We’re not big fans of Lulu right now.
For some reason, the book keeps getting pulled offline due to printing issues, despite the fact that every copy we’ve ordered has come through just fine.
In any case, our eBook version is still up for sale here!
If you want to buy a paperback copy of our book, email us and we’ll let you know when it’s back online!
I was reading portions of Richard Florida’s “The Rise of the Creative Class” yesterday, and it provided some great cultural and sociological perspective that overlaps in many ways with what we’re exploring here.
What I found interesting was his perspective on the workplace: Florida, too, acknowledges that a new generation of workers will be demanding a better workplace and a better relationship with employers, but he takes a slightly different angle– suggesting that employers will have to improve the layouts and management of their spaces to accommodate a more creative environment, as opposed to simply releasing people from the office altogether.
It’s important to keep in mind that the technological revolution we are in the early stages of is one that is going to transform life and work on lots of levels: while I’m Outta Here focuses on the people who have gotten out of the office (or never been in one), and the many who will follow, many companies will retain employees in central or satellite offices… and those offices will change too.
There will be a whole spectrum of shifts, from businesses that virtualize completely to ones that retain their offices and simply repurpose them.
And that’s a good thing too. The rise of coworking is proof that, when people are left to decide where they work, they often naturally choose to work along with each other, so many smart businesses will likely recognize that they must create an environment that people would *want* to work in, if getting employees together in the same place is important to them.
When I visited my friend Paul’s office, I was surprised at how social an environment it was for him. Just showing me around his floor, he said hello to ten or more people, each with a work area decorated to their own style.
The point? People *like* some aspects of working in an office.
What if a company focused on making the office a place you’d voluntarily want to work in? What if, one day, they announced, “OK, you don’t need to come into the office anymore! Work where you want!” And employees came in anyway?
The company will inevitably still save on office space and overhead, as many may choose to work elsewhere, but the space they retain will be used for good, useful, healthy, necessary gathering and collaboration.
And that’s a good thing. If the changes come to you, you may not have to say “I’m outta here” to be part of the revolution after all.
So, you want to start a coworking community?
Awesome. We’re glad to have you on board.
Your first step? Don’t start a coworking community. At least, not yet.
Starting a coworking community is just like starting a business: do your due dilligence. Find out what else is out there. Find out who else in your area is doing similar things.
Meet as many people as you can, and listen to what they’re doing and what they need.
Only after you’ve gotten a really good view of the landscape will you be able to know whether there is a need that needs to be fulfilled. Along th way, odds are good that you will also have encountered the people who will help you build this community, either as collaborators or as members. Keep talking to both these types of people.
In the meantime, join the Coworking Google Group and start reading and participating. This is the collective brain trust of community organizers around the world, and the sheer brain power between these great folks is something not to be missed.
Okay, I did my homework, and we still need an awesome community where the current stuff doesn’t cut it. Now what?
Sweet, let’s continue!
The next and most important thing to keep in mind is the following: your goal is to become an agent of the people. To build a healthy, successful community, then the community must be theirs, and not just yours. Imposing your views on the community pushes people away. Empowering the community members to participate and contribute to the operations and growth of that community guarantees that it fills the needs of its members and strengthens bonds.
Your job is to manage that ever-morphing public opinion, and to use your judgment when decisions need to be made in the best interests of the community. Managing the community doesn’t mean that you do what everyone wants without question– it’s your job to determine where the real needs are and what direction to take the group.
Keeping a open mind moving forward is going to be important, because your plans are going to change a lot along the way– especially if you start working on opening a full-time coworking space.
But more on that later 
Three years ago today, Amit Gupta put up a post on the House 2.0 blog Introducing Jelly – a semi-weekly work-together - and began what would become a global movement.
Today, Jelly is in over 30 cities worldwide, has spun off Jelly Talks, and is growing every day.
Thursday I met the guys from Jelly Sydney, who kicked off last year’s 24 Hours of Jelly, and seeing just how similar they are to the people I’ve encountered from other cities reminded me just how much technology’s been helping likeminded people connect everywhere.
Three years in, I can’t help but wonder what Jelly will look like three years from now. What will coworking and Jelly communities be like after they’ve had three more years to spread? Will they continue to grow and thrive, or give way to something else?
Whatever it is, the path we’re going down is a healthy one, and an exciting one. Cheers to Amit and Luke, and happy birthday to Jelly!
Back in December, I wrote about scaling coworking, and the fact that several spaces are outgrowing their original spots. Since then, Citizen Space has announced their long-overdue expansion, after well over a year of maintaining a waiting list for membership.
Last night, Independents Hall, one of the most prominent examples of a successful coworking space, held a town hall meeting to discuss its progress and its future.
And what a future: After showing a video tour of a nearby space, the plan was laid out: Move the coworking space to the new location, which is substantially larger than the current space, and convert their existing space to be used as an events and education space.
To make this move, Alex made it clear that he’d need to see an uptick in support and interest. IndyHall would be able to keep the same price structure in the new space and, if all of the people on their waiting list convert to active members, they would already almost be to the break-even point.
The prospect of a larger IndyHall is exciting unto itself- but on top of that, a new effort to expand into events and education widens the scope of IndyHall’s potential influence. Just on a cursory survey of the room, it was clear that the members had a lot they wanted to share– workshops they wanted to give, events they wanted to host– this is the stuff of a healthy coworking community. By better empowering its members to share and participate, IndyHall widens the potential audience.
