My apologies if this sounded like I was challenging Jared Diamond to a wordoff 😉 Michele just pointed me to wonderfully candid article
explaining why office workers should appreciate their surroundings and pity the poor fools that consider the coffee shop their workplace. While I number amongst those blighted souls and blogged last year on why I like the mobile life, Sathnam Sanghera’s ode to office bliss, raises some notable and worthy points.
I was particularly struck by Sanghera’s anecdotal reference to people working at home starting to form groups so they can work at home together. Man is indeed a social animal. I like working in a public space, even if I am not interacting directly with other people. I like having them around. By that I don’t mean to objectify others by any means, as having people in your immediate proximity can often run counter to productivity. But, everyone has their own levels of tolerance, and I sense that Sanghera is accepting this broad stratum of individual workspace demands. He highlights a study by Benjamin Markham ((Sorry, but I can’t find the source for his reference)) that underlines the fact that workplaces end up being counterproductive by being too quiet. The silence itself becomes a distraction.
This Regus Business Lounge of which he speaks conjures up images of a modernized London men’s club catering to the mobile worker. Probably similarly intentioned as co-operative workspaces, such as the ones I spoke of in the other post, but with more of a traveler’s business lounge feeling. This would certainly speak to why he found it far too quiet to embrace productivity. I am still struggling to identify this milieu factor. The transiency of the Regus Lounge suggests that there is little or no chance of happenstantial interchange…nor is it desired. As a place becomes habitually more familiar, the chance of actually developing a nodding acquaintance certainly can threaten the anonymity of the mobile workplace. It’s a fine line.
Sanghera’s article is a fun one. Well written and I find myself reminded of the fact that I am trying to create my own specialized office workspace on the road. It’s not that it’s better than the office, but I suspect that like Sanghera, I too have social needs and discipline is part of the mix that gets me out of bed in the morning…if I could just stay there and accomplish my workaday routines, the scary reality is that I just might.
BTW, true to form, I am sitting in the Starbuck’s cafe in the centre of the larger Indigo bookstore as a I write this and have just finished writing 1000 words towards my dissertation on a Saturday ((By the way, the photo up top comes from a USA today article that explores the third space and the rarpidly growing mobile workforce.))