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Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

thewalrus.ca

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Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#171

Post by sdw1 »

mv4 wrote: post #22

Having worked in traditional offices, open offices, at home, at Starbucks, and at various coworking spaces - I still don't know how to feel about shared offices. I am using one right now on trial basis, and I can tell once or twice a week is about right for me. It's great for putting together a marketing presentation, not so great for coding. I also ran a tech coworking space for a couple of years. I shut it down. I…

I'm also interested in what you learned, and curious as to why you decided to pull the plug.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#172

Post by reificator »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #151
reificator wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll gladly face those consequences. I don't drink. You're not going to pressure me into drinking. You're sure as hell not going to threaten my livelihood for not drinking and then act like I'm the one in the wrong.

But not everyone is like you. Some people will have negative consequences for it, and some will miss out on opportunities for it, and they plain shouldn't.

No I'm not supporting it, I'm saying I stand against it.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#173

Post by woolvalley »

Cyberdog wrote: post #147
tribune wrote: post #10

"People don't buy products, they buy better versions of themselves." $500/month is a lot of money for a chair at a noisy table. On the other hand, $500/month is easier to stomach if it comes with the feeling of being successful.

As someone who has worked at co-working spaces in places not urbane enough to have a WeWork, $500 a month strikes me as ridiculous. I'm paying $150 a month at my current place for a dedicated desk (so not just shared table space). I do this because I'm able to be more productive than I would be working from home, so the $150 a month easily pays for itself, but I highly doubt I'd be over four times more productive pay…

Usually its around ~$350/month, even in the expensive bay area.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#174

Post by mv4 »

benjaminasmith wrote: post #72
mv4 wrote: post #22

Having worked in traditional offices, open offices, at home, at Starbucks, and at various coworking spaces - I still don't know how to feel about shared offices. I am using one right now on trial basis, and I can tell once or twice a week is about right for me. It's great for putting together a marketing presentation, not so great for coding. I also ran a tech coworking space for a couple of years. I shut it down. I…

I'd be interested to hear about those experiences running the tech co-working space.

We had a relatively small footprint: 4 offices (2..3 desks each), a conference room + projector, 10 dedicated desks, plus some shared space for up to 10 more people. I wanted to focus on tech startups, so we also had a small datacenter on premises, VPN, and everything was wired with subnets etc. I also made accelerator deals with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon so we could award cloud credits to those who needed it. Additionally, we got some lawyers to provide legal advice to members for free. We wanted to provide a good environment for building and launching an MVP (and beyond) [1].

What actually happened:

* we did attract a few startups, and we helped them launch

* many people were so early in the process, they had no use for cloud credits (or on-site infrastructure)

* we did a series of free events (with pizza and beer), and those attracted a lot of people - but did not convert to memberships

* we were hoping to get some interest and support from the state (CT) at least in terms of visibility and potential grants for members - but that didn't happen, as the State only wanted to invest in their official incubator in Stamford (which they sank a lot of money into, and ended up evicting the people who ran it [2])

* most trials didn't convert

* several more coworking spaces opened in the area, so people began hopping around

* attracted a few dreamers, who were constantly in pitching mode - and had no desire to actually sit down and build something (also usually the ones with money problems)

Overall, this was a great learning experience.

[1] a writeup someone did in on us back in 2013: https://www.smallbizdaily.com/so-youre-thinking-of-starting-...

[2] the State-funded "competitor": https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Old-Town-Hall...

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#175

Post by softawre »

creep wrote: post #101
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one talks to anyone from other companies, to the point of awkwardness Haha yeah. It helps to have a few women around, but especially when there are lots of male IT coworkers present this is definitely a thing.

Yes! Men and women actually work better together than groups composed of just men or just women [1] [2] The thinking is, men prefer taking risks, while women prefer to limit risks. In cooperation, men can push women to see the benefit of a risk (and in turn she gains more experience of risk), and women can push men to hold off of risks that might be detrimental. Women are good at synchronizing group thought, in that…

Downvoters care to explain? We always say diversity is good, but when somebody provides an example of why it is good, they get downvoted?

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#177

Post by softawre »

generallee5686 wrote: post #162
kerkeslager wrote: post #48

There's a bias toward the negative in writing, which I think comes from the fact that people write as an attempt to solve problems. So you're always going to see more negative reporting on shared offices than positive. But I'm old enough to remember when private offices were still common, and there was a lot of negative writing about those too. As someone about to enter the software industry, I was very concerned tha…

I agree with you on employers needing to create workspaces conducive to introverts and extraverts. I've seen one attempt at this and I think it was basically an extraverts attempt at making introverts happy. It was basically "we made these 3 'private' office things that you can use when you need to". This doesn't help me at all. Can I use these 90% of the time I'm at work? If not, what's the point? I think the unfort…

My company has private offices for everybody who wants one, and little pod areas outside the offices where you can work together if you like.

Teams who want to work in an open space can forego the offices and get a nice open space instead.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#178

Post by mv4 »

sdw1 wrote: post #171
mv4 wrote: post #22

Having worked in traditional offices, open offices, at home, at Starbucks, and at various coworking spaces - I still don't know how to feel about shared offices. I am using one right now on trial basis, and I can tell once or twice a week is about right for me. It's great for putting together a marketing presentation, not so great for coding. I also ran a tech coworking space for a couple of years. I shut it down. I…

I'm also interested in what you learned, and curious as to why you decided to pull the plug.

I just posted some details below.

I think my main mistake was trying to be an accelerator as opposed to simple shared space for rent. We couldn't find a way to make it work financially, considering the amount of time and energy it was demanding.

I also underestimated the lack of interest in innovation and startups here in CT.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#179

Post by ashelmire »

My work has a number of private offices, cubicle space, and open space.

There's a funny thing that happens: the private offices are always occupied and apparently work is getting done in them. The cubicles are a step down, with those workers stepping out occasionally for some fresh air away from the office. The open areas are only ever occupied by new employees or not at all. Nobody wants to work in them. And it's true that my workplace is full of introverts (basically exclusively). But it's telling, to me, that the offices are the most productive places.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#180

Post by dionidium »

nitrogen wrote: post #71
uhtred wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer to wait until the work day has finished and then go to the pub and have a beer or two. I don't really understand the appeal of drinking at work (which seems more prevalent in US), surrounded by office equipment and computers, it's not really relaxing. Plus there might be people still in the office at 5pm who actually have something important to do and it's not really fair that they then have to try to work w…

If everyone is complaining about their office being too noisy, how can an even noisier pub be more relaxing than that?

You're asking why people are OK with a noisy pub but not a noisy office? Surely you can see the difference if you try.
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