Tailorable blog

Is e-mail and document sharing not good enough?

In the current economic state of the world it is not easy to get organizations to experiment with innovative tools to support knowledge work. Very rightfully, they may ask: “So, why are our current tools - e-mail and file sharing on a network drive - not good enough?”. The challenge lies in explaining how innovative technologies can make them work better, quicker, more efficient and with more fun. In a nice interview by Stowe Boyd with Jeff Walker and Jay Simons of Atlassian they talk about the State Of Enterprise 2.0. I especially like their conclusion that we should aim for small, kaizen-style improvements and learning from the community, and not try jumping into a mass transformation.

Cross-posted on futureworkspaces.nl.

Communication is good, CommUnification is better

A bit of promotion for interesting research, also posted at the FutureWorkspaces.nl teamblog:

CommUnification is a design concept conceived to address the In Sync and In Touch challenges faced by nomadic and highly mobile workers.

The project is an initiative by User-System Interaction students at the Eindhoven University of Technology. It is based on interview findings that nomadic and highly mobile workers are challenged by such problems as communication fragmentation (across multiple channels) and disregard for time zone differences.

These problems signal a disconnect between colleagues and peers, especially when in different geographic locations. After qualitative research, the team has generated a design concept, which can be seen in their video prototype. Furthermore, they seek to evaluate their concept through interviews and a currently ongoing survey.

If you would like to provide feedback via this survey, please feel free to do so!

Another list of Dutch co-working spaces

Despite what you might expect from the title, the website http://www.twitter.nl/ offers a database of co-working places in The Netherlands. Yes, the local Bagels & Beans is also in there! I did not add yet that they also provide a good place to have lunch with a 2-year-old, because that might disqualify it as a co-working space for others

Does anyone know a good co-working space in Apeldoorn, preferrably at walking distance from the station? I was recently looking for one, but did not find anything…

Test from OneNote

Just a test post to see whether I can submit blog posts directly from OneNote 2007. I am currently trying out whether OneNote on my laptop and mobile device works for me as a Personal Information Management instrument. Since I do not like to have my laptop open while being in a meeting (at least in meetings with just a few people), I’m not sure whether this will replace my little (analog) notebooks.

How do you feel about taking notes from a laptop? And does OneNote do the trick for you?

First impressions of working in a professional playground

This week we officially opened our Future Workspaces team room. The philosophy of the room is that it is a flexible environment with zones that support & stimulate specific activities. We analyzed what we do as team and designed zones in the room that match these activities. The results is what we call “the professional playground”: a large room with plenty of space for brainstorming, desks for individual work, a pressure-cooker meeting space and a couple of comfortable chairs for an informal talk.

Obviously, this is not “business as usual” for our organization; it took a while before we managed to get a room for the experiment and approval to do things our own way. Fortunately, the IT department and two of our secretaries were so enthousiastic about the initiative they put a lot of effort in helping us create this working space. Doing things your own way also meant that we had to select and buy everything ourselves, from our desks to the plants. However, sharing pizza while constructing IKEA desks is a great team-building excersise. 

In the spirit of Web 2.0, we consider the room a “perpetual beta”. Most notably, the high benches for the meeting space are still under construction and our smartboard is not so smart yet, as it still lacks the foil to create an interactive whiteboard. And perpetual beta also means that as the team members and our activities change, the room may have to change as well. We just see what works and what not.

These first days, I notice that we use the big whiteboard (2.40 x 4.80 m) with the cubes to sit on for almost all team activities. For individual concentrated work, I like working with my laptop in the comfy chairs. Sharing a room with four people obviously requires a bit of coordination, especially when one has a deadline to meet. Fortunately, most of our deadlines are aligned, so I do not expect much issues there. In terms of technology, we are experimenting with a wireless beamer, smart phones, chumbies and a few nabaztags, but somehow we have not focussed much on those yet.    

Check my Flickr set for some of the images of the room and the opening session.

What are the ingredients of your ideal office workspace?

(Cross-posted on the Future Workspaces team blog)

Challenges for the nomadic worker: In Sync, In Touch, In Flow

Last Friday on Elmine’s unconference we had some inspiring discussions on how our way of working and the tools we apply has affected our lives. This triggered me to finally start writing a series of blog posts on what we in Future Workspaces consider to be the main challenges for nomadic workers: being in sync, in touch and in flow.

HaCkEd :-<

Not cool! Somebody managed to hack my blog and put loads of spam links in my header and footer files. While I was cleaning those, I got an e-mail that an online payment bounced. Turns out that my creditcard got hacked as well, and some fool ordered plane tickets with it. Fortunately, MasterCard already expected something and blocked the card. Obviously, the plane tickets provide a very nice lead to whoever tried to use it…

Anyway, time to implement 10 Ways to Secure my Wordpress Install.

Concepts for the future of work: the mental strain injury (MSI) meter

We’re starting an online collection of concepts for the future of work: ideas about how knowledge workers may be supported to work freely, effectively and healthy. For an overview of the ones we have currently collected, and to contribute concepts yourself, please visit: concepts.futureworkspaces.nl.

One of the concepts I like a lot is the Mental Strain Injury (MSI) meter.
Digital nomads tend to have long working days. They are expected to be available during evenings and weekends, but also feel obliged to work during traditional working hours. So in the new world of work, work-life balance is not just fading – it’s shifting. And with less time to unwind, mental stress accumulates.

The MSI meter makes you aware how much mental strain has built up. It monitors your physiological stress levels (muscle tension in your shoulders and neck, eye blinking rate, heart rate, blood pressure) and warns you if these are out of healthy range. The meter makes you aware of this and provides suggestions for stress reduction. It suggests microbreaks or a change of activity, or even hints you to reschedule appointments.

Sharing great places to work “on the go”

While travelling, I’m always hunting for places with plugs, good coffee and preferrably wifi as well. How great would it be to have them as point of interest in my navigation system? If any of you know of such a database, please, please, pretty please, let me know.

Anyway, today I found a great spot: “de koffiesalon“, at the Utrechtsestraat in Amsterdam. Really great coffee made by skilled baristas, upstairs a long table with plenty of plugs and free wifi. The only problem is that now I’m so happy about finding the place that I first want to share this with you, before getting to work… 

Promoting the Triple-I Special Track on Knowledge Sharing using Social Media

As part of the Triple-I conference in Graz, Austria (3-5 September 2008), there will be a Special Track on Knowledge Sharing using Social Media. The special track focusses on real-world experiences with Social Media and tries to find answers to research questions such as:

• How is Social Media applied at the interface between enterprise and customers or partners?
• Which factors facilitate and impede the successful implementation of Social Media?
• Which Social Media applications are most promising for what purpose?
• What are the approaches in introducing Social Media?
• How is Social Media integrated with semantic technologies and to what purpose?

I hope you will consider sharing your experiences at this special track, as I am one of the program committee members

More information can be found on: http://www.i-know.at/kss.