101 Tips for Telecommuters—Successfully Manage Your Work, Team, Technology and Family

62. Reach Agreements that Foster Commitment and Collaboration

Setting clear agreements regarding accountabilities and commitments with your boss, your co-workers, and your support staff will help you avoid a plethora of difficult, unpleasant, and time-consuming problems. Without clear agreements, you run the risk of diminished work standards, missed deadlines, delayed shipments, lack of follow-through, disappointed customers, and increased stress and frustration on the part of everyone, as well as declines in your productivity and achievement of goals.

As is sometimes typical, however, it seems there's never enough time to take care of something properly at the beginning, while we find lots of time to invest in fixing it later. A major tenet ...