Sound and vision: why the distracted workplace is about far more than noise

Sound and vision: why the distracted workplace is about far more than noise

by • Briefing, Premium Content, Workplace design

The idea of a cocktail party might be a bit dated, but it is the perfect metaphor for describing one aspect of the most common complaints about modern office design. An idea called the cocktail party effect has been known to neuroscientists for decades. It describes how we are able to filter out a large amount of noise and focus almost completely on just one source of sound. So, while we clutch our Manhattan, we can listen intently to just one person and ignore the babble of voices that might otherwise drown them out. We can tune in to the source we think is important and tune out everything else.

More →

The new issue of Work&Place, the most influential workplace journal in the world, is now available for free download

The new issue of Work&Place, the most influential workplace journal in the world, is now available for free download

by • Premium Content

We have published the latest Work&Place issue for Spring 2019. As always, it offers a diverse compilation of timely and provocative perspectives focused on the intersections between and among work, the workplace, technology, culture, and business strategy. You might start with Rob Harris’s call for shooting the messengers in his (highly responsible) rant on the dearth of meaningful research about the business value of open offices and the all-too-frequent unfounded claims about how wonderful open plan is.

More →

The state of the workplace right now? Everywhere and nowhere, baby

The state of the workplace right now? Everywhere and nowhere, baby 0

by • Comment, Facilities management, Features, Premium Content, Property, Workplace design

Work&PlaceMy trade is to ask questions about the workplace then make sense of the answers. That has been a particular challenge with the question, ‘what are offices today?’ What seems clear is that the various actors in the workplace ecosystem look at offices through very different eyes. Urban planning and development professionals still view offices as a distinct category of real estate and most real estate professionals view offices in terms of the delivery of floor space. Some things have changed,however. For some time, the hybrid economy of serviced offices has turned the product into a service. But, in many cases this has simply made the leasing of space simpler and more flexible.

More →

Work&Place new issue showcases most informed and challenging workplace thinking

Work&Place new issue showcases most informed and challenging workplace thinking

by • Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, News, Premium Content, Property, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace, Workplace design

The new issue of Work&Place has been published and is free to read on the journal’s new website. Its overall readership is now around 100,000, including in the new Spanish language edition, so it’s not just more accessible, it is even more influential. The journal continues to explore the most cutting-edge ideas surrounding the physical, digital and cultural domains in which we work. The convergence of these elements of the workplace define the greatest challenges we face in the workplace of the early 21st Century. Some of these are addressed in the features included in this edition.

More →

White Paper: the magic of disruption and what it means for the workplace

White Paper: the magic of disruption and what it means for the workplace

by • Briefing, Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

In a 1973 essay called Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination, the science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke sets out Three Laws regarding our relationship with technology. Only the third of these is well remembered these days:. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. He was one of the first writers to coin the sort  of law that have now become commonplace on the subject of the way our world, including the workplace, can be disrupted by technological developments. They include a corollary to Clarke’s:  Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced (Gehm’s Law)

More →

White paper: How the workplace is pioneering the use of data in organisations

White paper: How the workplace is pioneering the use of data in organisations

by • Briefing, Features, Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

In 2017, a content creator called Oobah Butler decided that he wanted to do something with the experience he’d gained writing fake positive restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor. What if, he wondered, he set up an entirely fictitious restaurant based in the shed in his garden and then started to manipulate TripAdvisor ratings?  What happened surpassed his wildest expectations. In just six months, The Shed at Dulwich became the top-rated restaurant in London, even though nobody had ever actually eaten there, based solely on fake reviews, fake pictures and the word of mouth created by a complete inability for anybody to book a table.

More →

Podcast: The British new wave and the evolution of the workplace

Podcast: The British new wave and the evolution of the workplace

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, Podcasts, Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

In this podcast I talk to Mark Eltringham about British music, which leads to a discussion about bands from the early days of new wave in Liverpool, including Echo & The Bunnymen. The evolution of music serves as a metaphor which leads to a conversation about the history of the workplace where Mark shares his perspective on some of the founding thought leaders in our modern sector. I ask him about today’s places of work and Mark references a recent report from Chris Hood of AWA, Kate Lister of Global Workplace Analytics and Haworth while also sharing some research provided by Leesman Index. We talk about the blurring of the lines and need for collaboration across departments inside organizations, the relationship between facilities management and workplace as a whole, while also discussing the controversy in the UK about the future of the FM sector.

