Whilst re-reading the book, “How to make yourself miserable”, I realised that my current home office set up is much closer to the “perfect room for being miserable” than it is as a place to do high quality work. But, upon reflection, my open plan office wasn’t much better either.
In fact, the open plan office is potentially worse!
What should offices be?
In a recent podcast, Rory Sutherland talks about how offices should be comprised of two extremes (a la Taleb’s barbell analogy), that is, they should be highly sociable, coffee shop style with plenty meeting areas and place for co-location and coincidental interaction, or they should be an area for library-style concentration. Most modern open plan offices are a halfway house and an attempt at trying to do both. But they provide neither sociability nor solitude, and are thus the worst of both worlds. The volume of face-to-face communication goes down in open plan offices and the volume of electronic communication goes up! In other words, people aren’t comfortable enough to talk freely with colleagues but cannot concentrate either.
But if I could create the perfect working environment, what would it look like? And what kind of environment produces the best results?
Master Craftsmen
What about master craftsmen? What kind of workspaces do they work in? If they are at the pinnacle of their trade and produce the most amazing things, surely they have built themselves the appropriate settings?
Last weekend, I was wandering about in Henry Moore’s garden. And whilst everyone else was taking pictures of the sculptures, I was obsessively fussing about his studios!
Henry Moore had different studios for different purposes.
Here was a space for design and reflective concentration. Small, minimal, just for him. Not only was the inner space important, but so too was the exterior view.
Here was a place to experiment. Here he made his maquettes (mini sculptures). Obviously he made small prototypes (10,000 in total!). A craftsman like him wouldn’t attempt to build a humongous sculpture out of cast bronze without prototyping it first. In fact, he would prototype at increasing sizes before working at full scale. The prototyping is not only honing the skills of the craftsman but it also builds up his antennae for pattern recognition of what ‘works’.
Here he works are full scale together with his apprentices. He had a few of these. They let plenty of natural light in and were transportable. He could work outside, even in winter.
But when it comes masters of all master craftsmen, we have to go to Japan.
Shokunin
In Japan they even have a word, shokunin (mastery of one’s profession).
Here is a carpenter’s workshop. The workshop is an extension of the tool. The space is a tool. Everything that is needed is within reach and arranged in such a way to make the difficult things easy. Apprentices are taught to care for the workshop and are taught over the course of years of training, through menial tasks around the work shop, the right mindset for their work. The workshop is a reflection of their approach, and vice-versa.
I’m sure there’s something here about the affordance of the workspace that is still to be explored.
In the true fashion of ‘How to make yourself miserable’, it’s worth now comparing these working spaces with your own current work environment (at home or your office!). Note down the differences. Then dwell on them. If you’re not feeling miserable, check out Mozart’s achivements by age twelve. Then list yours. Compare. Dwell! 😛
Co-working and start ups
All of this reminded me of one of my first (and most miserable) experiences of working from home. I was living in a grotty part of London, Kilburn, in a ‘multi occupancy house’, and, as I sat next to the window, I had a view of about eight wheely-bins. Any natural light was blocked out by ten foot hedge behind the bins. As I sat there, I practically felt like I was already unemployed, even though my work was actually a very valuable part of a respectable project.
My environment was actually debasing me and my work.
Further, there was no spacial separation between work and sleeping, eating or relaxing. As a result, they were all mixed together. A halfway house of everything – the worst of all four worlds!
As a result of my misery, I decided to join a co-working space. So I joined TechHub.
Here is a picture I took from the early days (a couple months after it started, maybe 2011). It’s now much bigger – global in fact – but I liked the concept in those early days of Silicon Roundabout. It had a cool, grungy, start up vibe. It was more appropriate for my work, and I felt much happier there.
There were likeminded people that I met and there was a buzz. Much in the same way that I go to the gym to work out amongst others who are working out, I went to TechHub to work amongst others who are working.
In TechHub I could sit on a large kidney-shaped table (no corners) with others who I didn’t know, and thereby get to know them (cross pollination of ideas, of skills and a chance to network, help each other). Alternatively, I could bring my colleagues in (which we did every now and again) and work colocated on a table or go to a mini meeting room if we wanted to argue about which colour was better – green or blue (which we also did).
It was a great routine: a few days at home, a few days in the co-working space. I remember feeling lucky. TechHub also had regular events, talks and Friday beers so there was always incentive to go anyway. It was genuine sociability. Music, beer and food are usually a basis for socialising with new people.
An environment to master one’s skills
What I noticed with the master craftsmen was that they had a dedicated place to experiment and a dedicated place where the space itself was a tool for their work. I think these are two elements that I would want to integrate along with the other needs for colocation and concentration.
So, based on the fact that I’m working in a scrum team, and along with other teams we’re building a large complex digital platform, what kind of environment(s) do I think would
- provide the best outcomes and most optimal collaboration for building that technology?
- provide the right environment to master one’s skills and feel most at ease? (which in turn also serves the first point)
In a perfect world, I could imagine:
At home
A bar bell contrast of two distinct areas comprising of:
- Space for concentration
A writer’s desk at home for concentration, writing, analysing data, reading reports. Somewhere very light. I’d have reference materials here. A portrait of Diana Larsen on the table for inspiration.
- Workspace as a tool
A high tech studio with multiple screens for video conferencing and remote collaboration. Three small screens for video conferencing in a semi-circle to be able to see others at a similar eye-to-eye level and to emulate the feeling of being in a group (instead of facing an audience of 12 talking heads on one screen). Plus a larger touchscreen whiteboard for interactive and collaborative work.
A common (office) space
Another contrast of two areas for:
- Colocation / co-working style
Hot desking – working alongside random people and/or colocating with teams, but also with clients, suppliers, guests. Somewhere to unwind and socialise afterwards as well.
- Space for experimentation
A dedicated (permanent) room for us to experiment and prototype – and for intense, high context co-operation: workshops, design sprints, project lift-offs.
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Well, those are my ideas and dreams. I’m going to start thinking about what I can change at home. I wonder what we could change in the communal office space?
What do you think?
- If you could create the optimal environment to do what you do best, what would it look like?
- Why are most offices the way they are?
If you have any other thoughts, I think this is a great time to be talking about this …