I've been workshifting since before there was a term for it. I started back in the late 90s, when I convinced my office that I could manage most of my project details remotely. By the early 2000s, when the company where I worked acquired a new building, I even built workshifting (then called telecommuting) into the desk counts for the office space. Years later, I brought workshifting to my marketing company, New Marketing Labs , because my home is 67 miles away from my desk.

But recently, I picked up an office space closer to home because working out of coffeeshops was getting too disruptive. And in so doing, it gave me pause to reflect on the differences between being 100% nomad and having a desk. It also gives me a new way to workshift, so I'll share that, too.

The Immediate Stretch Out

The first thing I noticed upon getting an office is that I've stretched out my stuff again. I bought a second monitor right away (because living inside a laptop lid is restrictive). I had to buy all these "supplies" like an easel board and dry erase boards, so that I could have some "object permanence." When we're workshifting back and forth to different coffee shops, we can't do that kind of thing.



Oh, and I had to start thinking about refreshments and breaks, because when you're at a coffee shop, you're surrounded by things to snack on and drink, but in an office environment, especially if you've rented your own, there's nothing unless you bring it in.

New Benefits for Workshifting

One thing I noticed right away. The moment I had a desk in my office, I didn't want to be tethered to my cell phone all the time for communication. I turned on Skype right away (though I roll in invisible mode all the time). I'm also renewing my GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar usage (they're a client and the sponsor of this blog).

The benefit of having my office is that I'm not worried about all the loud noises and interruptions of others around me. It doesn't matter when the espresso machine runs, because there's not one in my office. So, I can use remote communications tools much more effectively here.

Having an office space away from my main office (but not a coffee shop) means that I can have more team-minded meetings again. Because I can use remote communications software, I can see everyone's frustrated heads more easily, and that sometimes helps (because nonverbal cues are important to better understanding).

Still a Nomad at Heart

I still have to leave this office behind sometimes. Not counting airports and hotel rooms, I still have to get out to coffee shops and bookstores sometimes. I can't stand too much silence. And hey, sometimes a change of locale helps the experience of thinking and understanding.

When all is said and done, there are benefits to having some kind of office space from time to time. Workshifting isn't about giving up offices entirely, nor is it about staying out there away from the mothership forever. What it is about are options. The more you can work in ways that best suit your role at work as well as your roles in life, the better it is for everyone.

Over the course of the life of this blog, other authors will approach this different ways. I convinced my supervisor at a wireless telecom company (this was in 2005) to let me become a workshifter for three out of five days a week. It wasn't easy, but I found several keys that got me the freedom to work out of a coffeeshop, and the flexibility to do more with the two hours a day that shift brought me.

Get On the Boss's Side of the Fence

If you're going to convince your supervisor to let you workshift, it's not going to be because they really want you to enjoy an extra cup or two of coffee in the morning. Start the process by identifying what's in it for the boss. In my case, my commute was over an hour each way, so I told him that giving me a few days to work remotely would add two hours of productivity per day. Showing him the benefit up front gave him a chance to wiggle his eyebrows on what six hours (2 hours x 3 days) would give him each week: practically another working day!

Get Accountability Figured Out Right Away

The biggest shift I encountered in workshifting was that my boss (like many supervisors) was still considering me productive as measured by "hours spent with butt in chair." Yes, sadly, with all the world has brought us in technological advances, it's human nature to equate physical presence with productivity.

The truth of the matter was, because of my position, people often sought me out at my desk to discuss technology changes and work-related issues. I pointed out to the boss that we had some fairly tangible deliverables to my work, and that if wasn't turning things in promptly, it would show pretty quickly, and he could reassess whether I should be a workshifter. He bought this reasoning, and I endeavored to deliver ahead of time as often as I could.

Touch: the Art of Presence Management

When you're out of the office, silence on your part is always met with frustration and concern. It's again a matter of human nature. The cure? Connect with your supervisor often through electronic means. Send a brief email every hour or so with some work-related piece of information. If your company is cool enough to use something like Socialcast or Yammer, that would be the very best tool for the "touch" job.

Another point on this: brief emails with very succinct needs listed are better for you (and your boss) than longer emails that bundle things together. It would seem that bundling things is better, but most times, this serves two purposes: it allows you to properly thread pertinent conversations, and it keeps your supervisor abreast of situations. Is this the best? No. Does it ease tensions? Yes, indeedy.

Be Very Available and Flexible

Early on in my workshifting efforts, I found myself suddenly saddled with lots of local chores. Because I was down the street at the local coffeeshop (I prefer to work out of the house, because if I stay home, I play with the kids too much), I'd be tasked with things like picking up prescriptions or all the other various family-related things. This was okay, but it meant that I had to stay very available.

Simple things like answering the phone as often as you can when the boss calls go a long way towards easing relationship tensions and management concerns around workshifting.

