From Workplace to Anyplace

Posted on 16th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Executive summary from a recent joint research project between Microsoft and the World Wildlife Fund on the benefits of ‘regularly working outside the office’ which itself contains some of the headline findings and stats…

Despite the apparent benefits offered by the “New World of Work,” the number of employees regularly working outside the office remains low:

• “Microsoft recently sponsored a study by the World Wildlife Fund. The study found that 17.5% of U.S. employees work outside the office at least once a month, with the average doing so 2.7 days per month, while 8% of European employees work outside the office at least once a month, with an average of one day a month.”

This missed opportunity negatively impacts productivity, employee engagement and the environment:

The average commuter around the world travels 3,000-5,000 km (approx 1,800-3,000 miles) a year back and forth to the office. For three quarters of Americans, that's 50 minutes a day traveling alone in traffic. Over the course of the year, commuting results in 350 Mt of Co2 released into the atmosphere and untold hours of unproductive time spent by employees sitting in stressful traffic congestion.

The costs associated with failing to realize the benefits of the “New World of Work” will only grow as companies become more global and decentralized:

Collectively, air and road travel are expected to account for approximately 1,370 MMT of Co2 emissions in the U.S. by 2020.

Technology is no longer the main obstacle preventing organizations from embracing flexible work. Organizations can replace many high carbon activities with flexible work arrangements, virtual meetings and other solutions already enabled with today’s unified communications technology. While the solutions are beginning to be used on a wider basis, the enormous potential to drive down global carbon emissions and inefficient business costs with unified communications technology has yet to be realized at scale:

The World Wildlife Fund estimates that increasing telecommuting and virtual meetings ‘could, without any dramatic measures, help to save more than 3 billion metric tons of Co2 emissions in a few decades; this is the equivalent to approximately half the current U.S. Co2 emissions.’
In the US, reduced commuting accounts for 75% of the potential savings, with the other 25% coming from reduced air travel. Savings on this level are possible when flexwork is embraced at scale – with 30-45% of workers are flexworking 2-4 days a week and 1/3 to 2/3 of business trips are replaced with virtual meetings.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,World Wildlife Fund,flexworking

Tired Dragons

Posted on 15th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

In honour of Father’s Day, I thought I would pay homage to an inspiration of my father, Rev. Edwin Lynn, to my interest in Dynamic Working. Dynamic use of spaces where people come together must be in my genes. You see, 36 years ago, decades before carbon concerns, economic crises and intensified pressures of two income families, my father, wrote a book called ‘Tired Dragons’, subtitled ‘Adapting Church Architecture to Changing Needs.’

His introduction could just as readily describe the increasingly outdated fixed and fractured workspaces in outdate office buildings where so many labour every day…

“Once upon a time there were church structures built with dignity, sustained by belief, and strengthened with community purpose. Many of these structures are today’s tired dragons, their energies spent, their fire nearly extinguished, their tails drooping.”

His words on the simple seating in the church could have been taken out of a business justification for removing all the fixed desks in our office (something my team and a number of units at Microsoft has instituted).

“In the context of order, pews have taken on a theological importance. Their symmetry symbolizes the desired order–not the extreme social order of the pew renters and purchasers of colonial times but the order of religious tradition. However, to sit securely in the pews, smugly oblivious with present changes is inconsistent with a revitalized, meaningful religious belief. Architects have created fancy building shapes and spectacular roof structures, clergymen have inspired changing worship forms. Nevertheless, congregations have refused to change their attitudes, and their immobile seats confirm their rigidity. The obstacles are difficult to overcome. Until the rigid pew structure is changed, the church will not substantially alter its present course. The pews are where the people are, and unless they are willing to alter their patterns, there is little hope for the tired dragons. This does not mean that by destroying all pews we would have a revitalized church; it only means as long as pews are worshiped, there is little hope for a relevant church.”

In the world of Dynamic Work, as long as desks and cubicles remained fixed in place, there is little hope for a ‘relevant’ business.

Technorati Tags: Tired Dragons,Edwin Lynn,church architecture

Het Nieuwe Werken

Posted on 13th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Microsoft has been pushing the boundaries of flexible working for years now obviously leaning heavily on the empowerment that mobile, productivity and collaboration software enable. Last year I highlighted some of the measures that the UK office had introduced which led to it being selected as Mother at Work 2008’s Employer of the Future. But the country that is truly trailblazing in this area is Microsoft Netherlands.

Attached below is a round table session that Chief Financial Officer magazine organized at Microsoft’s brand new Schiphol headquarters which have been totally revamped around the principles of the New World of Work.

“Inevitably, the radical way in which the concept was introduced at Microsoft Nederland created a culture shock that everyone will have to work through. At the moment, the process appears to be shaping up well. Recently, CFOs from various companies visited the new Microsoft headquarters to talk about this issue and to gain inspiration for their own organizations. Bemused, the finance chiefs strolled around the new building with its designer furniture, bean bags, computer game corner and even a ‘relaxation cockpit.’ ‘We no longer have fixed workplaces, not even for the directors,’ says Microsoft CFO Franklin Hagel. ‘The 660 people who are employed here are free to decide whether to work at home or at the office. The company provides them with a laptop and a broadband connection, as well as a budget to set up a home workplace that meets the applicable health and safety standards.’”

