needs to be done then stepped back and let my charges take care of business.