by Joe McKendrick
August 28, 2007 at 9:58 am
· Filed under Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0
In the old days, IBMers used to joke that the company’s initials stood for “I’ve Been Moved.” Now, in the era of telecommuting and virtual workplaces, the joke has been changed to “I’m By Myself.”
The burst economy is arriving. A couple of months back, I cited Anne Zelenka’s definitions of what constitutes “burstyness” (bursts of productivity anywhere, anyplace, anytime, as enabled by collaborative technology) versus “busyness” (showing your face 9 to 5, trying to look busy for the boss).
Now, it appears that the mainstream media is discovering elements of this new, emerging burst economy as well, as shown in a new ABC News report on the future workplace. “Some companies don’t care where workers are as long as they get the job done,” the report states. (Stop making sense!)
ABC News correspondent Betsy Stark reported on three workplaces that operate fairly virtually — IBM, Accenture, and Crayon Consulting.
At IBM, 42 percent of its workforce of 350,000 employees rarely comes into an IBM office.
Dan Pelino, general manager of IBM’s global health care and life sciences business, made this bursty comment: “We don’t care where and how you get your work done. We care that you get your work done.” IBM says it saves $100 million a year in real estate costs because it doesn’t need the offices…. There’s a direct cost savings attributable to burstyness.
At on-the-go Accenture, mobility rules. The company has no corporate headquarters, and not even the CEO has an office with his name on the door. Workspaces are reserved and used on a day-to-fay basis, like a hotel room. “Having a big desk as a sign of status with lots of family photos and you know, carpeting that’s fluffy and nice, that is a vision of the past,” said Janet Hoffman, executive vice president of Accenture. Well, in a bursty economy, all those nice accouterments can be part of your home office, if you like.
Next, ABC reported on a funky consulting firm, called Crayon, reporting that its workers rarely meet in the physical world, but meet once a week on a virtual basis.We never met Crayon’s CEO in person but we spent a couple of hours together in cyberspace. “Our belief is if we bring like minds together no matter where they are in the world we can actually create that connectedness as if we’re actually at the same place at the same time,” said Joseph Jaffe, Crayon’s CEO. And, likely, there’s far more connectedness (and a lot less politics) than if employees were bunched together in cubicles at some corporate site somewhere.
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Anne Z.August 28th, 2007 at 11:27 am |
Very cool. The burst economy is good for employers *and* for workers. Thanks for the shoutout (again!)
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CarlosAugust 29th, 2007 at 12:37 pm |
I think this is great – love the idea of a “Burst” economy. As a BabyBoomer I have definitely been guilty of “presenteeism” in the past… That said with regards to Crayon,
you should be aware that they do have a cramped corporate office where they all sit (except one Bostonite) and they rarely visit the metaverse except Thursday mornings. One of them has even set up a group called “Away on Crayon Business”, which tells you something. Love the Burst, still aware of the Hype!
Yes and think of the cost savings for all involved – commuting gone. My commute is the 5 minutes that it costs to get my coffee downstairs and hug the dogs. One car versus 2 = minus $10k. I work in my house clothes and sometimes not even them. I eat at home a lot – even $10 a day is $2,000 a year after tax for coffee etc.
I get back maybe 10 -15 hours a week compared to a commuter. Say 1-2 days of my time a week!!! Between 50 and 100 days a year – could be equivalent to 3 months of time that I can use to do more work or look after me and my needs. Hey maybe I could have a half decent family life!
This is huge.
I can do all the other stuff that is part of life because I am paid for results and not time spent.
This has to be more of a meritocracy – more controllable by me therefore better for how I feel.
So I get more time that is controllable by me and I am in control of my results = a more adult and much less stressful life
My employer gets more of my energy and talent. Hence I bet better results. My employer is not paying for offices and all that is connected to that. His overhead and all the shit that managers have to deal with in looking after “children” at work goes away.
We are not having meetings all day – its all about results. When we do meet it is usually very intense and social and involves as much partying as work – I know my colleagues usually better than in traditional setting
I have red hot technology and I know how to use it and do not need an IT department.
With good social software – the effort and cost of being in touch has vanished – even the phone costs are nil.
What’s not to like about this? Who wants the old way of indenture?
I believe that we are all watching, moving towards, and of course participating in the “mass customization of work”.
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BjornSeptember 7th, 2007 at 7:33 pm |
The “Virtual Office” obviously isn’t working too well … two of the senior Crayon guys just resigned(!)
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DaveSeptember 14th, 2007 at 3:20 pm |
I think its actually five of them resigned … Crayon has no office, no HQ and now no people (or clients).
Running a remote/virtual office is not without its challenges, but the model and the vision is sound.
The advantages and disadvantages for a small business are simple: advantages – no overhead; disadvantages – need to be able to invest more aggressively in collaborative software and tools.
The other lesson is that it is absolutely essentially to staff up with 100% motivated, self-starters…with the ability not only to work and thrive remotely, but also the intuition, drive and proactive ability to stay connected to the hub or base.
Old fashioned top-down management doesn’t work in this model.
As you see from the ABC piece, I was taped from within a glossy conference room. In fact, we were in New York and the majority of the crayonistas were still operating from a physical space. We’re in the process of leaving our NY office (we were subletting) in order to truly give the remote model a chance. I think another shortcoming was that some of our staff were benefiting unfairly from face-to-face contact…bottom line: to give the remote model a chance, everyone has to be remote.
We’ll continue experimenting and would be happy to share the successes and missteps along the way…
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DaveSeptember 17th, 2007 at 10:14 pm |
“The other lesson is that it is absolutely essentially to staff up with 100% motivated, self-starters…with the ability not only to work and thrive remotely, but also the intuition, drive and proactive ability to stay connected to the hub or base.”
More buzzwords I see … and a dis of those who left? You must be a joy to work for …
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