Did You Check My IM Status ?

For those who may not be familiar with the terminology, when I say "IM" in this blog post title, I am referring to "Instant Messenger" technology.  At work this is provided through Microsoft Lync and is connected to our Outlook mail system.

Now with that background, allow me to explain my use of this title question countless times throughout the day.

About half of my team works from home pretty much 100% of their time.  These individuals are not seen in the office except for a few times each year, as needed for training or other on-site only events.  Out of consideration for these individuals, I have adopted the habit of providing updates on my status in the office through my IM or Lync system.

What started as a method to keep them informed, has turned into an effective system whereby I can keep anyone informed of my "availability" to meet with them.  For most people this has proven to be a very useful tool.  Colleagues, my boss, and others in general can just scroll over my name in Lync and see if my status is "Busy" or if I am "Away" or actually (rarely) "Available" at that moment.  I also include a short description of the situation, so people can gauge how long I might be "Busy" for.

That said ... there is a contingency of people who always seem surprised when I do not immediately reply to their IM chats or perhaps do not pick up the phone when they call.  And when we finally do chat, I always start with the blog post title question.

Now I do NOT expect people to check my status every moment of the day, but I DO think you should check it before you get bothered or frustrated with ME for not replying to you quickly enough.

Am I being unreasonable here?

Song Of the Day:
'Oh you never know what you'll find when you open up your "Letterbox" tomorrow.'  This is the opening line in this song by They Might Be Giants and it makes me think about how you have to actually use the letterbox and actually READ the letters you receive, or you'll never get the messages being sent to you.  Just like people need to check my status before just expecting me to be available at that moment.

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Ever Get To Work From Home ?

I love my job.  Progressive is a great company to work for, but my specific role within the company is even cooler!

You see, I have not been feeling well all weekend (my weekend consists of Sunday and Monday) and when I woke up this morning I just knew I would not be able to make it into work today.  I also didn't really want to go in because I don't want to spread any germs, etc. if this is more than just a little nasal congestion.

Enter: my work laptop and some pretty cool technology.

I am sure for many people in this day and age, the ability for me to virtually logon to the network at work and complete a full day's work from the relative comfort of my own home office is not that impressive.  But for me it always is a blessing!

I met with my boss (talked on the cell phone about a few urgent matters), reviewed calls for members of my team, completed WBTs (web-based training courses) for our new main system, IM (instant message) chatted with over ten different people (some on my team, but most from other work departments), reviewed attendance, updated performance management info for two team members, coordinated plans around a schedule change for one of my team members, scheduled meetings and a host of other items.

All while sniffling and sneezing and trying to stay hydrated.

How cool is that ?!  For me, VERY cool!

Song Of The Day:
Once again, this is a bit of a stretch, but I've always liked the song
"Unbelievable" by EMF and it applies for today.  It is just quite unbelievable to me that I could complete a full day's work from my own home ... and for most that work with me, it was no different than my being in the office.

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