CoWorking – Page 5

Co-Working

Andy recently posted that his efforts to build Co-Working Belfast have been bearing fruit as he gets QUB and Belfast City Council on board. For my part, I’ve pledged that Mac-Sys will buy a desk every month and put some loaner kit down there as well to foster mobile types into using it. Co-Working Ireland … Continue reading “Co-Working”

Co-Working Ireland started over a year ago and I was invited to blog about it. I wrote a few articles there

The Closed Door
Working anywhere you pitch a tent.
Coffee shops: spacial logistics

but not long after I changed jobs (long story) and being office based I’ve not really had the time or opportunity to blog more about it on coworking.ie though I have managed to put some stuff together here in my Bedouin and Co-Working categories.

I’ve got an article in the making for coworking.ie, a year after my last one. Woo-and-hoo!

Here and where again?

The title for this blog post derives from the autre-title for “The Hobbit” which was “There and Back Again”. It details an arduous journey, full of frustration and friction, in order to have an adventure and then return home. As the months pass in $BIG_COMPANY, it becomes clearer to me what I want to be … Continue reading “Here and where again?”

As the months pass in $BIG_COMPANY, it becomes clearer to me what I want to be doing with the rest of my life.

Not this. It’s not even that I dislike corporate wage slave culture. I actually have no issues with it. I loved my time in Nortel and only moved on because timing, opportunity and encouragement were right. This is just mind-numbing. And typical, of course, of worst-class pandering to executives while stripping the workers of their pay rises. Not good enough for me.
I’m also not sure about whether I want to get back into IT work. It’s something (I think) I’m good at, having done it for over a decade now and there are new areas of business I’d like to move into, certainly, but the allure of crawling around chasing cables in a dusty footwell under a desk just doesn’t have the same appeal.
There are some things I’m totally enamoured with. Ubiquitous wireless. Co-Working. Bedouin working. The ‘Presence’ aspect of social software. The tricky thing is how to get all of that to pay a mortgage and feed a dog. Yes, I have a plan. I just need the timing to be right (after all I’ve got a full dance card until around September).

At the moment, with someone leaving $BIG_COMPANY every week, it doesn’t surprise me that I feel this way (and that I’m obviously not alone). I do wonder what sort of job you have to be in to get the freedom to attend talks and trips like Paddy’s Valley. I asked to attend a 1 day Open Source event in Belfast and was told it would be annual leave – some companies have such vision!

The answer is therefore to figure out what I really want to do, get paid for doing it, and wander off into the sunset.

It’s the question that drives us.

Co-Working Belfast

The Co-Working Belfast guys (David Rice and Andy McMillan) are really hoping that some of you will pledge a desk in the co-working building they have planned for Belfast. I’ve already pledged a desk (that I’ll be unlikely to use but will pay for anyway) and Mac-Sys is pledging a couple of iMacs. A lot … Continue reading “Co-Working Belfast”

The Co-Working Belfast guys (David Rice and Andy McMillan) are really hoping that some of you will pledge a desk in the co-working building they have planned for Belfast.

I’ve already pledged a desk (that I’ll be unlikely to use but will pay for anyway) and Mac-Sys is pledging a couple of iMacs. A lot of this depends on other people who are interested in finding an inexpensive workplace where they will meet other ‘working’ people.

Watch David and Andy’s blogs for more.

Bedou-working…

The Economist on Techno-Bedouin. “The proper metaphor for somebody who carries portable but unwieldy and cumbersome infrastructure is that of an astronaut rather than a nomad, says Paul Saffo, a trend-watcher in Silicon Valley. Astronauts must bring what they need, including oxygen, because they cannot rely on their environment to provide it. They are both … Continue reading “Bedou-working…”

The Economist on Techno-Bedouin.

“The proper metaphor for somebody who carries portable but unwieldy and cumbersome infrastructure is that of an astronaut rather than a nomad, says Paul Saffo, a trend-watcher in Silicon Valley. Astronauts must bring what they need, including oxygen, because they cannot rely on their environment to provide it. They are both defined and limited by their gear and supplies.”

“Urban nomads have started appearing only in the past few years. Like their antecedents in the desert, they are defined not by what they carry but by what they leave behind, knowing that the environment will provide it. Thus, Bedouins do not carry their own water, because they know where the oases are. Modern nomads carry almost no paper because they access their documents on their laptop computers, mobile phones or online. Increasingly, they don’t even bring laptops.”

This is parallel to the Co-Working strategy that David and Andy have been working on.