More →

Podcast: a manifesto for change in workplace and facilities management and the question of what is in a name

Podcast: a manifesto for change in workplace and facilities management and the question of what is in a name

by • Facilities management, News, Podcasts, Premium Content

The latest Workplace Matters podcast features two brand new episodes. Usual host Ian Ellison of 3edges hands over the reins to Simon Iatrou to explore the intentions of the British Institute of Facilities Management to change its name to embrace workplace, and seek chartered status. Simon is joined by members of the BIFM leadership team: Chairman Steve Roots, CEO Linda Hausmanis, and Director of Insight Chris Moriarty. Ian also joins the discussion in his professional capacity as 3edges Director and workplace specialist, to talk about the research work 3edges have been doing over the past year about the future of FM and its relationship to workplace. BIFM’s manifesto for change announcement triggered a lot of industry interest, and inevitable discussion. It seemed clear from the comments that there were topics and issues worth digging deeper into, to give Workplace Matters listeners and BIFM members an opportunity for more context, so 3edges invited the BIFM leadership team to take open questions directly, and come round the table to discuss them.

More →

Workplace Matters Podcast: Neil Usher on the elemental workplace and a possible new era for BIFM

Workplace Matters Podcast: Neil Usher on the elemental workplace and a possible new era for BIFM

by • Facilities management, Features, Premium Content, Workplace design

Workplace author, blogger and consultant Neil Usher joins 3edges director Ian Ellison again on the day of his ‘The Elemental Workplace’ book launch; also the day the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) announce their proposal to become the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM). Both of these very different, but exciting developments for the workplace discipline are discussed at length, and Neil offers insightful critique as always. The conversation ends up at one of the new frontiers for the way we work and the places we do it – and global society in general – the ethical challenges we face from emerging digital technologies. Further links from the discussion can be found in the show-notes on the podcast page of www.3edges.co.uk, where you can also find a free download of the Workplace Leadership Manifesto which 3edges co-wrote and published with Neil this January.

More →

The world converges on the new issue of Work & Place

The world converges on the new issue of Work & Place

by • News, Premium Content, Work&Place

We have published the new issue of Work & Place Journal and it’s our biggest and best yet. Sponsored by Steelcase, Liquidspace and The United Workplace, the new issue will shortly be published in its Spanish language version. Its overall readership is now nearly 100,000 so it’s not just bigger and better, it is even more influential. I would sum up its core theme as convergence. The essential idea behind this is the lack of any sort of meaningful distinction in a traditional sense between the physical, digital and cultural workplaces. These were once pretty clearly demarcated spheres of personal and organisational influence. Their overlap and integration define the greatest puzzles we face in the workplace in the early 21st Century. Some of these are addressed in the features included in this edition of Work & Place. They include Despina Katsikakis looking at what the idea of flexibility means, Neil Usher gets back to basics with his take on the elemental workplace, Beatriz Arantes tears down the barriers to creativity, Christine Kohlert and Scott Cooper offer their take on creative work, Rob Leslie-Carter offers a considered perspective on the current status of artificial intelligence and automation and Aki Stamatis considers the right to disconnect that is now becoming a global problem with local solutions More →

Podcast: From office to imaginariums, with Antony Slumbers

Podcast: From office to imaginariums, with Antony Slumbers

by • Podcasts, Premium Content, Property, Technology

In episode 14 of Workplace Matters, I am joined by Antony Slumbers, history of art graduate-cum-proptech entrepreneur, futurist and digital advocate. In a wide-ranging discussion which includes the inevitable advance of computer processing capability and artificial intelligence, Antony explains why the only option for future business success is to embrace our digital future. Making links to how this will impact upon our workplaces, Antony and I explore many of the points he made in this Work&Place article from earlier this year leading to a bold assertion: the office is dead, so it’s time to think differently.

More →

White Paper: intuitive design and the changing face of workplace interactions

White Paper: intuitive design and the changing face of workplace interactions

by • Briefing, Features, Premium Content, Workplace design

In his famous 1988 book The Design of Everyday Things, the cognitive scientist Donald Norman suggests that the way we interact with objects and our surroundings is determined almost entirely by their design. People cannot be the primary reason things succeed or fail, because they are constant, while the design of the object itself is the variable. People can expect to learn how to use things better, but without an underlying people-centric and intuitive approach to design, the design will fail to some degree or other. He concludes that the designer should focus their attention on the interaction between people and the design of objects and surroundings. This principle becomes more relevant with each passing day, as the number of interactions we have with designed objects increases. This is most obvious with regard to our interactions with technology, but it is also apparent across our entire lives.

More →

«< 5 6 7 8 9 >