A more comprehensive study of this whole area using themselves as subjects was commissioned by them with the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, originally at the request of Microsoft Netherlands. The study, ‘RSM Research: New Worlds of Work’ examined the central question, “Did workplace innovations impact the work dimensions and the multidimensional productivity of the Microsoft the Netherlands” with lots (172 pages) of affirming insights.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Netherlands,New World of Work Rotterdam School of Management

Telecommuting Tips

Posted on 12th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

CIO magazine ran an article ‘7 Things the CIO Should Know About Telecommuting’ with great pointers on this tactic for exploiting Dynamic Work…

1. Telecommuting Saves Money. Truly.
2. Telecommuters Really Can Be More Productive.
3. Telecommuting Doesn't Work for Every Individual.
4. Trust Your People.
5. Hone Management Skills for Telecommuting.
6. Keep the Telecommuter in the Loop.
7. Tools and Technology Make a Big Difference.

I often see #5 – Management Skills – as one of the major blockers. Managers don’t support telecommuting and flexible work not truly because of concerns about the employee or the business, but rather concerns about their ability to manage.

“Telecommuting is a true test of a manager's skill. It's hard enough to measure employee output when the individual is in the office; now supervisors need to add the complexity of doing it from a distance. And not every manager possesses the necessary skills for keeping tabs on telecommuters.

“Elizabeth Ross, director of technology projects execution at AMEC Earth & Environmental, has telecommuted and managed telecommuters. She sees a direct relationship between the strength of a manager and the telecommuting experience. ‘Managers who know how to manage resources, subcontractors, and the like, can make the situation work, sometimes exceptionally,’ she says. ‘Managers who don't communicate well, [who] don't know how to manage their own time well, and so on, don't get around to checking in or managing the telecommuter very well — if at all.’ “

“It's that latter kind of manager (for example, the inept manager) who's typically the least supportive of telecommuting, according to Ross, because the work arrangement highlights the manager's weaknesses and requires him or her to improve or change his or her style. For that reason, user experience consultant Albers suggests that only managers ‘who have demonstrated extraordinary organization and leadership abilities’ should be allowed to manage telecommuters.”

Technorati Tags: CIO Magazine,management skills,telecommuting

Who Benefits

Posted on 11th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Recently I attended a symposium organised by the British American Business organisation at the offices of PR firm and workspace pioneer, Edelman, on the top of ‘Flexible Working – Who Benefits’.

For starters, it became startlingly clear that there were two major business benefits for companies to look at flexible working – to save money and to comply with the law.

IBM’s Chris Emin a thorough review of their vision ‘new ways of working’ with their e-Place on Demand as well as their own dogfooding of the principles. He made a very insightful comment that could have been taken straight from a SOA primer if you replaced the word ‘employees’ with ‘processing’ and ‘workstation’ with, well, ‘workstation’ for one (though Emin was referring to ‘workstation’ as ‘desk’ area):

“Once the connection between employees and workstation is broken, this allows for more efficient allocation of the resources.”

IBM have done research that the cost ‘per workstation’ (desk) is ‘£15,000 to £20,000 per year’. That is a lot of cost to target for removing from a business.

Field Fisher Waterhouse’s Peter Holt comprehensively reviewed the imperatives, opportunities and considerations in flexible working from a statutory as well as pragmatic perspective. In his Q&A, I raised a question with him which led to an interesting discussion, “What are the roles that are inherently and structurally less flexible?” For starters, we identified workers tied to big, hard to move capital equipment (eg. CAD/CAM systems, airline pilots). Holt noted that challenged small businesses have in being flexible with fewer resources to, both physical and human, around which pivot. I’ve raised this question on LinkedIn so share your perspectives there or comment here.

Copies of the slide decks from the event are posted here for reference.

Technorati Tags: IBM,Field Fisher Waterhouse,British American Business,Edelman

Dynamic Education

Posted on 10th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

The ‘workplace’ for our children is school and this institution suffers many of the same issues as the ‘knowledge worker factory’ mode of daily working. And here too the notions of flexible and ‘dynamic’ learning are just as applicable.

Dan Ramus, Microsoft ‘Futurist,’ and steward of its ‘New World of Work’ thinking, is a digital soul mate on the matters of Dynamic Work. His blog ‘The Future of Information Work’ carries lots of posts that support and extend the ideas and notions shared here. His recent post ‘Five Way To Reinvent Education and Stimulate the Economy’ describes an educational system as flexible in its use and application of resources as the Dynamic Workplace…

1. Complement teachers with retired or out of work professionals.

2. Think of schools as multi-purpose and cross-generational ‘learning hubs’ for flexible use or resources and facilities.

