Comments on: No Schedules, No Meetings—Enter Best Buy’s ROWE – Part 2

By: gabe

gabe — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:41:23 +0000

I know we arent supposed to be rude on here…. but, if you are a business owner and do things your own way – why on earth would this apply to you?? And why would you ask such a question?; You are supposed to be the smart one who got away from corp america and all the sludge…. I hope your business is doing good… yikes…..

By: Maria

Maria — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:37:42 +0000

This is by far the most astute article I’ve ever read – I couldn’t agree more. Thank you for finally SAYING THIS OUT LOUD!!! It’s so true. I NEED to work somewhere with ROWE!

By: Ryan Critchett

Ryan Critchett — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:56:45 +0000

Man, just today I was thinking about this, dude.

I do a bit of web work for this guy I know.

He has clients that need web work done.

The last client, had some marketing group do a mock up on a redesign of his site.

I got the end result – the task of doing the html portion of their mock up redesign.

I missed a couple of things, (my neurons just didn’t process them). The lady emails to get what was missed and then adds “was it just an oversight?”

My internal response: Nah.. I don’t waste time with vultures anymore.

Perfect example of exactly what we’re talking about here. Way too much of that going on. I’m with you dude.

By: Ann

Ann — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 01:52:36 +0000

I used to think that I hated authority too. I secretly wondered if I had some type of personality disorder. It took me a long time to realize that I am actually very much a “team player”, I have great working skills, and I like people. Those in authority don’t actually bother me per se. My real problem was always that rules and workplace traditions bothered me if they didn’t make any sense and had no actual purpose. In my mind, if the rewards at work didn’t lead to more productivity and better working conditions, then things needed changing.

Of course, I never, ever, said this outloud to anyone. I was like everyone else, I just did what was expected of me regardless of whether it was the most productive thing to do or whether it actually benefitted the company.

Sometimes, when asked at meetings about things we thought might help productivity, I would make some suggestions. But of course, it was all just talk and I knew it. The meetings made the upper-managers look busy and professional by having them all the time. However, it was all for show and only a few minor changes would be implemented on occassion. Of course what I wanted to say, but didn’t dare, was “Well one thing we could do is to stop having so many meetings and talking so much.”

By: Phraedus

Phraedus — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:15:29 +0000

I’ve come back to re-evaluate my position on this article, to realise how important it is. Ethics are important, and should be integrated into any business activity. But that’s not what is being discussed here. This article is about eliminating wasted time is in the current paradigm of 9-5.

Eg. Of course punctuality is important, but who is setting the time? You or your boss treating you like a kid and giving you an early mark on Friday?

@scsudropout: you are right, ROWE fits perfectly with an ethical business. In fact it is more ethical, because you are fulfilling your obligation to make the company better and profit, deliver results to customers, and respecting the time of coworkers and yourself.

@cali and Jodi. You’re also right. If somebody was acting on the fringe of ethics, it would be much easier to hide than in a non-ROWE company. Enron would probably benefit from ROWE.

This is a great article, I’m happy I’ve had the chance to come back and appreciate it for what it actually represents.