Who is Farhan Lalji?

Let’s recap here, fuel prices are going up and up and up. People want to have a work-life balance. The internet has revolutionised the way people communicate. So why do we need to be in the same place to work together? We don’t.

Sure being in the same room as people you work with adds value, it means you’re able to socialise, you’re able to learn more about people and trust people. But how many people do you actually work that closely with? Is it enough to justify large rents in metropolitan locations? Not to mention a lot of times meeting with people or conversations get in the way of productivity.

I’ve worked virtually with lots of folks in past jobs and in my present job. I find getting together once a week with some, once a month with others, and once a quarter with others is enough to build rapport and through the telephone, instant messaging, email, desktop conferencing, video conferencing and other tools we don’t need to be in the same office as each other to work together effectively. I like working from home. I probably should do it more; I bet I’d be more effective.

So my prediction for the near future is that we’ll see a lot more virtual working, a lot more working from home and lot more smaller offices. This will potentially mean fewer meetings, less distractions and a drop in our collective foot prints. Not to mention a healthier bottom line as you don’t have to pay for large offices.

One of the reasons I love twitter and SMS messaging is that you have a limit to the number of characters you have to get your message across. So you’re constantly thinking about the most effective way to use the limit to get your message across.

Communication formats without limits makes it more difficult to communicate effectively and efficiently. So I’ve started putting limits on other forms of communication.

Cathy brought the 5 sentence rule to my attention a couple of weeks ago, and I have to admit that it’s changed the way I write emails. I have five sentences in my head the whole time I’m writing so I make sure I don’t go on and on which I’ve been known to do as well.

I’m thinking about what would be the optimum framework for blog posts. I hate posts that could probably be cut in a third and would end up being clearer for it. So I’m trying to stick to 3-4 paragraphs and see if my posts are clearer because of it. We’ll see.