We’re a Bedouin company. We have registered offices but they’re not offices. We have no telephone except mobiles and some seldom used VOIP lines. We have no fixed abode. Sometimes we’re working from one place, sometimes another.
It’s notable that Wired’s Jargon Buster for June 06 had the following entry:
v. Downsizing a business by eliminating all but the core assets; employees and the communications links between them.
A company that has gone completely bedouin lacks a physical location, operating simply as a network of engineering, sales, and support staff connected 24/7 by Internet and cell phone.
Of course, it’s not just for companies as this post over in think:lab proves – bedouin is a potentially interesting goal in education. This is kind of how I see a lot of the Steiner education process, but I digress. As an example of how it works, my friend Kevin Callahan, a talented programmer and classical guitarist, offers guitar lessons over the web using iChat AV. How cool is that???
Today we spent some time walking through Belfast and I can honestly say that being Bedouin is a lot more fun during an Irish summer than it would be at any other time of the year. We really do need to bring raincoats every day though. You can never be too sure.
Now, Bob Pritchett over at FireSomeOneToday has an interesting post regarding HOVs (Home Office Vehicles). He says:
“I found the home made, the nicely done, and the one I would really like.”
Are these not defeating the purpose of Bedouin? I suppose not if there’s no geographical location but some of these examples just seem beyond the scope of Bedouin. They’re more like a military operation – the aircraft carrier of mobile office transports.
We’ve been laying the groundwork for our transition to full Bedouin behaviour. We still need to scope out the best places for coffee and then see if they have WiFi (and if they don’t, we’ll install it).
Sounds like a plan.
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