March 6, 2013 at 12:22 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Two Plugs Away
March 6, 2013 at 2:19 am
Desks on wheels is an interesting idea.
I used to work at very "free flowing" organization. The furniture was simple standard cube farm fare.
We didn't have desks on wheels but we did periodically have "floor moves" to bring teams physically together. I recall one of my colleagues going on holiday. Whilst she was away a floor move was conceived, planned and executed. She came back to find she didn't even work on the same floor any more. Someone had packed and moved her area; but she had to find and unpack it herself.
March 6, 2013 at 2:27 am
Love the idea of being able to move my entire desk, it would make life a lot easier for our office services guys as well.
I've seen loads of designs for workspaces that have been intended to make the workplace a better environment for employees. All were well intentioned, not all were successful.
The fundamental questions around workspace design should be:-
1. Does this foster a productive environment?
2. Does this reduce staff turnover with particular attention to the most productive employees
Personally, day-glo walls and bean bags don't make me more productive or affect my decision to stay with a company.
March 6, 2013 at 4:43 am
The desks on wheels seems to be a practical solution and much more humane then a clear desk policy to allow all desks to be hot desks. If we all spend so much of our time at work then when you remove the humanity from the environment people start to feel as though they are being treated as automaton or cattle. Neither which helps anyone feeling valued which I think is a key driver in productivity.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
March 6, 2013 at 7:51 am
Think this is an excellent idea.
I think physical proximity to your team is important. Cuts down on the requirement to have meetings and you don't need to store up questions as a lot may be answered the minute they arise.
Can be useful when the team first gets together varies from person to person some are very good at using phones / skype.
March 6, 2013 at 8:21 am
Dalkeith (3/6/2013)
Think this is an excellent idea.I think physical proximity to your team is important. Cuts down on the requirement to have meetings and you don't need to store up questions as a lot may be answered the minute they arise.
Can be useful when the team first gets together varies from person to person some are very good at using phones / skype.
I even like using communicator for quick questions (both asking and answering), however, at some places they see one person abuse it and remove from everyone. There will always be abusers but that shouldn't invalidate it as a good business tool.
There have been plenty of studies on team communications. I would like to see how this fits in with current thinking in that area.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
March 6, 2013 at 9:15 am
It certainly sounds interesting. I'd like to give the desk on wheels a try if I go back to an office.
March 6, 2013 at 10:07 am
I also like the idea.
We have hand-helds and laptops, portable phones and almost everything on the move except the desk. The idea of a paperless workplace is not possible; we have achieved a more paperless workplace so we still need a desk for the papers and other trappings of the job, plus the desk holds those things we want at work to make it more "ours". As long as we need to have these things we should not let them be an anchor, they should move with us.
Wheels -> Might be a great idea.
Along this line anyone been reading about how Yahoo has changed things up? I guess the idea is to get back to the office everyday or get out. Interesting approach to a modern office solution. And apologies Steve if you put out an editorial on this and I missed it.
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
March 6, 2013 at 10:58 am
Miles Neale (3/6/2013)
Along this line anyone been reading about how Yahoo has changed things up? I guess the idea is to get back to the office everyday or get out. Interesting approach to a modern office solution. And apologies Steve if you put out an editorial on this and I missed it.M.
Coming 😉
March 6, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Awesome Idea. Desks on wheels. Too many times moving teams has involved a day of lost work trying to pack it all up and move to the new area and get re-established.
I'd really love the chance to pull some pranks with those desks too.:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D:-D
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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March 7, 2013 at 4:15 pm
I have a friend who is an architect at CitiBank. When they design buildings, they think 40-to years ahead. One big important component in their design of new office buildings is being able to retrofit office space for the future, when people talk to their computers rather than typing.
My friend said that if you have 1,000 people on a single floor of a large office building, the sound level could reach that of a jet engine and you wouldn't be able to hear yourself talking. So, cubicles in the future will be glass-bubbles with virtual video-conferencing where everyone looks like they are in the same room collaborating.
March 7, 2013 at 4:20 pm
A few things were missed in all the hype about this move. First, the corporate culture at Yahoo is really awful. People feel very demoralized, it is hard to recruit new talent in what is perceived as a dying company, and there are a few hundred people at the company who egregiously abuse the work-from-home approach to do little for a paycheck and use their off-site time to start new businesses. Just a thought.
I think the CEO would have better served the rest by targeting the free-loaders (get rid of them) and require certain mandatory office days. If employees knew that certain days were locked-in, work-from-home, they could schedule personal time activities appropiately. Rather, the CEO used a blunt hammer approach.
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