By Ken Siegal

I've been thinking about working remotely. No, no, don't give away my desk just yet, I'm actually talking about working with people who are nowhere nearby, which is an ever-growing trend these days.

We talk about this a lot, sometimes even face-to-face. In our office, we have a core group that shows up pretty much every day. But if Amy or Prashant or Katrina instant-message me, I don't always know whether they're at their desks one floor down, or at their desks at home. If Brian needs to attend a meeting, but is on the road, we'll Skype-video him in, and see/talk with him at his laptop "office".

Even my good buddy Kate, who I've known for a couple of years now, shares thoughts on email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Yet she is a colleague who lives half the country away -- and we've never met, never even spoken on the phone.

Now I'm not going to go all retro on you, insisting that in the good old days (2007??) there was less remote interaction, and work/life was better. Nor am I going to say that the new version of the "virtual" workplace is ideal (have you ever phoned into a large meeting/conference call?) Things have changed, and we are all continuing to adjust in many ways -- partially because of the economy, partially because it's just a newer way of working.

I love that people are embracing some new ideas, and that others are working very hard at figuring out better ways to stay in touch -- at work, in the education community, so very many places. How you are figuring it out? Get in touch, let us know.

Photo by Kristin Wolff