Imagine that you have an office job (as most of you do). Full of meetings, memos, reports, proposals, phone and email ping pong, informal gossip in the hall or over lunch, etc. Now imagine that you work in a
I would be interested in reading a case study about Virtual Offices. I am still on the fence, no doubt they save money and if used correctly can increase productivity, but I question how my own personal progression would suffice as I learn a fair deal from my colleagues. Still I can see a lot of potential with ever progressing technologies.
Would you like the ability to look out at any time and see dozens of people as they work, if the cost were that dozens of people could you look at you at any time?
That depends - are we talking about dozens of others looking at the virtual me (who is always calm, cool, and collected - not to mention dashingly handsome), or the physical me (who is probably picking his nose or scratching somewhere).
In Poland we are not trying to beat personal interaction. We are still happy consuming your US electronics manufactured in China. We happen to think of ourselves and value to us as similar people to Americans (which may be discussed). Consider that some people's jobs are to maintain and develop global civilization institutions and not assemble something in an office. This is sort of virtual for the rest. Sorry for drifting.
Ha you lacked a culturally expected supervisor, boss through years of training. If you can't switch your own brain onto many levels - organizing system and wider civilization, evaluation, appraisal and actual work, an "em"-boss may be helpful. In the time horizons that Robin usually discusses I don't think it is a general rule of conflicting home and work values - 1) you can redefine your inputs, goals and role in the USA or on this planet so that you are still somewhat happy 2) resource availability and mode of production will be changing 3) by training you can adapt to measure your productivity at home, communicate something to your family to pretend having normal values, communicate something to your clients to pretend being normally engaged with their work.
Ems would likely be programmed as if they were on something that made amphetamine look like coffee. The details of the comfortableness of their office would be unimportant.
Transcripts would always be available of all verbal interactions.
I've only had a brief use of Second Life, but the way it highlightedwho was speaking was the single most useful feature I noticed.Transcripts with speaker identification would make audioconferences significantly less confusing and more useful.
Everyone is too intellectual, as usual.So they probably don't have a real office.I want an office where,if you fart, no one will come in until the air system has removed all traces. A virtual office will do.
Here is somebody that has been thinking about exactly these issues. His name is Bob Christopher, and he has developed a robot that attends meetings for you:
It seems we could do this today except for the fact that your yourself usually aren't sure what state you are in. But if there are simple ways to look at your facial expression, eye focus etc. to guess this well then we could have this within a few years.
Second Life was the first thing that came to my mind.
We'd get around primarily by flying. It is more fun, faster, and easier to code.
We'd have non-physically realizable building layouts. My office would be "next to" whoever else's offices we decided, without regard to the limitations of 3d.
Certainly a broad range of low-probability-of-group-interaction items would be completely personalized. My conference room would be the one next to 10-forward while some of the people I would be meeting with might be backstage at a Stones concert, in a strawberry field, or under the waves. If a non-consonant environmental feature got brought in to mutual interactions, there would be clever splines that would morph us to recognize this.
Everybody would be good looking in my world. At least at first.
Transcripts would always be available of all verbal interactions.
The most important feature for me would be that others can see if and when I'm actually working, as opposed to procrastinating.
I've worked from home for two years, with completely free choice to when and how much I work; it was the most unproductive and horrible experience ever.
It's hard to beat personal interaction and proximity of team members. You might want a virtual office to be a kind of bull-pen where small teams seem like they are all in the same room and all the team members can see and hear each other. When I managed a team building a data warehouse, moving my desk into the same area as the team was a tremendous benefit for all of us. That drove more collaboration and helped work through issues quicker than anything else. Prior to that I was just across the hall - only five steps further away, but it made a world of difference.
Even in a bullpen, sounds from nearby teammates can be muffled to minimize distractions. When your name is used, that voice (or all voices) can be brought to full volume.
It's hard to imagine doing any MBWA (management by walking around) in a virtual office. There isn't any reason all the offices and bullpens can't be connected by virtual hallways, but it's just hard to imagine a reason for setting this up. Who would use hallways when you can just "pop" into a meeting? Eavesdroppers, that's who. Anyone walking the hallway would be looked upon with suspicion.
You could create virtual doors between rooms. Instead of "popping" between rooms, a doorway near you will open into a doorway in your destination room. (New doorways may need to appear if the existing doorways are being used). This preserves the virtual reality illusion, since you "walk" to your destination. It also gives you a door to knock on - just because you are standing at a doorway doesn't mean you can open it. An office may have a single door, and the new doors open into an anteroom outside the office.
Bullpens for different teams can be merged or simply placed next to each other for short-term collaboration projects. You can just call out to someone instead of phoning or e-mailing them.
Background and scenery can be different for each person, but all company approved. The environment should be relatively free from distraction, so it can't just be whatever the individual wants.
