Unclear Instructions

There are some managers who just don’t make a project’s specs as clear as you might hope. I’ve run into situations where a project was completely changed over the course of a single phone call, but even the manager didn’t seem to know what it had been changed to. What makes the problem worse is that if you aren’t in the office, it’s harder to clarify information: there’s no record when the discussion is handled over the phone and it’s easy for an email to be misinterpreted.

A good practice to combat these sorts of misunderstandings is to restate what you understand the instructions to be and send it back to your manager in another email. Not only do you make sure that you’re both on the same page, but you’ve got documentation of the exchange if there’s an issue down the road.

Your Progress

One of the biggest dilemmas about telecommuting is that your manager may not have a clear idea of exactly what you do during the day. There tends to be less communication about accomplishments, which in turn can delay bonuses or promotion. That means that you have to be keeping track of your own accomplishments in a way that allows you to demonstrate them to your employer. That may mean keeping a count of new clients you’ve brought in, or demonstrating improved efficiency — just what your accomplishments may be depends on your job, of course.

Once you have a record of what you’ve done, the next question is how to get it into your manager’s hands. It may seem forward, but simply telling him that you’ve prepared some materials for your annual review (whether one’s on the calendar or not) and you’d like to send them in is a good option. It’s best if you can time it for when you do have a review scheduled, but if you’re company doesn’t routinely schedule reviews, just the fact that you’ve taken the time to prepare some documentation and send it in can be a good way to get it reviewed by your manager.

Work-related Problems

There are potential employee-employer problems far beyond misunderstood that are harder to resolve from outside the office. It’s possible to have a poor working relationship with a co-worker even if you never see him in person, for instance. If there’s a problem and you’re not sure what’s going to be needed in the way of a resolution, it’s worth creating some clear documentation in the meanwhile. Keep a copy of any emails demonstrating the problem, make a note of any phone calls where there’s an issue and track the frequency of the situation you’re dealing with. Whether it’s a matter you need to take to your boss or to HR, having documentation will make most problems easier to resolve.

What kind of documentation do you keep?

Image by Flickr user Scholz

On the one hand, it definitely generates healthy competition, and companies stand to win out in a big way when service providers and freelancers are openly vying for your dollar. We’ve looked at some examples in the past, like 99 designs, a site where designers enter competitions to win contracts.

InnoCentive has a different take on crowdsourcing.

Their focus is not as narrow or specific as that of 99 designs. Instead, they offer a broad reaching problem-solving approach. InnoCentive lets organizations create “Challenges” that “Problem Solvers” can then submit potential solutions to.

Challenges are organized both by discipline and by pavilion (targeted, sometimes sponsored challenges clustered around general issue sets), and are posted by clients, which are either private companies or not-for-profit organizations. Each Challenge listed features a brief summary, the reward, type, and deadline, and in most cases, the Challenge poster, referred to as Seekers throughout InnoCentive.

The rewards are tempting, and lend a Wild West vibe to the whole enterprise. Freelance web workers and consultants might find the amounts, and the freedom, a refreshing change from the usual CRM and RFP drudgery. It’s definitely a democratized system, especially at this early stage in its development. And with rewards ranging from $5,000 to $1,000,000, there’s money to be made. Partial awards are also available, at the discretion of Seeker organizations.

Downsides? As with all crowdsourcing ventures, the potential exists that you could put in lot of time and get little or no return. But there are apparently winners, and not infrequently either, as seen on their list of awarded challenges.

Awards seem to cluster around the physical and health sciences, but there are contracts available for IT, network, and design professionals as well. If you’re looking for a side project, or you’re confident you can compete internationally, InnoCentive might be the place for you.