Columnists
August 15, 2019
Reasons to be agile, part three
by Sarah Booth • Comment, Workplace design
The Agile Manifesto, published in 2001, signalled a shift in approach to workplace design as well as technology. Though the document was conceived as a guide to speeding up software development, its contents have gone on to inform how organisations think and operate in ways that extend far beyond IT. āBuild projects around motivated individuals. […]
August 14, 2019
The endless hunt for the office of the future 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design
Lewis Carrollās second best known work The Hunting of the Snark is a long nonsense poem that describes the pursuit by a group of adventurers of an elusive creature called a Snark. This turns out to be a much more dangerous Boojum when it is finally seen, causing one of the crew members to vanish. […]
August 9, 2019
Friday, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with staring out of the window
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Knowledge, Lighting, Wellbeing, Workplace design
There is or was a running joke within IBM that their buildings donāt have windows, they have outside awareness ports. Itās an idea that not only reflects the culture of long hours spent staring at computer screens – something you donāt have to work for Big Blue to be aware of – but also one […]
August 7, 2019
Some uncomfortable truths about sitting down at work 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design
The problem with the modish idea of fake news is that weāre not very good at spotting it. As with our driving, each of us possesses an unwarranted faith in our own abilities coupled with dismay at those of other people, unaware of just how much our own biases and fixed opinions distort the way […]
August 6, 2019
Gig economy worker rights demand a global approach
by Hina Belitz • Comment, Legal news, Working culture
British people increasingly work in temporary positions and on short term engagements: part of a fundamental global shift in the way we work. The domestic gig economy has seen the number of workers more than double in number since 2016, according to a recent report from the TUC and the University of Hertfordshire (conducted with […]
August 2, 2019
If you want to do your brain some good, take it outside
by Dr Michael Merzenich • Comment, Wellbeing
Itās summertime ā even here in San Francisco. I look around and I see my neighbors putting down their devices and heading into the great outdoors. And, that should not be just a seasonal joy; itās actually very good for your brain any time of the year. We werenāt meant to spend as much time […]
July 29, 2019
The tipping point for flexible working arrives
by James Geekie • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design
Although people have been talking about flexible working in one way or another for decades ā the economist John Maynard Keynes declared in 1930 that technological advances would lead to a 15-hour working week ā we may now be at the tipping point where work takes on an entirely different character.
July 26, 2019
Self-employment might be good for mental health
by Mark Stabile • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing
The general picture of self-employment, the gig economy work and mental wellbeing is not a pretty one. Around the world, Uber drivers face wage and security worries. Deliveroo workers have too much competition. Airbnb owners face legal problems in Paris and other cities. But while these headlines suggest a dark cloud over the heads of […]
July 24, 2019
Agile working? This is Frank’s World and the rest of us just live in it
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design
James Joyce had a word for moments of insight when we see right through convention and suddenly appreciate how things really are. He called such moments epiphanies. Such a flash of insight happened to me three or four years ago in Texas. I had been explaining to the partners of a very large international client […]
July 23, 2019
Office design should take account of the quality of interactions as well as quantity
by Jonathan Hindle • Comment, Workplace design
Ever since technology first made it possible for people to work remotely from their colleagues, there has been speculation not only that office design should change but even that the physical office could be dispensed with entirely, and with it the idea that people should come together to work in the same place at the […]
July 22, 2019
Problems with noise at work? A lot of it is in our heads 0
by Anna King • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design
When it comes to working in an office, hell really can be other people. Many staff can have enormous difficulties coming to terms with the sounds that form the backdrop to their working day, especially if they work in open plan areas. The problem of noise at work is particularly acute right now because most […]
August 16, 2019
Is London Smart City Initiative as smart as it could be?
by George Adams • Cities, Comment, Technology
Itās been a year since the launch of the Mayor of Londonās smart city roadmap, designed to transform the capital into the smartest city in the world. But twelve months later, is the city any smarter? The Mayor of Londonās smart city roadmap is proposing to transform the capital into the smartest city in the […]