Recently, two of my colleagues pulled off a surprise baby shower for me, all while sitting in an open office environment. Needless to say, I was completely surprised! As you can probably imagine, a lot of work goes into planning a surprise party. Granted, some of it can be done through good ole’ e-mail communication, but at some point, all that scheming has to occur somewhere beyond that.  

So, how did two people that sit immediately to my left and right, without any walls or workstation panels separating us, pull this off?  This can’t be easy in any work environment, but somehow they were able to keep it a secret. So, does this mean it’s possible to have private conversations and work on top secret information in an open office environment without your surrounding colleagues hearing or seeing your work? Well, it definitely seemed to work in this situation.  
As my colleague Jodi Williams and I continue to embark on a journey to debunk open office myths, here we present you with busted myth #1: You can’t have private conversations or work on confidential information while sitting in an open office work environment.
 
Now, I know some of you out there may still find this to be a challenging issue, especially if you are sitting in an open office and shouldn’t be because of the nature of your work OR because you don’t have access to private spaces, etc. We heard you…we’ve been reading all of your comments and blogs on the internet [...]

Don’t just work from home. Creep out your employees from a distance!
I saw this article recently about the robot that visits your cubicle. Advertised as a “telepresence robot”, Anybots aim to connect workers more seamlessly through the use of video cameras, still camera and a microphone. The basic concept is that, working anywhere from a laptop, you can log into one of these robots which reside in your office and the robot essentially becomes your “avatar”. Your Anybot can zip around the workplace interacting with coworkers; stopping by your desk, sitting in on meetings or impromptu collaboration sessions, heading over to the factory to see what’s coming off the production line, etc. The video demonstration on their website gives you the idea.
While I do see some of the fundamental advantages of “Robot Boss”, I still can’t help but think of all the hilarious and awkward scenarios that could play out in our workplace culture:

It looks like a Segway had a one night stand with a vacuum cleaner. I hope the cleaning staff doesn’t try to use Robot Boss to buff the floors.
People will definitely dress up Robot Boss in embarrassing clothing. Mine would have a handlebar mustache and dress accordingly for the seasons and holidays. 
If you put a piece of paper over the sensors, can you laugh as Robot Boss crashes into walls because it can’t see straight?
Will people eventually prefer Robot Ross to in-person boss? If in-person boss wears cheap cologne, then yes.
I’d like to see Robot Boss take a client out to lunch. Good luck catching a cab, Robot Boss!
I’d be freaked out if [...]

I really appreciate simple charts, graphs, information in general. This Fast Company Infographic is equal parts: accurate / straightforward / funny. It boils down worker personalities into three categories based on how much you work and how much you talk. Created by designer Joey Roth, the poster doesn’t aim to analyze the information but rather act as a jumping off point for further conversation.

Simple infographics like this are a great reminder that your organization is full of a diverse group of individual work styles that often perform better in different settings. But still as Designers we continue to see offices being designed with one, maybe two varieties of workstation specifications. With workers coming in every shape, size and style it’s crazy to think we’re sometimes delivering such limited solutions. Granted, you can find TONS of styles and configurations for the numerous workstations on the market, and there are always those forward thinking/early-adapter clients but when it comes down to it, Designers (and clients) tend to play it safe and hassle-free, because the work it takes to specifcy (Designer) and then maintain (Client/Facilities) multiple varieties of workstations for a single project would be a logistical headache.
I’ve seen a good deal of new workplace furniture trends that are moving in the right direction to support various work personalities, but it also takes the Designer and Client buy-in to actually get these solutions implemented. We joke about things like Dilbertville and yes, we’ve convinced clients to take down high furniture panels, but some clients are hesitant and we end up seeing most people sitting in [...]