It’s a tall order to fill a co-working space. Even at an offer acceptance of Â£10 000 per annum, that still means the costs will likely be Â£18 000 per year (when you add Â£6800+ in rates and minimal electricity) not including broadband and heating – that’s Â£1500 a month! To bring the costs to a manageable level that people might want to pay, you’re going to have to aim for occupancy of around 15+. You could do it with less people (paying more) but you’re then really buying into the idea that people will pay for a co-working environment.

I’ve already said that Mac-Sys will put money down to secure a space (which will likely be used once in a blue moon) and we’ll also supply some of the infrastructure as well, if required. I hope it works out – I’m a little jealous of the guys involved as my dance card is totally filled at the moment (with work, babysitting, writing the new book, spending time with her indoors and trying to actually live life!).

I still have my own dreams regarding a Co-Work space that will likely never be realised due to the costs and time it would take to set up (and the fact it’s not an affair for an attic). My theory is that a co-work space needs to have it’s own identity and, if necessary, it’s own employees. Someone needs to be responsible for cleaning the loos, someone needs to keep the place running, chase up the co-conspirators for rent money – and just like in a shared house, that can be incredibly wearing on the patience. Hence you hire someone to do it.

This is why my idea for it was based around the coffee shop. The idea being to straddle the space between public coffee shop and serviced office. I was never 100% sure if Belfast was the right place for it but I still would like to give it a go.

It needs more than just an office though. It needs to be a network.

MacBook Air for the Traveller?

Publicspace.net I took my MBA on holiday to Spain over the Easter break and itâ€™s just awesome as a light travel companion. It worked flawlessly, was no hassle lugging around the airport, worked fine on the Hotelâ€™s free wireless network and best of all: it fits into a normal size room safe. No more chaining … Continue reading “MacBook Air for the Traveller?”

Publicspace.net

I took my MBA on holiday to Spain over the Easter break and itâ€™s just awesome as a light travel companion.

It worked flawlessly, was no hassle lugging around the airport, worked fine on the Hotelâ€™s free wireless network and best of all: it fits into a normal size room safe. No more chaining up your notebook to the radiators (of which they were of course none) or just worrying about it getting stolen.

The MacBook Air: the only way to travel.

As I lug my 17″ MacBook Pro around the house, I do notice how bulky and heavy it is but then it’s a desktop replacement. That said, even the 17″ screen cannot adequately serve my needs for screen space as an hour working with XCode today proved. I need maybe 2x the amount of space which would be ably served by an external screen. But, I hear you say, external screens are not particularly portable and that’s very true.

I have been spoiled though. Would you believe that I actually enjoy fetching the MacBook Air owned by my SO from another room? It allows me a couple of minutes to hold the unit, appreciate the thin-ness of the unit, how light it is and how easy it is to carry along with other things. I can definitely see a MacBook Air in my future. Just not before the wedding.

If I do go down that road, however, I’ll have to re-jig some of the hardware we have lying around. I’ll need a capacious file server more than ever. And somewhere to work with a massive screen. I’m tired of fiddling about with only 1680×1050 on screen (I missed out on the high res screens and I would now love to have one of the 1920×1200 screens on this baby).

The MacBook Air, with only 1280×800 is a significant decrease in screen space but makes up for it with simple portability. Attach an external screen to it and you’ve got one really useful workstation. A laptop that is actually portable for once. And when you’re at a desk, a huge amount of real estate to play with – which is why I intend to leave a large screen or two at the local co-working place, should it progress.

Co-Working guidelines.

HiveLogic on getting into The Zone in modern offices: “Thereâ€™s no choice about how or when youâ€™re expected produce, or under what circumstances. Here is your computer, here is your workstation, you have the tools, the florescent lights are turned on, why donâ€™t you go ahead and get to work, thanks, bye.” “In a best … Continue reading “Co-Working guidelines.”

HiveLogic on getting into The Zone in modern offices:

“Thereâ€™s no choice about how or when youâ€™re expected produce, or under what circumstances. Here is your computer, here is your workstation, you have the tools, the florescent lights are turned on, why donâ€™t you go ahead and get to work, thanks, bye.”

“In a best case scenario, they do a mediocre job and feel OK at the end of the day. In the worst case, theyâ€™re miserable.”

The article mentions co-working in passing but I want to focus on the above paragraph. There is an idea that co-working is a “phenomenon” and there are some who think it might be a panacea to their productivity woes.