3. Foster entrepreneurship.

4. Distribute learning so it isn't about an educator or a single school.

5. Adopt new learning models that cross school boundaries, regional boundaries, even international boundaries.

Dan’s call for a dynamic learning place evoked memories of my own high school days where my first foray into activism was to protest a newly instated absenteeism policy. Essentially, the school said that 10 absences meant a mandatory failure grade. Not only did this smack of a violation of due process (which I had just learned something about in my civics class), but also it defined that the only real education was sitting in chairs in classrooms. At this stage of my life, I was getting involved with community programs, private study and a host of exploration. Who cared if I missed the class, as long as I caught up on the notes, did the work, learned the material and ultimately made the marks? I successfully fought back against this effort to straight jacket learning into presenteeism , and yes, the school kindly rescinded the policy later that year.

Technorati Tags: Dan Rasmus,Microsoft,New World of Work,schools

N=1 and R=G

Posted on 9th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

I had the chance to listen to business management gurus C.K. Prahalad at the recent London Benchmark for Business event (thanks again Katie). C.K.’s presentation on ‘Realising the Opportunity’ talked about embracing the positive potential of the economic turmoil as being a catalyst for changes that have long been brewing and are primed for embracing all of which echo the core themes of Dynamic Work

1. Fundamentally Change Industry Structures
2. Require New Approaches to Managing
3. Provide Exciting New Opportunities
4. Put a New Premium on Innovation
5. Demand New Organisational Capabilities

He talked about the need for a change in ‘Organisational Capabilities’ from…

1. Hierarchies to Networks
2. Investment Capacity to Collaborative Capacity
3. Organisation Structures to Velcro Organisation

Prahalad concluded that the ‘New Game’ boils down to

· “N-=1”: Co creation of Personalised Experiences
· “R=G”: Multi-institutional and Multi-Geograohic Access to Resources

‘N=1’ or ‘Co-Creation’ is ‘dynamic work’ to the extreme. Making your customers your workers to the benefit of both. In the SOA context, ‘co-creation’ is akin to Microsoft’s “Software Plus Services” (S+S) vision. Combining the power of software (the organisation’s workforce) with tapping into the ‘cloud’ of value add content and services (the customer base).

“R=G” is practically the very definition of Dynamic Work. He describes it as the “Emergence of Nodal Firms and Supply Webs”.

Technorati Tags: C.K.Prahalad,Benchmark for Business,Software + Services

Free Agent Nation

Posted on 8th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Seth Godin’s latest book ‘Tribes’ offers up a passionate plea for more dynamic work fuelled by the initiative of pervasive and distributed ‘leadership’ for change.

“Organisations are more important than ever. It’s the factories we don’t need.”

I like the quote because it provides an important point of clarity to his radical proposal. Too often, in fact often with the concept of ‘Dynamic Work’ here, people misinterpret that a call for dramatic change is a call for complete change. To go from one extreme to another. With Dynamic Work, people interpret that it’s all about taking everyone out of the office and going to home working. That is not the case. The ‘office’ still can be a useful tool in modern business (as ‘organisation’ are in Godin’s vision) and not all work that leaves the ‘office’ goes to the ‘home’ (it can go to lots of other places as well).

Godin offers up a trove of insights about Leadership (though not Management), communication, motivation and other essentials for driving a dynamic business built on new principles of community, customer co-creation and employee empowerment.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin,Tribes

The Costs of Commuting

Posted on 7th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

The Transport Studies Unit at the University of Oxford has released a study on “The Costs of Transport on the Environment – The Role of Teleworking in Reducing Carbon Emissions” which looks comprehensively at empirical macro-economic data on workers and commuting. Its conclusions include…

· Empirical studies of teleworking show that it typically results in substantial reductions in car mileage for the day on which teleworking takes place.

· Teleworking can save energy at the worksite – providing working practices change accordingly.

· Teleworkers typically have longer than average commutes but this does not necessarily mean that teleworking encourages more remote living.

· Mobile working has fuelled a recent growth in teleworking.

· The majority of teleworkers are self-employed or unpaid.

· Teleworking has a wide range of benefits for employers, employees and communities. It has been linked with lower absenteeism, improved recruitment and retention, higher productivity, good work-life balance and good quality of life. Teleworkers tend to work longer hours than non-teleworkers, and identify this as one reason for their improved performance, but see reduced stress and better concentration as more important factors. Greater autonomy and flexibility in work planning and performance appears to be a key reason for improved work-life balance. Teleworking has also been linked to better health. There is evidence that teleworkers become more involved in their own communities and spend more on local services.

An example of the research cited is Microsoft’s own Tickbox.net survey (April 2007) on the benefits and profile of remote and flexible working. The study is really a comprehensive review of latest thinking and research in the UK which underscores the imperative and increasingly critical economic benefits to reforming the conventional modes of work and stripping out much of the synchronous commute to our knowledge worker factories.

Technorati Tags: teleworking,commuting,Oxford University

Dynamic Work

Dynamic Work Blog

Month: October 2009