Office Mobility: Human factors remain
As I have already noted my office roof started raining leak water, which eventually became enough to destroy the roof tiles and soak a large area of the floor. Inevitably the leaks were directly about where my computers normally sit. Initially we pulled my desk back a meter or so, but the splashing was still enough to be a hazard. So I moved out into some spare desks, then a meeting room, and now I’m in another spare desk.
This has been an interesting lesson in mobile working. First of all, my desktop has is piled up in bits in a corner and I’ve been working on my laptop, most of the time on WiFi. There has been no impact on my ability to operate, at all. I normally only use the desktop for things needing a large scree, such as programming or graphics, and since I don’t do those very often, it’s not been a big miss.
Next, my desk phone is still sitting there. We could have patched it through to another socket in another room, but there was no need. I just use the mobile, and if I want to talk to someone else in the office I can walk over to them, or use IM.
I’m lucky enough to have my own private office with a door (mainly because I’m noisy and distracting for other people!), and that is difficult to replicate. Bose headphones help keep down the background noise, but they don’t help with private phone calls.
And finally my clutter. I like working surrounded by stuff: books, pictures, things to fiddle with, magazines. They give insipration and drive creativity. That I would miss if I had no fixed office.
Seems we’ve cut the office technology chord completely, but not the importance of work atmosphere. As usual the human element is more important than the tech.