Looking at the quote above gives one aspect that can’t be ignored. You arrive in $BIG_COMPANY and if their processes are working correctly, you should have a desk, a computer, a phone and it’s just a case of getting your userid for the system, setting your passwords and starting to work (which may or may not include weeks of reading documentation). For some people this will idyllic, for others sufficient and for some of you, it may sound like hell on earth.

So what to do about it? The co-working movement assumes some things.

You are a self-employed knowledge worker with current income (or have a really understanding boss). You can make money at this or this is what you need to do to make money in the future or past.
Ideally you’re not going to need large equipment, a precise (and expensive) model of printer or a lot of space reserved for yourself. This is about sharing. You should provide your own equipment and it should all fit on one desk and use your fair share of power sockets.
If you’re lucky enough to have the capacity for a meeting space in addition to a communal work and break area, then great. If not, it’s perhaps not a great environment to bring customers for face to face meetings.
Working alongside people who are not your colleagues will benefit what you do (via the idea that networking is more valuable to you than teamwork) and you’re not just going to try to turn them into customers.
You have the equipment, data and resources online to help you do your work (or have some storage space at the co-work facility). You’re also pretty good with fixing your own problems. Don’t depend on your co-workers to sort out your issues. Most of them might help but they have their own jobs to do.
These interesting, creative, co-working people you have shacked up with won’t prove to be more of a distraction than your Wii, the postman, two cats and significant other which you’d have to contend with if you just stayed at home. And you’re not going to be a distraction to them either with tales of your last dentist visit or the how well you’re doing on Metroid.
You don’t have too many odious habits, you shower regularly and you know how to use a litter bin. If you smoke, you’ll have the sense to stand outside someone else’s door rather than just outside the co-work space.
If the facility is for more than just bedouin workers who hot-desk from day to day, then respect others personal space and property. Seems obvious but I came into an office a few years back where the keyboard was sticky and the screen was smeared. Apparently another worker had his kids in the office at the weekend.
Co-working is about shared responsibilities. You owe it to the other occupants not to be a prick to them, their colleagues, their customers and, if necessary, their children. Establish the rules early about who does the washing up, who cleans the toilet and who knows how to operate a vacuum cleaner. Remember it’s a co-work facility so it will likely be a good bit more freeform and chaotic than the standard cubicle farm.
Pay your share of the rent and utility bills without complaint. It’s my opinion that the base cost should be your percentages of these plus 10% for eventualities. If this means it’s not economical for you or you can’t pay on time then don’t be surprised when they ask you to leave.

In short, you need to be a good co-working citizen and expect the same from others.

If you are considering a co-working facility, you could do worse than to have a look at David Rice’s blog where these questions are being considered.

From Bedouin Tents to the Big Top

For a long while now I’ve been a proponent of ‘Bedouin’ working, which is known a little more in the mainstream as ‘co-working’. Whereas co-working speaks to me of a common, shared space for individuals to work, Bedouin speaks of multiple spaces, some of them dedicated and some of them ad-hoc where individuals can work. … Continue reading “From Bedouin Tents to the Big Top”

Loic Le Meur adds another definition into the mix: The Moving Circus.

I’m going to modify his list in terms of the parts that I find especially relevant to my own ideas about mobil/bedouin working and co-working. In doing so I’ve nibbled it down to 10 of Loic’s points which I find are more relevant than the others (and removed some specific product references). Some of the characterisations of the Moving Circus are:

