We’d like to offer a big thanks to Matt Metzgar for setting up this public ROWE forum. We couldn’t be happier. Ever since the beginning of ROWE, we have talked about how great it would be if people took this idea and ran with it. Of course we joined, and of course we’ll be following along, but this isn’t our baby. We started this conversation about how to fix the problem of work, but the ultimate outcome belongs to everyone.

We hope this forum starts to answer the question that people ask us all the time, “What can I do to get in a ROWE?” One of the things you can do is participate in the larger conversation about ROWE and work. This happened at Best Buy in the early days of ROWE. Even when not many teams were ROWE, people were talking and those conversations helped change the culture.

For example, in the early days, if someone found out you were ROWE, they might say, “You’re doing that ROWE thing, aren’t you? How do you like working from home?” The misconception created an opportunity. The person in a ROWE would say, “It’s not really about working from home. I still come in, but I don’t have to come in unless it drives results.”

The non-ROWE employee might not believe them, or they might think there was a catch. But at least the idea was out there. When the non-ROWE employee kept hearing messages like these, her mind started to open up. Later, when it was time for her to transition into a ROWE, she was already a little farther along than if people had remained silent.

That’s how social change works. It’s slower than other kinds of change because you have to change how people think. But it’s possible. Just ask the people at Best Buy and J.A. Counter. They’re living the end result of all that talk.

We’ve been watching (with great interest) as Michael and Aaron discuss of our recent post How Do You Do 80% of a Job? We love seeing this passion.

They are having what we sometimes call “The Conversation.” The Conversation often has nothing to do with the topic. The Conversation is all about processing the implications of ROWE. (It doesn’t even have to be adversarial. Sometimes The Conversation happens between two people who are both really into ROWE).

We’ve been dealing with this phenomenon from the beginning and still deal with it today. Someone asks us, “So what are you working on?” We take a deep breath and tell them about ROWE, knowing full well that we’re going to be talking about it for at least another twenty minutes. In the five years we’ve been working on this project, not once (not once!) has someone heard the line “People can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done” and wanted to change the subject.

Are you interested in having a little fun with someone? Introduce the ROWE definition to someone who’s never heard it before. It doesn’t matter if you support ROWE or are skeptical. You can be completely neutral. Just float that definition out there and see what the reaction is.

If the person you’re talking with asks for more information, play it cool. Say, “I don’t know much more about it. There’s this new way of working where people get to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. What do you think?”

Then sit back and watch the gears start turning. Chances are you’ll have The Conversation. See how long it lasts and then tell us how it goes.