Work Observations
Monday, November 17, 2003
Monday, November 10, 2003
Sunday, November 09, 2003
Friday, November 07, 2003
Main point:
Space has an impact on several dimensions of a company's personality and performance. (creativity, productivity, happiness, and cost ($$, time))
The optimal point for a company to fall in this space is influenced of the time in its life cycle and the culture of those in the organization. As a frustrating class of problem where there is most often no perfect solution, we will investigate space's influence on the above dimensions through observation and learning from Google's history. We will come away with analytical tools with which to evaluate and make choices about space design.
From my little informant squirrel:
Heeehee. Yes, actually, there are a few places like this . . . but they're
kinda for team-based design stuff. Not sure if this is what you're looking
for!
1. ME310 Loft: It's behind Terman 556. It's a year long sequence where
teams work with industry partners to build cool stuff. I think the code to
get in is 315 but you didn't hear that from me.
2. ME218 Loft: On the second floor of Thorton, just knock. This is where
all the smart product kids go. Surag's in the class right now . . .
3. Center for Design Research: A couple of nifty spaces here, including a
room equipped with cameras and a bunch of funky things to facilitate
cross-country remote team work including the iLoft LightBox ;) Go
http://www-cdr/
4. BioX has a few spaces like this - there's something called something
like the 'Medical Device Design Collaboratory'.
5. The product design students loft is DEFINITELY worth a visit. They
really go hog wild with their workspace. This is behind the machine shop.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Another idea for an assignment: 30 minute ethnography.
Prep: Send me 5 things to observe for when trying to understand how a space influences how people work. I send a compiled list of top 15 things. Go to one of the following spaces with a digital camera (talk to me if you don't have one): Clark Center, Design Loft (?), some place of your choosing.
Fill in the given questions.
This would be homework to prime people with observations to bring to the table. Send me photos beforehand and I can work them into presentation?
Objective: Understand various options for configuring space (shared vs non-shared). See how space influences communication.
Pro: It would be fun.
Con: Too short to be meaningful?
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I need to go back and reread journals on space, remember what ppl said.
Monday, November 03, 2003
After meeting with Tina, here's what I think the central question might be:
G is moving to the new campus and has an opportunity to design its space from scratch. How should its new space be designed, optimizing for productivity, creativity, and happiness?
Central point: Any discussioin of space design ultimately becomes one of values and constraints -- engineering!
- Idea: Show pictures of different space configs inside Google. Brainstorm on aspects of the space, range of configs. Values embodied by the space.
Assignment:
1. Reread journal entries for week # of the summer.
2. Say you were undertaking the task of redesigning the space for a company. Who would you trust with the decision? What kinds of people would you want making the decision (in terms of roles in the company)? How many people should be involved? What ways would there be to be involved in the decision?
3. Think about a workspace you have occupied for an extended period of time (say, more than a week).
How easily could you:
- hear what other people were saying
- switch from one task to another
- walk over to talk to a teammate
- (what should these questions be? send out survey?)
Why might the space have been designed as it was?
Question for assignment:
Maybe give them a design kit? Square of grid paper, component pieces (can I buy stickers from an architecture store or something? COLORFORMS!!! Software available online?). Come to class with an office design.
Internet company has, say, 100 people -- 60 engineers (15 working on internal tools and software, 35 working on customer products; 46 are programmers, 14 are UI designers and product managers), 35 sales people (travel 20% of the time, work alone or in pairs, depending on role), 5 executives. Company working on going public soon.
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First half:
- first 15 minutes: brainstorm on rearranging the furniture, rearrange it (facilitate)
- give talk on Google's scenario, what's happening, different experiments that have been done (weave in space design research)
Second half: Apply what we've learned during the talk.
- board meeting to decide on a space configuration, with an intro values survey (filled before the break) (and subpoint about designing by committee) to facilitate
- compare contrast space designs, design something for google?
Wrap up
Art of Innovation notes for presentation:
"Out there in some garage is an entrepreneur who's forging a bullet with your company's name on it. You've got one option now -- to shoot first. You've got to out-innovate the innovators." - Gary Hamel (1)
Sunday, November 02, 2003
Fast Company: Pick Partners that Fit
(for session 11: Justin Smith)
Ways to create a good partnership:
* manage expectations
* make sure goals are compatible
* room for revisions in strategies based on changing landscape and opportunities
* personal connection to sustain alliance
* focus not on exposure but on attracting the kind of customers who will become reguulars
* "if you waited until you knew everything, you'd act too late"
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Food for thought study questions:
What makes a good partner?
* common values
* goals that are aligned with yours and in no way contradictory to yours
* good personal communications between partnership representatives
* a deal that takes advantage of your core competencies and only uses up as many resources as it adds value (or hopefully uses up less)
* reciprocation
Previous experience to approach partnership development wisely?
* umm, prior experience with partnership development?
Culture?
* pretty important, but it probably depends on the terms of the deal. shared culture makes things easier, but it probably isn't necessary. what is critical is a trust that terms of partnership will be upheld and obligations consistently fulfilled (problem with amazon and drugstore -- box inserts)
Time Warner alliance?
- immediate thoughts. they are fucking huge. fucking. HUGE. this probably means:
- lots of money
- lots of headaches and complexity in making the deal
- layers of bureaucracy should the deal need changing or should responsivity be required
- very different levels of power between two companies. they could litigate and destroy without batting an eyelash. that is scary.
- silicon valley connection: Frank Caufield on board (KPCB cofounder)
- connections up the wazoo
What core businesses of theirs might be interested in partnerships?
- AOL broadband
- DC comics might have some partnerships with game companies that might be fruitful
Why might we be interested in them?
- access to insane media channels to get UA brand out there
- how does TW form culture? how does it speak to gamer culture? magazines?
- AOL has a lot of users with broadband access -- the kinds of users that might be good advertising targets for online gaming. (but my intuition says that TW is really too untargeted a partner...first, let's get the hard-core but not professional gamers spending money on the site)
- resource for figuring out business challenges like online payment internationally? (how international is AOL?)
- AIM gaming deal!! - integrating UA connectivity into AIM to encourage people to use buddy lists to have tournaments (AIM: 30 million active users each month, AOL developer program with real e-mail address at www.aim.com -- less scary than time warner)