no office
- This is best expressed as either being completely bedouin (I work where I please and yesterday I networked with a teacher, a lawyer and a homemaker.) or not having a ‘private’ office (I co-work with ten other individuals in different industries and we regularly kick around ideas at the water cooler).
no boss (self employed)
- I’m not going to criticise being an employee or being a non-founder because I’ve enjoyed being both a founder and a non-founder. The best thing about being your own boss is that you understand the reasons for the stupid mistakes your boss makes. Following a boss who is, frankly, stupid is career suicide.
no tie, no suit: casual all the time
- It’s 2008. Any institution that requires developers to wear a suit or business casual is archaic. Sure – customer facing there may be a role for it (though what’s wrong with a black turtleneck and jeans?)
no monopoly, no center, everything decentralized
- Too many companies, especially small businesses with 3-10 employees, put everything they own onto one server – using a Microsoft Small Business Server – on their ADSL line in their office. That’s just bad juju. Keep your files in the cloud. Back them up to a local store. Back them up to somewhere else in the cloud. Use lightweight applications (No, you don’t need Word) which can be easily replaced. Standardise on file formats that are well-supported in a lot of software and not proprietary files which need an expensive reader.
in sync: no email, no phone, just IM, twitter, social software…
- To me there is a place for email. It’s for time-independent messaging. Instant messaging is obvious too. And the phone? With a handsfree kit it’s what you use when driving. An important point is not to lock your staff behind an ultra-restrictive firewall. Don’t block their email hosts. Happy workers can check their banks, pick up emails from friends, shop on eBay for that knick-knack for their spouse. If you don’t trust them to get the job done, what are you paying them for?
no off-line: everything online
- A little short-sighted because networking is not yet ubiquitous. I have ‘desire’ for offline storage and processing because of this. The lack of storage for files other than music and movies is a real bugbear on the iPhone.
no distance: it does not matter where you are
- This could not be truer. I had a brief twitter conversation this week regarding location. If housing is expensive where you are, move. You do not need to be in the city. I moved to a nice house 5 minutes walk from a beach and I do not regret it at all.
no fear of embarrassment or of failure: the “always beta” culture
- I think it’s great there’s no fear of failure or there’s acknowledgment of mistakes and a desire to do better in an honest and transparent way. But the ‘always beta’ thing bothers me as it often means that it’s okay to be crap because it’s not finished. Or that support is withheld because it’s unfinished. Being unfinished is a journey not an excuse.
entrepreneurial or self employed
- Sometimes I do feel like I was born twenty years too late. To be 18 years old now, with the possibilities laid out for you and with some sense of entrepreneurial spirit would be a wonderful thing. But I’m an old fogey. Oh well.
ideas over systems
- Every conversation should start with “Wouldn’t it be cool if….” and then after that you worry how to build it (and ideally the person saying it has some appreciation of the challenges involved).

The gist of the Moving Circus is also that at the various conferences/unconferences you go to, you see a lot of the same faces. If you go to OpenIsland, BarCampBelfast, NiMUG, OpenCoffee, BLUG, Cocoaheads or any of the other ‘techie’ things in the province it’s the same people. I’ve not been to Apple Expo in a couple of years now but there was a small group of UK people who would always find each other at the Expo. I think this would be even more prevalent these days with more social networking apps like FaceBook, Twitter.

Is this a good trend? Maybe there needs to be more of an ‘advertisement’ telling others that there are events going on. Some, like NiMUG and Cocoaheads, are pretty specific to a subgroup who use the Mac. BLUG, similarly is for people who want to group together because of Linux. But there’s more than this and it should be open to more than just technologists – there’s a lot of potential for leftbrain and rightbrain types to mingle.

Mobile/Portable Computing Caveats

One thing that is nice about John Dvorak is that he truly has a visionary streak. In all the years I’ve read about technology, Dvorak has seldom been right. He’s managed to cherry-pick the absolutely wrong from the blatantly obvious for years. That has to count for something. The rant this week is that he … Continue reading “Mobile/Portable Computing Caveats”

The rant this week is that he reckons in 2008, the perfect machine is a big old clunky desktop manufactured from the cheapest components. He rails about others who use laptops (and who can’t keep a cup of coffee from landing on it) or PDA/Smartphones (and who can’t remember not to drop it in the toilet bowl).

There is a difference between portable and mobile computing. Using a laptop is certainly now portable computing. You port this device from location to location and when you stop moving and find a seat, you work. Because the device is portable, it is possible to leave it in a cafe, forget to pick it up out of the taxi, have it lifted by some larcenous scumbag. There’s definitely a liability with it but the convenience outweighs the dversities. Conversely, using a phone/PDA is what I call mobile computing. You can reply to email or update your blog while standing in a queue. Unlike a laptop, the smartphone likely even follows you to the toilet (which is why some people have dropped theirs in the bowl). Now, I’m not advocating ‘plogging’ (though Twenty is about a decade too late to have claimed to have invented it), but there’s definitely a difference between using a smartphone and a laptop.

His main attack on portable and mobile computing is with regard to backups – both of data and of a workable machine and the relative cost of replacement.

Backup Your Data

“They drag the machine everywhere, and if it gets lost or broken, they’re toast, since they never perform any kind of backup. (Nobody backs up much these days.) Even if people do back up, though, they’re likely still SOL since the restore function typically doesn’t work well when a new machine is involved.”

Backups do happen, especially for smart folk that use Mac OS X along with Time Machine or Time Capsule. The backup argument is well made but it shouldn’t be singled out against laptop users. Everyone should backup. It’s not hard to do, it’s not expensive. Unless of course your laptop doesn’t hold your Data. James at Eirepreneur has been torturing himself with an eee PC for a week or so and keeps all of his documents in the Cloud (Google Docs, GMail, etc). The downside to using web services is that without Internet coverage you’re screwed. Is this a bad thing? Not really. It’s widespread and cheap. Similarly with a smartphone it’s likely that your documents on the phone are backed up to your ‘main’ computer so your data will not be lost.