As we’ve been working on this blog, we keep seeing the same few search terms come up: workplace trends, workplace 2010, innovations in workplace, etc.  To help answer some of these questions, we thought we would reach out to some of our colleagues, clients and friends and ask them about some of their workplace experiences.  Today is the first post in that series, and features HOK Washington, DC’s own Amy Fabry. 
What is your current role?  I am a Senior Interior Designer in the Washington, DC studio.
What would you say are current “trends” when it comes to the workplace?  Cram as many people in as possible. 
Seriously, many of our corporate clients recognize that there is a large portion of their employees that do not need a dedicated desk or private office, so they are moving towards a shared open office environment where workstations are not assigned to any person in particular.  While this “trend” has been around for a while, we are seeing our clients getting more daring with their sharing ratios and providing more “private” areas in return.  These private areas are generally small, unreserved rooms for one to two people to have a private conversation, take a phone call or conduct a conference call without disrupting others seating in open office areas. 
Another trend I see is the return of the lunchroom.  This isn’t your elementary school lunchroom, it’s a destination space with finishes and details that rival some of your favorite restaurants.  The key is to create a space [...]

One of the great things about our Atlanta office location is accessibility:  10 minute walk from my house to the train, 15 minute ride, and 5 more minutes to the office.  From there, when hunger strikes (and I didn’t’ bring my lunch) it’s only a 10 minute walk to…Paris? 
A few weeks back my good friend and fellow architect, Luca, invited me to lunch.  “I know this great little French bistro – you’ll enjoy it!”  “Oui!” I accepted and we met on Peachtree Street – the main thoroughfare in downtown Atlanta.  It was a hot, humid, Wednesday afternoon and the typical crowd of business people, tourists and conventioneers were crowding the steamy sidewalks looking for shelter and a cold glass of sweet tea.  “Which way?” I asked.  With a nod and an outstretched hand gesturing north in a way that only a true Roman can do, we started our journey.
Now, I’ve lived in Atlanta for a long, long time, I studied architecture and planning at Georgia Tech and I’ve worked downtown for many years so I’m very familiar with the city and the unique Atlanta-Southern culture.  Downtown Atlanta is not known for its vibrant and diverse street scene.  It has a few lively pockets here and there, but not much continuity between them.  And you have to know where they are or you will wind up wandering aimlessly and never find anything of interest (but something may certainly find you…).  
Thus, I know what to expect when I encounter a downtown side [...]

I know, as a blogger on multiple sites and avid Facebooker/LinkedIn-er, I should be totally into the Twitter phenomenon.  I just haven’t latched on.  Yes, I signed up (almost 2 years ago), but I don’t think I’ve tweeted more than three times.  And maybe read other people’s tweets five times.
Maybe it’s because my phone is a little on the old side and I haven’t botthered to download an app.  Or maybe it’s because their web interface isn’t so great.  Or the people I’m following aren’t that interesting (j/k @HOKNetwork – I love your workplace tweets!)? 
I ran across an interesting article: Inactivity Matters: 83 Percent of Online Friends are Fakes.  This post talks about how many others are in my predicament…and that Twitter maybe isn’t such a good measure of influence, particularly when compared to sites like LinkedIn and Facebook where there is mutual agreement on the connection.  Interesting…
Do you tweet?  For pleasure? For business?  Signed up but never use it?  Tell us – we promise not to tell your boss!

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My workstation has been getting very messy lately. I’m going through the CA (Construction Administration) phase on a project and my desk has suddenly been bombarded with stacks of paperwork, rolls of drawings and product samples. I’ve started a bad habit (one of my pet peeves) of putting junk on the floor next to my workstation. I HATE crap on the floor. Drives me nuts. Why can’t there be a perfect little spot to store everything? I keep thinking “this is just temporary. No biggie. Once we get through this phase of the project my desk will be back to it’s normal, organized, peacful state”. But then I’ve been noticing others around me also have this habit of keeping stuff on the floor next to their desk. For some people it’s not temporary. It’s a horrible way of life. On the one hand I can chalk it up to the creative process (we’re designers, creating cool stuff, we can’t be TOO organized, we feed off that creative chaos, right?). But then I realize that it’s not “creative chaos”, it’s  just ”too much crap” chaos. People simply have too much junk and never enough space to keep it all organized. So I grabbed my camera and went around to see how people are handling (or mishandling) their junk. Some aren’t so bad but some people can use a lot of help.
And I’ll ask the rest of you readers…what do you do with all YOUR crap? Send in your photos!