Virtual Office Design
I would be interested in reading a case study about Virtual Offices. I am still on the fence, no doubt they save money and if used correctly can increase productivity, but I question how my own personal progression would suffice as I learn a fair deal from my colleagues. Still I can see a lot of potential with ever progressing technologies.
Would you like the ability to look out at any time and see dozens of people as they work, if the cost were that dozens of people could you look at you at any time?
That depends - are we talking about dozens of others looking at the virtual me (who is always calm, cool, and collected - not to mention dashingly handsome), or the physical me (who is probably picking his nose or scratching somewhere).
In Poland we are not trying to beat personal interaction. We are still happy consuming your US electronics manufactured in China. We happen to think of ourselves and value to us as similar people to Americans (which may be discussed). Consider that some people's jobs are to maintain and develop global civilization institutions and not assemble something in an office. This is sort of virtual for the rest. Sorry for drifting.
Ha you lacked a culturally expected supervisor, boss through years of training. If you can't switch your own brain onto many levels - organizing system and wider civilization, evaluation, appraisal and actual work, an "em"-boss may be helpful. In the time horizons that Robin usually discusses I don't think it is a general rule of conflicting home and work values - 1) you can redefine your inputs, goals and role in the USA or on this planet so that you are still somewhat happy 2) resource availability and mode of production will be changing 3) by training you can adapt to measure your productivity at home, communicate something to your family to pretend having normal values, communicate something to your clients to pretend being normally engaged with their work.
Ems would likely be programmed as if they were on something that made amphetamine look like coffee. The details of the comfortableness of their office would be unimportant.
Transcripts would always be available of all verbal interactions.
I've only had a brief use of Second Life, but the way it highlightedwho was speaking was the single most useful feature I noticed.Transcripts with speaker identification would make audioconferences significantly less confusing and more useful.
counterexample: drug testing
Everyone is too intellectual, as usual.So they probably don't have a real office.I want an office where,if you fart, no one will come in until the air system has removed all traces. A virtual office will do.
I want to race down the hallway on a fast motorcycle.
Here is somebody that has been thinking about exactly these issues. His name is Bob Christopher, and he has developed a robot that attends meetings for you:
http://www.geekologie.com/2...
"Teach the agents to see value in saving the ozone layer instead of managing mass production efficiently. They’ll be contented about doing nothing."
And thus is the danger of any false morality. It competes with a true(er) morality.
It seems we could do this today except for the fact that your yourself usually aren't sure what state you are in. But if there are simple ways to look at your facial expression, eye focus etc. to guess this well then we could have this within a few years.
Second Life was the first thing that came to my mind.
We'd get around primarily by flying. It is more fun, faster, and easier to code.
We'd have non-physically realizable building layouts. My office would be "next to" whoever else's offices we decided, without regard to the limitations of 3d.
Certainly a broad range of low-probability-of-group-interaction items would be completely personalized. My conference room would be the one next to 10-forward while some of the people I would be meeting with might be backstage at a Stones concert, in a strawberry field, or under the waves. If a non-consonant environmental feature got brought in to mutual interactions, there would be clever splines that would morph us to recognize this.
Everybody would be good looking in my world. At least at first.
Transcripts would always be available of all verbal interactions.
The most important feature for me would be that others can see if and when I'm actually working, as opposed to procrastinating.
I've worked from home for two years, with completely free choice to when and how much I work; it was the most unproductive and horrible experience ever.
Thanks for the info, I believe this is probably how its gonna be like in a few years
It's hard to beat personal interaction and proximity of team members. You might want a virtual office to be a kind of bull-pen where small teams seem like they are all in the same room and all the team members can see and hear each other. When I managed a team building a data warehouse, moving my desk into the same area as the team was a tremendous benefit for all of us. That drove more collaboration and helped work through issues quicker than anything else. Prior to that I was just across the hall - only five steps further away, but it made a world of difference.
Even in a bullpen, sounds from nearby teammates can be muffled to minimize distractions. When your name is used, that voice (or all voices) can be brought to full volume.
It's hard to imagine doing any MBWA (management by walking around) in a virtual office. There isn't any reason all the offices and bullpens can't be connected by virtual hallways, but it's just hard to imagine a reason for setting this up. Who would use hallways when you can just "pop" into a meeting? Eavesdroppers, that's who. Anyone walking the hallway would be looked upon with suspicion.
You could create virtual doors between rooms. Instead of "popping" between rooms, a doorway near you will open into a doorway in your destination room. (New doorways may need to appear if the existing doorways are being used). This preserves the virtual reality illusion, since you "walk" to your destination. It also gives you a door to knock on - just because you are standing at a doorway doesn't mean you can open it. An office may have a single door, and the new doors open into an anteroom outside the office.
Bullpens for different teams can be merged or simply placed next to each other for short-term collaboration projects. You can just call out to someone instead of phoning or e-mailing them.
Background and scenery can be different for each person, but all company approved. The environment should be relatively free from distraction, so it can't just be whatever the individual wants.