I am freelance

10 reasons why IT support hates tech pr types

Posted on September 25, 2008 by Becky Green (was McMichael)

My husband works in IT and is always going on about how it must be murder working in IT support for tech PR people! Here’s why….

1. We want faster machines. All the time. And new stuff. We want it, no we *need* it.

2. We know the office prefers you not to use social networking sites all day but we are allowed to so *ner ner*.

3. We watch video at our desks. A lot. And always say it is for work purposes.

4. We download software that makes us more able to do our jobs but don’t necessarily tell anyone about it. Until it goes wrong.

5. We like anything beta.

6. We use free apps all the time then moan like hell when it doesn’t work.

7. We *know* the corporate tariff is Vodafone but we don’t care because we *need* iPhones.

8. We work from home, we travel a lot, we drain your time, we think we take priority.

9. If our Blackberry/remote mail doesn’t work, it actually *is* the end of the world or so we’d have you believe.

10. We always moan about how much more rubbish our office networks are compared with our home set up.

So I’d like to formally apologise to every IT person I have ever worked with/annoyed/sent insane. You know we love and need you really 🙂

flexible working…5 must haves

Posted on September 22, 2008 by Becky Green (was McMichael)

Had a lovely breakfast the other morning with my pal and ex-colleague, Stephen Waddington who, like me, has recently opted for the co-location lifestyle and moved to the wilds of Northumberland. He is continuing to run Rainier PR with Steve Earl in London.

Unsurprisingly, a large part of the conversation was about flexible/remote/home working with both of us comparing notes about the benefits and pitfalls of being out of (and indeed in) the office.

Anyway, I had been meaning to start something about the traits you need to be a good homeworker and make this strategy work for you in the long term so thanks to Stephen for giving me the renewed focus and here goes……

5 must haves for flexible workers

Respect from clients and staff about working practices – it has to be part of the fabric of the agency….jibes about working from home or trying to cover up flexible work arrangements to clients is a strategy bound for failure – be proud of your agency’s attitude; don’t try to cover it up – people want to work for an agency that embraces and encourages flexible working, not one that merely tolerates it

A flexible attitude – there are times when you just have to be at a meeting in person or in the office. Regular office visits are good for team and individual anyway as they keep you in touch and provide a chance to catch up in person

The right skills – namely, talent, experience and focus. Flexible working does not work in all cases, people need to be integrated into the agency and spend a period of time getting to know staff, clients and the agency’s culture, in order to work in the expected way.

Individuals need to take responsibility for networking and socialising either where they live or making an effort to attend company socials. The increase of social media and networks has made it much easier for home workers to stay in touch, do business out of hours, attend events/lectures through podcasts and keep up to date with the industry

Trust. Your work needs to speak for itself. Clients need to want to work with you, teams need to feel they can approach you and respect the way you work and your boss needs to trust you.

I am going to tag some other people in the PR industry to see if they have any thoughts to add. Over to you Stephen, David, Will, Jonathan, Ged and Paul.

is there a bright side in today’s economy?

Posted on September 21, 2008 by Becky Green (was McMichael)

Any excuse to watch a bit of Monty Python!

Anyway, I have been chatting to many people over the past week about the current financial situation and the Lehman nightmare in particular and I honestly believe that whilst absolutely dreadful for many individuals involved, a crisis such as this usually needs to happen.

Markets need to re-adjust, be it financial, housing or others and the surge of talented employees now on the market, combined with lower property and business service costs provide an opportunity for many businesses to expand, hire people they wouldn’t have been able to attract at one time and get their own businesses in better shape.

Just read this post from my pal Ged:

This is not about belittling the personal tragedies of Lehman employees who have been laid off, but instead looking at the bigger picture.

In the same way that the financing problems of the 1980s created the junk bond, so this crunch will create a similar kind of entrepreneurship

Unravelling the financial assets of organisations like Lehman Bros will provide a source of immense profit for organisations with deep enough pockets and sufficient smarts to find the value

Financial institutions have traditionally been the most enthusiastic purchasers of enterprise technology. Their efforts to cut costs will provide new opportunities for things like Software as a Service (SaaS), or service bureaus like what telecoms companies use for billing services and other operational support services

Bankrupt bank servers, storage appliances and networking gear will come on the market at rock-bottom prices and provide infrastructure for the next wave of web start-ups

You will have a number of independently wealthy people without things to fill their 100-hour work weeks. Some of them will seek to finance productive businesses rather than just sponsoring an idle WASP lifestyle

You have a surplus of skills: IT professionals, quant / math freaks, economists and former rocket scientists – all of which could be useful in coming up with a killer technology application or web service. Think about it this way – former Morgan Stanley computer programmer Joshua Schachter came up with del.icio.us

Some interesting points about why change can be a good thing.