Not sure you have heard about the concept of “social design”, which generally refers to interactions between the modern knowledge workers can support and stimulate innovation and productivityl. It is almost universally accepted the linkage between interaction and creativity, research explains a great deal about why there is a tremendous difference between interacting face to face and all other forms of interaction. In 1987, Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach identifi ed a phenomenon he labeled “the productivity paradox.”. What he discovered was that although American companies spent trillions of dollars on information technology in the 70s and 80s, the productivity of those workers had not improved much. Productivity improvements are the fundamental reason for these IT investment, this research calls into question the IT strategy of nearly every larger organization. I think many of us has come to a point where technology is making us less productive. Think of how many emails coming in your mailbox and how often your browser distract at work. I think people were kind of feeling guilty 5-7 years back when they are browsing at work, today people just open their browsers and IM windws while trying to focus on work.
In late 90s, a team of HP employees were given the assignment of creating their own high
performance work space. Lots of freedom were given to them. All of HP’s engineers, programmers, business analysts, and project managers were mixed together in the space that had proven tremendously effective at promoting interaction and high productivity. Given the need to reduce time to market and the complexity of the products, these people needed to work together in a different way. The result was a profound change in the way the team worked. Sharing of ideas and information increased dramatically, while the time it took to bring new project team members up to speed was reduced. Put the right people together so they collaborate creatively and intensively, and they can do wonderful things.
Open office has big proven benefits in our business where innovation and collaboration are our everyday work. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is vital and this can only happen in share space. Cubicles is anti-collaboration and so is private offices. We are a big believer in open workspace and it forges a culture of openess. The reasons for people to go to work has changed. It is not about producing a document which you can do that at home, they go to work to meet, to collaborate, to brainstorm, to share, to debate and not doing work in a traditional sense. Simply put, cubicles are anti-collaboration.
Long before corporations became interested in creativity and collaboration and started learning how to promote it in the workplace--Mother Nature managed creativity through the process of biological evolution. An understanding of evolution won't help companies boosting creativity and collaboration, it does help them manage the unplanned. The question is what is the best plan to plan for the unplanned?