This puts IndyHall further ahead in the evolution of a prototypical coworking space than perhaps any other.
So what do we see when we peer ahead of the curve, and look at what happens when a coworking space succeeds and grows? We see coworking spaces as city centers of innovation: fostering economic growth, providing education, and acting as a gathering spot for anyone willing to participate and contribute.
And it’s nothing but good: for the business, for the people, and for the city.
Bravo to IndyHall and all the folks involved! I can’t wait to see how it all progresses.
Member intros:
Alex describes early days and the state of IndyHall today:
Geoff and Alex give feedback and talk about the future:
IndyHall’s post on the event is here, with the video tour of the new space and slides.
Three years ago today, Brad Neuberg sent a test message to the Coworking Google Group to make sure it was set up right.
1,631 members and 5,205 messages later, the Coworking Google Group has become a central gathering place for a global movement that’s changing more and more lives by the day.
The first test copy of the book arrived at New Work City today!
And it’s beautiful! Already getting feedback from folks and already learned of a few things that need to be adjusted to accomodate Lulu’s printing process, but we’re well on our way!
If you’re in NYC, feel free to drop by NWC to check it out and let us know what you think!
It’s been fascinating to watch the coworking concept evolve over time. When I first learned about coworking, there were only a handful of coworking spaces in existence, and few of those had been open for very long.
Now, as coworking approaches its fourth year, we have dozens of spaces in dozens of cities- and many of them are succeeding. Some spaces have waiting lists. A handful are now actively exploring something as yet unprecedented in the coworking era: expansion.
Cubes & Crayons, the wildly successful Menlo Park space which combines coworking space with daycare services, is building its second location and has publicly stated its intent to expand to cities across the country.
Just today, Alex Hillman of sold-out Indy Hall announced a meeting for people interested in building a media-focused coworking space in Philadelphia.
Here at New Work City, after riding a wave of interest following our opening, several people have already asked whether we intend to expand.
Here’s where coworking takes another step. Once-fledgling businesses, built on a budding need for community workspace, are now successful, established businesses, and the need for them has only continued to grow.
To date, we’ve described entities like Cubes and Crayons as “coworking spaces”, but this phrase is no longer accurate. They’re coworking companies, and they can have more than one location.
Point of fact, the phrase “coworking space” was never an accurate way to describe one of these entities. A good coworking space is, first and foremost, a coworking community. And a community is not tied to a specific space.
Now, those communities are foraying into uncharted territory: what happens when a coworking community hits the point where it could have two spaces to call home?
Alex’s exploration into an industry-specific coworking space also advances coworking’s evolution. Coworking started out with an extremely open attitude: if you can show up at the space and do your work with whatever you carried in with you, you can cowork.
But now, as the coworking populace grows, the growth gives way to the more specific needs of particular sub-groups. Independent media folks, for instance, may need equipment and sound-proofed rooms.
As the year comes to a close, we get a chance to reflect on 2008 and look forward to 2009. 2008 saw the continued growth and spreading of coworking to cities across the globe. 2009 will see that spread continue, but will also witness the rise of larger, more mature coworking companies.
This growth will be fueled by a growing population of laid-off former employees who will increasingly be turning to independent and virtual work.
It goes without saying that coworking is an awesome concept. Its success to date has been fascinating to witness, and in 2009 we’ll see how it looks when it scales and matures.
House 2.0 is on the fourth floor of a five-story apartment building in midtown Manhattan.
Despite its small size, the building has an elevator. A tiny, slow elevator that breaks down often (most notably, on the weekend I moved in).
On rare occasions, I find myself sharing the elevator with the resident of another floor. Today, while running late to work and leaving around 9am, I ran into a new resident in the elevator, whom I had never met before.
Here’s how our conversation went:
Me: Hey.
Him: Hi.
Me: Late for work?
Him: Oh, no… I work from home.
Me: Really? What do you do?
Him: I’m a photographer.
Me: Oh, cool… I used to work from home too, but it started to drive me crazy.
Him: Tell me about it.
Me: Yeah, so I started a coworking space. Are you familiar with coworking?
Him: Yeah, it’s when a bunch of people get together and share a space, right?
Ding.
We arrived at the ground floor and the door opened, but the dinging sound didn’t come from the elevator.
The ding was in my head. It was the sound of coworking making it.
In the tiny elevator of this tiny building, I met a stranger, and he was not only familiar with coworking, he described it to me in one sentence.
Ding ding ding ding.
Drew Jones is an anthropologist, management consultant, and former business school professor. He works with Shift101—an agency with offices in Sydney, New York, and Austin—and writes and speaks about innovation, design, and the future of work.
Todd Sundsted has worked with and for companies big and small for twenty years, and has seen the best and the worst of contemporary organizational practice. His interest in coworking comes from his interest in innovation, and from his first hand experience with small, highly engaged teams and the incredible things they can accomplish. Todd is a entrepreneur, speaker, and published author; and he's wicked good with technology. Follow @todd_sundsted on Twitter.
Tony Bacigalupo started and runs New Work City, a community coworking space in Manhattan. He is also a Project Manager at Desktop Solutions Software. Tony seeks to facilitate entrepreneurial growth and bring more balance to people’s work lives in NYC. Follow @tonybgoode on Twitter.
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© 2008 Drew Jones, Todd Sundsted, and Tony Bacigalupo. All Rights Reserved.
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