Unquiet

I’m [at that age … ideas arrive in search of me][1], and I’ve long been dissatisfied with the apparent divide between corporate America’s idea of an employee (think “assets” and “liabilities”) and my own idea of myself — and my co-workers — as full-fledged human beings. At the same time, a number of trends have passed the tipping point and created a new way of doing business, a way that can finally transform “employees” into real flesh-and-blood people who can be appreciated for the value they bring to an organization. These trends are:

[1]: http://elfURL.com/52c

1. the Internet
2. Commodity hosting services
3. Free rapid development frameworks (Ruby on Rails, etc.)
4. “Web 2.0″ and the self-publishing meme

Individually, most of these trends aren’t that exciting (well, the 3rd and 4th are gathering a tremendous amount of buzz) compared to what the total effect can be. The availability of inexpensive internet hosting services, combined with free, open-source web frameworks and an overall environment supportive of initiative and self-publishing creates a context in which smart people can innovate with much less effort or capital than ever before.

In [Hiring is Obsolete][2], VC Paul Graham writes:

> A lot have been told by their parents that the route to success is to get a good job. This was true when their parents were in college, but it’s less true now. The route to success is to build something valuable, and you don’t have to be working for an existing company to do that. Indeed, you can often do it better if you’re not.

[2]: http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html

I believe part of the old paradigm of “hiring” an employee rose out of a high cost to find and get to know prospective workers. The only way to recoup such an investment was to work hard to hold on to those employees for as long as possible. Unfortunately for those of us in the ‘workforce’ that cost kept dropping, coinciding at a low with the rise of the first Internet ‘bubble.’

As a result, employees became disposable entities, who could be replaced, often at a cheaper price, at a moment’s notice. Job security — the keystone of our parents’ advice to us — faded until no more than a quaint anachronism. I don’t quite know if we’ve recovered from this attitude in the technology industry because I’ve been working as a freelancer since I bailed when the ‘bubble burst.’

But the elements have come together to support — at least in the realm of Internet services — the widespread development of a mobile workforce. I’m currently developing in Ruby on Rails on a contract basis for a company back on the mainland, maintaining a few sites for people here on Maui, and sending out feelers to people as far away as the UK for contract work.

We’re _not required_ to follow in our parents’ footsteps and find jobs that will hold onto us for years. Indeed, in a fast-paced environment such as the tech industry, working for one company for too long might even stifle creativity and innovation. Instead, we can combine a controlled level of contract employment with other companies with the freedom to realize, using these commodity technologies, our own new and exciting ideas. And they feed each other. Working for smart people fuels our own creativity; smart people like to work with other smart people. In this self-publishing era, it’s easier than ever for people to see what others have done.

Look at [del.icio.us][3], for example. Probably the most well-known ‘Web 2.0′ site, it took only one person to build the program that runs the site. Until recently (when del.icio.us took on VC funding), the site’s owner paid for its hosting out of his own pocket - a feat that has only become recently possible for sites receiving high amounts of traffic.

[3]: http://del.icio.us

So what is this “Mobile Workforce?” I think of it as a redefinition of the employee as a “one-person company” who has the power to control his or her destiny as a worker. With a future no longer tied to the success, failure, or whims of one company, the mobile worker forges a number of contracts that fits his or her own personal desire to work - when, where, how much - and leaves him freedom to pursue his own interests as well. Although it’s not a new idea, I’d love to see it begin to occur on a widespread scale.

Imagine _ad hoc_ teams of the people with the best fit for a certain project forming, working together, and then dissolving when the project is complete. Working relationships will form, obviously, and certain people will enjoy working with each other (Happy Cog Studios, anyone), but the freedom of working or not working, of investing time and energy into a project, remains with the individual, not with some overseer called “The Man.”

That’s my ideal work environment, and its an idea I built [icongarden][4] to work around back in 1998 when I originally launched the company. I want to work with the best, on my terms, forge working relationships and friendships that may or may not lead to other projects, and move onto the next project with possibly new people when this one’s done.

[4]: http://icongarden.com/

That’s what the mobile workforce means to me - a vast resource of highly-qualified people whose credentials are freely available on the Internet, who choose their ‘clients’, who work for and with the best in a flexible arrangement that benefits everyone involved.