I agree that the book could be more prescriptive, but I found it gave me the motivation to try and make this change in my company.

To continue the conversation about effective versus efficient, here is an article you may find interesting.

We should probably start another thread about that subject since it is not totally on focus with ROWE (although it definitely can be).

http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/comments/pigs_productivity_and_purpose

Also James, this is the third time you’ve commented, and obviously you don’t like my approach. REgsitering whyrowesucks.com was intended to provoke a reaction because my suspicion is that the book was intentionally vague and any business model that deceives its potential customers rubs me the wrong way. Compare WWS to anything by Seth Godin, and especially to Getting Things Done by David Allen and you’ll see the huge difference in what consultants produce when they are confident in the depth of their idea.

My approach obviously rubs you the wrong way too. My intent was to warn off people thinking about buying the book. If they want feel-good anecdotes, it’s worth the money. If they want concrete ROWE implementation details, it isn’t.

I’m thinking now that it probably depends on where people are at. If I were working in a big city cubicle-esque atmosphere, then I may have found the book more helpful, perhaps even just supportive. As someone who is looking to implement a ROWE in our office, the book, for me, just didn’t cut it. And as a small business person, I’m not going to shell out $899 for the kit or fly to Minneapolis for the seminar. I’ll be developing our own ROWE system in the future and posting about it here.

Thanks again, Mary. All the best.

That’s how I stumbled across your blog. I thought you were going to give me some insights as to why ROWE really doesn’t work.

Instead, I got the rantings and ravings of some guy who employs the same shady marketing tactics as the very people he’s criticizing.

Another shameless attempt at getting internet hits. It’s interesting what some people will stoop to…

Additionally, your comments about workers being “stand up” individuals or liers, or having no character… that’s all well and good. I agree people should be honest, but you’re not being honest if you think that pretty much every human in the history of work hasn’t told a white lie at some time or another. The system, being centered around face time and putting in hours, creates that animal. Its like saying if only we can change human nature… If results were all that mattered, people’s base instincts (self-preservation) wouldn’t be as much of an issue. Or at least, they wouldn’t feel the need to lie about them.