Dvorak’s whine that restores don’t work well. Well. That’s just him. He uses Windows you know.

Backup your hardware

“And these devices are poised to become the next desktop replacement platform? Splash. Splash. Splash.”

This needs reinforced. If you work for a living and your machine gets toasted, ideally you should have a new machine pronto because the cost of being out of action will quickly offset the cost of getting the new machine. Every business should keep at least one spare machine. It doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest. Even a low end MacBook at Â£699 is a great machine for a spare. How long would it take for your worker to make back the Â£699? A day or three? And after his usual machine has been restored to full working order, you still have the spare for the next time (or as a loaner to a staff member who really wants to work from home). The cost is easily made back. So buy a spare already. Making your livelihood (whether you’re a sole trader or an employee) depend on a single machine is simply stupid. Or, if you don’t want to plonk down the readies for a machine that will gather dust, make friends with your local AASP as they’re likely to be able to supply you with a loaner or machine to rent in the interim. You will have to pay for the privilege but again, how many days before you’d make it back?

His page 2 arguments are easy enough to defeat. He mentions ten reasons to keep using desktops which are all ‘easier’ or ‘harder’ and none of them are absolutes. The one advantage of laptops and smartphones is an absolute however. There are desktops that are more expensive than laptops. There are laptops with immense amounts of internal storage. And they can also use USB drives too, John. But there are no desktops which are as portable as a laptop or smartphone. Period. Or that can be used for a couple of hours on a train journey. Or while waiting for your partner to finish browsing in a shop. Portability is an absolute and that’s why these devices are popular.

This article is not about refuting Dvorak because that could quickly become a full time job. This is about establishing behaviours for the next generation of knowledge worker.

Take the ‘stupid’ out of backups and use Time Machine
Have a spare machine handy to receive your backup
Have some friends who may have a spare machine just in case
Take care of your laptop and smartphone

“Don’t be a Jackass”

…would be a last point that needs underlined. Dvorak’s wisdom extends to any uses of Smartphones or laptops. But he made the title of the article “The iPhone is no desktop” which shows a couple of things.

He thinks you’re stupid.
He writes his articles at a cheap desktop, running Windows, in his underwear
He’s whoring for links by mentioning the iPhone (a media darling)
He mentions ‘Apple laptop’ where the wisdom could apply to any manufacturer

Cheap tricks designed to lure people in to view his ads and get more revenue.

But take what I say on board. Don’t think the right method is the Dvorak method – “go back to using a cheap desktop”. The right method is to back up your data. To have a spare machine. And to be careful while plogging.

more on co-working

Back in 2006 I seriously investigated the possibility of setting up a co-working facility in Belfast. At the time I was pretty much asset-free 🙂 I had a working, profitable business but not enough capital to undertake something of this magnitude. We were looking at a 3 storey building within half a mile of Queen’s University as a potential location for this nascent business. We worked out cash flows based on a cafÃ©, with pay-for workspace ranging from shared desks to enclosed, secured offices. We even drew maps and applied for funding but, being asset-free, I was kinda buggered when it came to financing it.

Just bad timing really and I think that maybe my plans were a little over the top.

It doesn’t mean, however that they were bad plans, I just didn’t have the reach I needed. I probably still don’t have the reach I need but I do have other potential plans. For instance, considering moving Mac-Sys to the centre of Belfast (because, yes, it’s a pain to get to Mallusk to get a simple Mac repair done) and sharing the resulting space with a Co-Work facility has been heavy on my mind for a while and definitely given solidity by the co-working thoughts bandied around last night.

co-working

OpenCoffee Belfast It’s kinda refreshing to see more than just me being interested in new ways of working. David is working on a CoWorking business plan, Andy spends his days camping out in a coffee shop. Belfast needs co-working facilities. Like, tomorrow. (and yeah, we showed off some iPhone game stuff which the guys have … Continue reading “co-working”

OpenCoffee Belfast

It’s kinda refreshing to see more than just me being interested in new ways of working. David is working on a CoWorking business plan, Andy spends his days camping out in a coffee shop.

Belfast needs co-working facilities.

Like, tomorrow.

(and yeah, we showed off some iPhone game stuff which the guys have been working on and talked about Macs a lot)

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

“Don’t be a Jackass”

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: