Yahoo Sports "in chaos"

I absolutely can see and understand the merits of both a virtual office and working regularly in an actual office. There are things to be said for doing both.

One thing not mentioned yet about the appeal of an actual office is that you actually "go to work."

While it's great to occasionally be able to sit at home and work in your pajamas, having an office to go to actually makes it so there's some semblance of a difference between being "at work" and being off and "at home."

As we all know, that separation is so lost these days, thanks to the constant availability, connectedness, and intrusion, of computers, email, instant messaging, texting, minute-by-minute social media that can be done from, literally, anywhere, and people's penchant to hide from each other behind, ironically, all these very same instruments of technology.

I think people are finding out that it's not always a good thing.

 

This is a valid counterpoint. When I'm at my desk, what would be "camaraderie" at 4 p.m. rapidly turns into "time-wasting bullshit" around 9:30. News and lifestyles types often fail to see the distinction.

 

Not fucking me. WAR 9-5.

 

From what I can gather the "central gathering place" now is not a newsroom but a multi media center; newscenter or whatever you want to call it. It is dominated by beancounters and clueless meeting-callers. Back in the old days the team building may indeed have happened with the sports editor leading the way. It has changed in this day and age of beancounter managing editor, new media editor individuals who dominate the sports editor; individuals who really know nothing about what makes a good sports section. Yahoo's environment is a winning environment; the old newsroom is long gone with sports editors pretty much stripped of any power they once had.

 

Fredrick, I thought what you had written had infuriated me, and then I reread and understand what you're saying a lot better, and now you're merely annoying me.

You make these blanket statements as if they're true for everybody when I think they're mostly true for you and the places you've been.

There still remain in this country good sports editors who lead their teams and do great work and work well within their companies and aren't dominated.

 

I agree with both Fredrick and SF_Express, if that's possible. And it was my quote on the team-building to which they're reacting.

In all candor, I haven't felt a part of a "team" experience in this business -- for more than a day or a week, anyway, in pitching in to cover a big event -- in at least 15 years. Started with sports editors who didn't put much priority on that, preferring to hold all their cards close and keep staffers guessing to maintain a puny bit of power. Then the folks Fredrick refers to started elbowing in.

Saw untold amounts of intangibles fizzle away, in terms of staff pulling together and everybody having everybody else's back. You keep treating people like they're just lucky to have the jobs and eventually they start treating what they do as just jobs.

 

This is a valid point. I work from home a ton, and I've set my place up so my work is done in my office and my fun time (TV, movies, games, etc.) is done in my living room. It minimizes the distractions, and I've set a line to where my work has to get done ... I don't slip away for a game of Madden during "work time." I've gotten pretty good at it. That said, sometimes I like to get out of the house. I went to the newsroom last Thursday to work, and I couldn't get anything done. People want to chatter too much. The people on the copy desk yell across the room, and I understand that's necessary. That's how things get done. I find the newsroom is almost too loud any more to do phone interviews, because people think of it as a gathering place, and not a work place. Sometimes, I'll head down to Starbucks or Panera or whereever just so I can get out of the house and get work done.

 

I wonder if people sort of subconsciously treat the newsroom differently from generations past or if newsrooms have always been loud and crazy and writers of the past were generally more "used" to it and dealt with it.

Me? My experience is that I wrote on deadline more than I should have before the ability to write from out of the office. For me, writing from outside has improved my ability to get things done in a timely manner.

 

I'm glad I only annoyed you SF Express. You are probably a great SE. Of course my opinions are not meant to say all places are like mine.
I think what Joe said is true.
The sports editors I've worked for have in all cases, frankly, been great! They have tried to fend off the new media editors and the managing editors and publishers, but frankly all the sports editors I've worked for in the past 10 years, have had to throw up their hands as they bury their head in their hands at the Gannett driven 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. meetings.
Very sad.
I applaud Yahoo for letting its reporters live wherever they want and not have to take part in this unproductive, demeaning editor-driven workplace environment. Let their talent shine from home!