Sometimes, the boss might need you to come in on your "away" day. As long as this doesn't become a habit, I've taken the stance that it's still a job and that onsite is still the primary way of doing business. As a concession, you might ask for a different day that week. That said, be attentive to whether or not your supervisor might be potentially abusing your agreed-upon experience. Tread gently here, but be firm. It may be a sign that things aren't working out.

Over the coming months, we'll be giving you lots more information on this. Any ideas or questions or tips you can share with us?

I'm writing this on a flight from Philadelphia to Boston. Luckily, it's so early in the morning that my flight is ridiculously empty. I have an entire exit row to myself.

Here's tip #1: flying ridiculously early sometimes gives you better seating options (unless you're flying to Washington, DC, where everyone gets up before you).

Here are some more tips:

Before You Board

• Sign up for all the various airline and hotel rewards programs. They add up faster than I thought.
• Keep a text file on your phone with your flight confirmation number, your hotel name and address, your airline and hotel rewards account information, and any contact numbers you might need. You might check out the service TripIt, which manages this neatly (even more so for iPhone users).
• Buy a few energy bars and stuff them in your carry on. These always trump the $4 price tag for the same bar at the airport, and they help you make better eating decisions.
• Also, buy a drink before boarding the plane if you get thirsty easily. That way, you don't have to sit there feeling anxious that the flight attendants haven't served drinks yet.
• Getting to the airport really early makes every other choice work better. (More time to maneuver).
• You can change seats at check-in, if there are some available.
• Not sure about the best seat on the plane? Check it out for yourself at SeatGuru.com.
• You can also check with the gate agent before boarding the flight to see if there's a better seat, even if you were denied at check-in.
• Not sure what to do with that extra time you got by getting there early? Remember, A.B.C. = "always be charging." Find power outlets in earshot of your departure gate. (Hat tip to AlwaysBeCharging.com.)
• Related to charging, if you bring along a power strip, you can make friends fast at a busy outlet.
• I don't pay for wifi any more. It was more cost effective to buy my own Verizon EVDO card (mine's a USB stick). Check with your wireless carrier, and even if the company doesn't spring for it, consider it.

On Board

• Using a small enough rollerboard suitcase for travel and carrying it on sure beats waiting at the luggage carousel. When picking one out, I'm finding that the 4-wheel version are much nicer to maneuver than the old 2-wheel ones.
• My version of best seat in the house might differ from yours. I have broad shoulders, so window beats aisle (unless you like being smashed into all day).
• Paying the extra bucks for the extra legroom means you can actually use your laptop. Consider it a business expense.
• Airplanes are the best way I have of catching up with email.
• If you're reading business books on the plane, keep a notebook and pen handy. I get my biggest inspirations while 30,000 feet above the ground.
• Offer your seatmate your magazines or newspapers when you're done (if you're not keeping them). That poor schlub doesn't really want to read the SkyMall magazine. Share.

When You Land

• Even if you don't think you have to pee, go. Getting stuck in traffic in a cab after a long flight is never worth it. (I'm a dad. This advice serves a dual-purpose.)
• If you're picking up your bag, everyone crowds the area where the bags first drop. Yes, you'll save an extra 23 seconds standing there, but if you want better access to your luggage, stand downstream.
• If you're staying at a hotel, have the contact info and phone number ready before you hop in a cab. If you're planning on taking public transit, call the hotel ahead of time and get appropriate routing information from them.
• Know where the following stores are in relation to your hotel: a drug store, an office supply store, a clothing store (casual and professional), an electronics store (appropriate to your profession). The Lord made Google for a reason.
• If you're renting a car, consider the extra $15 for the GPS. It sure beats fumbling with maps and missing client meetings.

Error Handling

• If your flight is delayed at take-off for whatever reason, and you're supposed to make a connecting flight, the flight attendants will almost never have the information you need while in-flight. Stop bugging them. Relax. What's done is done. Just think up your next moves and phone calls for when you land.
• Bags get lost sometimes. If you've checked your bag and there's something mission critical in there (toothbrush?), keep it in your carry-on. Also, don't leave the airport without a phone number and a URL to check on the status of your stuff.
• If your flight is canceled or delayed and you're forced to stay overnight in the connecting city, the airline usually won't pay for hotels if it's weather-related. They might pay or offer a discount voucher if their scheduling has kept you over. Sometimes, their discount vouchers aren't as good as what you can get at Priceline. Consider your options.

Your Turn

What are your tips for the ideal air travel experience? How do you fly the hostile skies? What's made a difference to you as a workshifter in bringing what you need with you on the road?

We'd love to hear from you.

Living the web commuter lifestyle requires that I carry around things you might keep in a desk drawer. It's not like I can schlep around everything, so weight and size are an issue. And yet, if you're working remotely, there are things you just don't want to be without. Here's my list of five things. I'm curious to know yours. (Note: none of these links are promotional nor are they affiliate links. They just point to sites that talk about the product referenced.)