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To be honest, I used to hate hearing about companies that offer cool perks to their employees. I always wished I worked for those other companies. But lately I’ve been hearing about more and more companies offering interesting benefits. Hopefully innovative perks become more of the norm. Regardless of a companies motives behind the perks, I think it’s a great way to attract new employees (young talent with high expectations of a “cool” workplace) as well retaining some of the more seasoned employees (those who like their job just fine but maybe things are getting stale).
Here’s an article I found highlighting some companies who are offering interesting perks:
10 Perks We Love
While some perks are just plain cool (massages, dry cleaning service) other benefits are a great way for a company to express their gratitude and commitment to a work/life balance (travel perks, flex hours, work at home options, gym memberships). The challenge for employers is to balance these perks for their diverse workforce. A kid fresh out of school might not see the benefit of daycare reimbursement but would jump at the chance to work at home or have travel incentives. The key is to celebrate the diversity of your staff and provide appropriate perks, which may change over time. With an emerging younger, more socially conscious workforce, as well as more people working later in life, there is opportunity for some very innovative and fun incentives.
And this got me daydreaming of some other potentially cool perks (some of [...]

I first read about this a few months ago and was fascinated with the idea. The Mars 500 project is a research endeavor that aims to simulate obstacles that a manned mission to Mars would experience, including stress, claustrophobia, fatigue.
Video: Locked & Sealed: 520 days, 6 men, 1 bunker
Six participants will spend a total of 520 days in a series of modules, part of an isolation facility in Moscow.
During the isolation period the candidates will be simulating all elements of the Mars mission, travelling to Mars, orbiting the planet, landing and return to Earth.
The crew will have to be self-reliant, and organise a great deal of their daily tasks. They will be responsible for monitoring and maintaining the health and psychological states of themselves and each other, monitoring and controlling and maintaining systems, including life support, control resource consumption, carry out standard and non-standard cleaning and maintenance, as well as fulfilling scientific investigations.
The other interesting catch…all communication will be on a 20 minute delay to simulate the delays that would be anticipated travelling so far away. Makes my spotty cell phone service not seem so bad, I suppose.
I’m curious to see the research findings on the psychological and physical effects of this experiment and if there are any takeaways in terms of how the “human factors” will ultimately help shape the design and experience of the physical living/working conditions.
Looking at the photos of the facility my first thought was “wow…wood paneling!”. My second thought [...]

Yesterday’s Daily Stat from Harvard Business Review,Yes, You May Interrupt Me, draws on results of a recent Retrevo Gadgetology survey described in Is Social Media a New Addiction?  The survey asked things like “Do you check/update Facebook or Twitter after you go to bed?” and “Do you check/update Twitter, Facebook first thing in the morning?”  What caught my eye (and the eye of whoever does Harvard’s Daily Stat) was the one about interruptions – “Can you be interrupted for an electronic message at any time?”  Turns out 40% of their respondents don’t mind being interrupted, even “during an intimate moment”. 
What does this say about interruptions at work?  Made me think of Doug’s earlier post Anti-Collaboration and Mike’s (Don’t) allow me to interrupt, as well as some of the creative support spaces Angie describes in Where’s Waldo working? and the need for ‘alone time’ that Leigh talks about in Innovation Craves Solitude.  What about the difference between electronic interruptions (i.e. ignorable if necessary) and in-person interruptions (often not so ignorable)?  
That seemed like plenty to think about until I saw this post, Too Many Interruptions at Work?, and realized there’s another major source of interruption - myself.  The study described in the post shadowed people for three days, noting the source and length of all interruptions and came up with some pretty interesting observations, for instance:
We don’t have work days — we have work minutes that last all day.
What we found is that the average amount of time that people spent on any single event before being interrupted or before switching was about [...]