I’m *Not* Outta Here: When Offices Adapt

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.

Scaling Coworking

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.

More than just a space

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.

Coworking Trends in 2009

• Continued growth of number and size of spaces around the world
• Emergence of more mature, more successful, multiple-location coworking companies
• Beginnings of coworking spaces focused on specific specialties

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.

Going Native

The primary research method of cultural anthropology is known as ethnography.  It is the process of immersing oneself into the daily routines of a group of people in order to access, and eventually write about, that culture from the native’s point of view.  One specific form of ethnography is called participant observation, which is when the researcher goes deep and becomes a full participant with the group they are studying.

While we never set out to conduct an ethnography of coworking, per se, it turns out that this is exactly what we did.  Ethnography consists of interviewing people, talking through issues, observing rituals, taking pictures, and identifying patterns of behavior and the meanings of those behaviors.  According to a textbook definition of ethnography, we have been in the field for about a year.  Call it accidental ethnography. 

We went to Jelly gatherings in several cities, and we coworked in spaces across the country and the world.  We started a Jelly and Tony started New Work City in New York.  We talked with and interviewed coworking leaders and participants via blogs, facebook, twitter and email for a year.  This is the new frontier of digital ethnography.

It is interesting to reflect on this now that we have completed the process.  Anthropologists often talk about colleagues who get so in to their field sites and go so deep that they in fact go native.  I’m afraid that the three of us have gone native.

But the view is awefully nice!

Drew