First off, the bag itself. I'm sporting a really small Oakley bag. I keep the bag small after reading a post at Digital Nomads about how to lose 10 pounds quickly (hint: get a smaller bag). I might change it out soon. My 7-year-old daughter got all kinds of paint on it last week when she did her best Jackson Pollock impression on some canvasses in anticipation of an art show.

A Monster Cable Power Strip

I have a very small, very portable extension cord dedicated to turning one power outlet into three plus a USB. A.B.C. is the rule: Always Be Charging. Any kind of power strip will do. I like the Monster one because it's so damned compact. Size matters, kids.

My Verizon EVDO Card

You're not still surfing the wifi hotspots, are you? You're going to pick up a nasty virus. Oh, and if not that, you'll get stuck at the coffeeshop where some fuzzy girl wonder is bittorrenting the entire fifth season of South Park, slowing down your basic connections to a crawl. Web commuters can't rely on whatever resident wifi crumbs you can scrape together. Spend the $39 a month (most US carriers have similar plans, including Sprint and AT&T) and do it right. 3 paid-for wifi hotspots a month and you've already justified this to the boss.

Pens and a Moleskine Journal

Don't think life is strictly digital. Sometimes, you need a good old fashioned pen and paper to get things handled. Use said pen and paper to jot important notes about upcoming projects while you're in between laptop moments. Or, maybe you'll use your pad to write a quick note to the cute web commuter at the next table. Whatever the case, I keep paper and pens handy.

A Flip Mino Video Camera

I prefer the Flip Mino to the Flip MinoHD (it's the web; you don't really need HD much). Why? How? I use this tool in many ways. I use it for marketing. I use it for communicating brief messages that I'd rather capture in video instead of text. I use it to show off the conditions in certain work environments. For instance, if I were still building data centers and rolling in huge enterprise servers, I'd use a Flip to document the process. I'd show off how the procedures went, and how things stacked up. This tool is just basic communications protocol for me now, and might prove useful to you.

My MacBook

My laptop goes everywhere with me. I need it to connect to my world. Yes, the iPhone is getting closer and closer, but my Macbook is still my portal to the larger web. I can't yet run a webinar off my iPhone (though I hear that's coming soon). I can't really type as fast as I can on my laptop, so it's a staple. I keep it charged as best as I can, too. If you're a really hardcore user, you can tote around a second battery, but then, that's adding about five or more pounds of weight to your backpack.

What's in YOUR Bag?

Are there five things you can't stand to be without? Share them with us here at workshifting. It's always fun to get a peek into someone else's life, don't you agree?

Chris Brogan is acting editor of workshifting. He is president of New Marketing Labs, and blogs occasionally at [chrisbrogan.com]

What do you see outside your office window? I see the Rocky Mountains and a jet going the other way. Okay, you might have much better office mates than the jolly German beside me, who is laughing a little too much at some Dustin Hoffman movie. But I think I've got you beat as far as vistas go.

If you're here, thanks. workshifting is our new project, sponsored and created in concert with the folks at Citrix Online, who make software like GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar and more. No, this isn't a big ad. It's easier to make ads, actually. Instead, we've got a mission.

workshifting exists to swap stories with others (like me) who make their office in some pretty interesting places when not back at the mother ship. Sure, I've got a cubicle-style office like lots of folks (thanks, Herman Miller), but I also shift my work to several dozen other places, like coffeeshops, airports, hotel desks, and pretty much anywhere I can sneak some power (we'll talk about that a lot).

When a post is very very very specifically about a Citrix Online product, we'll label it as a sponsored post. In truth, the entire blog comes out of their money, but the difference is this: we're going to write stories and reviews about everything that pertains to workshifting, and not just why GoToAssist lets you offer customer support from the beach (not recommended: sand in laptops isn't that easy to get out, I am here to report).

Fair? Make sense?

So, as this is a project built in part by me and the gang at New Marketing Labs, you can expect a mix of useful, community-minded, and two-way interactions. I'm not going to write every post, but we had to start somewhere, so the first few days or so of the blog will be heavily influenced by me. I don't mind. I'm like the perfect target audience for workshifting.

Like the design? It was created by our friends Justin and Eric at Coffee House Ideas, two guys who understand workshifting, that's for sure. We'll drag them into writing a post or two for you, too.

Do you want to write for workshifting? We have info on what that takes. If that interests you, ping Justin Levy (jlevy [at] newmarketinglabs [dot] com). He'll talk you through it.

Thanks for your time, and welcome to workshifting. We promise it'll be informative, helpful, entertaining, and a place to learn more about the whole "stay integrated with your office anywhere" kind of lifestyle of web commuting. Good? Good!

--Chris Brogan is acting editor of workshifting. He is president of New Marketing Labs, and blogs occasionally at [chrisbrogan.com].