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No, this is not about Occupy Wall Street or the high unemployment rate we have been enduring.  Well, maybe it is, in a way.  Actually, it is about the unemployment rate going much higher when measured by the traditional number of people holding “jobs”.

This is about a new way of thinking about work and organization and jobs.  It is interesting to explore how far the movement away from the traditional job could take us—will we recognize the world of work as we have known it in the next few years?

Maybe it is helpful to realize that people have not always held jobs as we think of them today—certainly not jobs in large organizations.  Jobs that define our hours of work, our health insurance, our dress, our relationships with bosses and peers, our compensation and standard of living, our title and prestige in the community, our vacation time, and our career path.  It is a little shocking to realize how much of our “lives” are controlled by our “jobs”.

It hasn’t always been this way.  Back before I was born, people were hunters, fishermen, farmers, shepherds and warriors.  There were carpenters, blacksmiths, bakers and merchants.  There was plenty of “work” but few “jobs”.  There was compensation but no payday.  There was time off but no vacations.  There were demands of the work, but no bosses.

Wait a minute—did I mention warriors?  There were great warriors who organized and led large armies to defeat enemies.  They had paydays, often at the expense of a defeated enemy.  There were uniforms.  There was a well defined hierarchy.  There were procedures and rules.  So maybe all this began with warriors and armies!

As tasks became larger and more complicated, we copied the armies.  We developed elaborate rules and appointed bosses to enforce them.  We decided what dress was appropriate for work—don’t you just love “business casual” as a description of dress outside of work!  We set the hours we expect people to be at work.  We did psychological studies and then handed out rewards for people performing work as demanded.  And we had the nerve to measure “job satisfaction”!  Oh, I forgot, we enacted laws to govern what was appropriate to do and not do at work, and hired lawyers to fight with each other over enforcing the laws.

So what is wrong with this picture?  Sound like progress to you?  Not me!  A return to hunting, fishing and farming sounds pretty good.  Maybe it is not the hunting, fishing and farming of our ancestors, but it is designing, modeling, coding and marketing using state of the art technology.  And it is accomplished by people working independently but tied together as never before by sophisticated information systems.

Sounds interesting!  No job, but an abundance of work.  No boss, but plenty of demands from the work.  No paycheck, but compensation for the work.  Could this be where we are heading?  Should people be looking for opportunities to work, rather than looking for and sometimes demanding jobs?  You have to admit, it is worth a little dreaming.

Posted by philgibbs

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Thanks to Peter Durand, of Alphachimp Studio, and the participation of other members, the first E|SPACES roundtable discussion was a huge success.

“What is the bane of your existence?” Peter asked members and after a lapse of silence, then laughter, he translated the phrase into business terms: “What are the most crucial aspects hindering your business?” Members discussed taxes, new business, lack of time, and trying to be all things to all people. The most pertinent killer, however, was the non-core admin tasks, the things that had to get done but no one was getting paid to do. These tasks included legal issues, proposals, handling receipts, sending emails, tracking leads, and social networking. “Only do what only you can do,” Peter said and then suggested either automating those tasks or delegating them to someone else.

In order to automate or delegate, Peter emphasized the usefulness of apps, associates, and virtual assistants. To avoid traveling so much for their business, he and his wife poured their efforts into local networking and hired about 15 associates around the country to help them with projects. They use sites such as Basecamp to help with project management, Twitter to promote their business online, and Mail Chimp to update clients on their latest news. Alphachimp Studio recommends EverNote and Flickr for your photo and organizational needs. For all you art and photography gurus out there, PhotoShop and Sketch Book Pro are excellent sources to upload, share, and sync your work.

Members shared and brainstormed about which apps helped their businesses run the best. Check them out below and see how they compare to your own favorites:

DropBox, Teamly, and Basecamp won the prize for best sites dealing with project management and online collaboration.

Facebook, Linked In, Emma, and Youtube were the most popular sites for online promotion and keeping in touch with clients.

Yammer is a great source for chatting and communicating internally among employees.

Verisign allows access to favorite websites by using just one set of sign-in information.

MobileMe syncs emails, contacts, and calendar updates to phones, laptops, and other devices.

GoToMeeting helps the flow of online meetings by screen sharing and video conferencing.

So, there you have it. The roundtable offered members an opportunity to hear Peter’s unique, personal perspective on which tools best help run his business, all while getting to offer their own insider information into the world of apps and virtual assistants. We all walked away with more wisdom, knowledge, and food (thanks to Panera bagels and muffins). E|SPACES plans to hold another roundtable discussion soon, so stay tuned!



Posted by philgibbs

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No, not the TV show—YOUR office!  That box with the name beside the door where you spend a few hours a week working or trying to work.  Be warned that giving up the office is as difficult for most people as giving up caffeine or stopping smoking—and there are no patches.  Don’t even think about doing it cold turkey.

So how do we know this?  Just look at how many people still have offices. It could be considered an epidemic.  And you thought obesity was bad.

It is a New Year and time for resolutions.  If you are trying to decide if giving up the office is right for you, here are the 10 reasons to consider:

1.     Most offices sit empty much of the time.

Don’t believe me—try an experiment.  For the next few days, every couple hours walk the hallways of your building or any office building in the area and note the offices that are not occupied.  There are exceptions of course, but I believe you will be surprised.  The occupants are in meetings, traveling, on vacation, out sick, visiting clients, or at a coffee shop trying to get some work done.  With offices sitting empty so much, you might think having a traditional office is like having a dedicated hotel room in every city you visit.

