Coworking to Corporate

November 27, 2008

I recently submitted a conference proposal on the subject of coworking. The challenge is/was to explain coworking to an audience of corporate real estate, human resources, finance, and information technology professionals. What follows is an early draft of the of the first part of the proposal.

Reengineering 2.0

November 8, 2008

Your business is going to emerge from this recession lean, or dead. The sooner companies get to the point where they have skeletal but consciously designed office space utilized efficiently by a skeletal staff, the sooner they will begin to manage their way out of this recession. This is Reengineering 2.0.

From a Recent Conversation of Mine

September 18, 2008

Regarding nomadism:
There's no doubt in my mind that we're on the front end of a powerful trend; a trend that will only intensify as the current economic situation forces employers to look for ways to save money, and as workers look for ways to spend less time commuting and less money on gas.
- Todd Sundsted [...]

The Business of Coworking, Part II

August 15, 2008

A few months ago I wrote a piece on the Business of Coworking.  It received a decent amount of attention, both positive and negative.  Frankly, more negative than anything, but that was the point.
Can coworking be a business?  Should it?
Clearly there are different answers that can be provided here.  What I am interested in [...]

Markets

July 19, 2008

Relative to the number of anthropologists who study things like art, religion, family, music, medicine, politics, etc., the number who study economics and markets is tiny.  This is a shame.  Markets, wherever you are, are social exchanges where culture(s) intersect and collide, where the commerical realms of cultural systems come forth to trade.
Sure, there is [...]

End the Freevolution

June 19, 2008

I'm sick to death of paying for free stuff with my time (lost waiting for the page to refresh; lost waiting for the service to come back up), with my data (it's my social graph, damnit), with my attention (no, I don't want to refinance)...   I'm ready to pay with money (the old fashioned way).
Here [...]

Excuses and Constraints

June 19, 2008

Holy bat-shit Batman, I hate the excuses! - Bandit, on the rant...
If you want to avoid doing something, invent an excuse. If you need an excuse, pick something outside of your control and call it an impediment. Extra points if you cite financial reasons. Double your score if you mention "regulations" or [...]

The Third Wave

June 17, 2008

I'm in a prognosticating mood. Here's my take on the evolution and future direction of the Internet, Internet technology and applications, business opportunities, and skills.
Pre-Wave had very little commercial activity. UUNET is one of the few examples that comes to mind..

?-1993
Research
Hackers/hobbyists build applications
Significant technical talent required. Massive capitalization required.

The First Internet Wave [...]

Winging-It Doesn’t Cut It

June 13, 2008

My wiring makes me the absolute worst-case example of getting by by the seat of my extemporaneous pants. If I can walk in and wing it, why prepare? Preparation is dull, boring, tedious. Dull.
For me, this just-in-time approach peaking in college. I walked in to an open-book test on Numerical Methods [...]

Coworking and the Fast 50

June 3, 2008

Each year Fast Company magazine solicits nominations for innovative businesses (the Fast 50) that are, in their words, helping to make the world a better place.  Their call for nominations from 2007 reads like this:
This year's focus:  Our sixth annual global readers challenge will spotlight businesses that are helping to save the world.  We're looking for [...]