Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, Third Edition

38. Free Electrons

In our grandparents’ generation, work was usually structured rigidly within a corporate context: You worked for a company, and you punched a clock or kept regular hours. You received a paycheck, same this week as last. Those above you in the hierarchy were treated with respect and deference: “Of course, sir. I’ll get cracking on that right away, sir.” It didn’t seem like a life’s work you were embarked upon—it seemed more like a job. But things have changed:

One of my college roommates arranged a get-together of members of our graduating class. Of the twenty people who showed up that night, only one turned out to have a “job” in the normal sense of that word. All the others were self-employed or freelancing or contracting ...