2.     The office is not a good place to work.

How many times have you said, “I have to get away from here to get anything done?”  There are constant interruptions.  The trivial often consumes every available minute while the important keeps getting pushed to the bottom of the pile.  A recent TED presentation by Jason Fried, shown on CNN.com, titled, “Why the office is the worst place to work” makes the point clearly.   http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/05/fried.office.work/

3.     Most offices are boring and uninspiring.

Do you say when you walk into your office, “Wow, every time I come in here I feel really energized and creative?”  Sure, there are exceptions, but most offices are just boxes with a few touches added to make them functional.  My apologies if your spouse designed your office, but you know what I mean.

4.     Traditional offices are not green or sustainable.

They sit empty much of the time but are heated and cooled 24/7.  Enough said.

5.     They are an unnecessary expense.

As was alluded to above, most of us do not have a hotel room sitting empty in every city we visit—that obviously would be an unnecessary expense.  Instead, we reserve a room that others use when we are not there.  And it is a fraction of the cost of having a full-time room with our pictures on the wall and our name on the door.

6.     Technology has made the office obsolete.

So why do we have offices in the first place?  We didn’t start with the office—we started with work and the office evolved to support work.  But how we work has changed dramatically.  We used to need a place to store our papers and files—now we store these electronically in the “cloud”.  We used to need a place for our typewriter, then word processor, then desktop computer—now we use mobile devices that we generally keep with us.  Ah, but we still need a place to meet with people.  Could that need perhaps be met by a meeting room or conference room?  Maybe it is all about the pictures and name on the door.

7.     Pictures can be posted on your mobile devise display.

That works—you can have them with you wherever you go, and you can have walls of pictures.

8.     Offices are fixed and do not move.

That is a problem because most of us are on the move.  If you had a “place” in the different locations you work that would serve all the functions you depend on the office to serve, it would be great.

9.     There are other means of communicating importance and status in an organization.

OK, I got it.

10.  And, yes, you can have an office party without an office.

But what do you call it?  Maybe an “Officeless Party”.  Definitely time to stop this list!

If you are seriously considering giving up the office and have a sick feeling in your stomach, know that you are not alone.  There is help for you.  E|SPACES offers support for the formerly officed every day.  You can do it. Come and join the liberated, officeless workforce.

Posted by philgibbs

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Not many of us have a life goal of failing. Nor do we wake up in the morning and think, “I need a power breakfast because I’m going to fail today.” Neither do companies develop strategic plans that have a section labeled failure, although they probably have a section that addresses risks. Every business plan that asks people to invest definitely should outline the risks. We rarely talk or write about failure, much less predict it.

Now you are thinking, that’s kind of obvious. Yes, but the fact is that failure is all around us in our personal, professional and business lives. We need to talk about it, perhaps plan for it, certainly learn from it and maybe even manage it.

As a start, here are three things to consider about failure, with a focus on failure in the business context.

1. Success requires failure

We all have heard that we learn more from failure than success. The problem is that failure is not fun. In fact it is often very painful. But it is the pain that causes us to exert energy to learn and try to avoid future pain. This goes to the heart of learning and success. The executive who has never been fired may not be prepared for some tough situations. The company that has never been through lean times is probably not very efficient.

Failure is a prerequisite to success. Business has cycles. Lives have seasons. As utopian as they may sound, any organizational, social or political system that tries to eliminate failure also eliminates the opportunity for success. Never fall for the false promise of no more failure, but plan for and learn from failure.

2. Success increases the likelihood of failure

One statement I remember from a very prominent professor back in my graduate school days was that the most successful companies are the companies that are the most likely to fail. That seems counter intuitive, but you only have to think of the top tier companies that are either no longer around or are greatly diminished. When was the last time you ordered something from Montgomery Ward, or went into a Woolworth’s, or made a reservation on Trans World Airlines, or waited for a backordered Compaq computer?

So why are the most successful companies most likely to fail? It is actually pretty simple—they feel like they have the business figured out and then the environment around them changes. It always does. Extreme success decreases the likelihood that the changes will be perceived and adaptations made. After all, they are the best in the world, they may have invented the industry and they certainly know what the customers want.

3. Success at the expense of failure

Often success in one area comes at the expense of failure in other parts of our lives. This is especially true with extreme success. In fact we often say that success requires sacrifice. We can think of successful business people whose social lives are a mess, or financially successful people whose family life is in shambles. And there are people whose personal lives are wonderful but their business and financial lives could be considered a failure. So is this really success?

Balance in life is often advocated. In organizations we talk about optimizing the system. But ultimately this is a value question. What value do we put on our business, financial, family, social and spiritual lives? This is a value decision we all make, but should make intentionally.

4. Success is often just dumb luck

OK, I know I said three, but again I failed. And yes I know the saying, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” But let’s admit it, sometimes success is just dumb luck. When we look around at really successful people, don’t we often ask, “How did she do it?” “He’s not that smart.” “He’s never has an original idea in his life.” Let me just say it, “Right place right time.” Now I have it off my chest.

While success sometimes is dumb luck, sustained success involves much more and almost always includes failure. If we know we are going to experience failure, we should think about managing it. Maybe we can coin a term, “managed failure”. It has a certain ring to it! I know you are thinking it reminds you of “managed healthcare”, but we won’t go there. More to come on managed failure later.

Posted by philgibbs

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