Is collaboration always productive?

I was at a meeting hosted at co-working space where I was suddenly struck by something. For a set fee a month, you get to use the co-working space in an open plan area. Walking around there, I saw a lot of people staring fixedly at their screens with their headphones on. This didn’t strike me as terribly collaborative or productive.

Developers like to tune everyone else out to focus on the problem at hand. You need to see the code, the more spiritual might even say feel the code, though I feel that’s a bit of the usual fluffy claptrap really. It’s about getting into the zone, and making sure you stay there so that you are productive. Being in an open plan office isn’t really conducive to that. You are constantly being bothered by interruptions; by people moving past your eye line, it’s loud. Thus, you see a lot of people with their headphones on trying to concentrate; this does seem to be completely at odds with what’s intended to be a collaborative space. You aren’t collaborating and you’re not as productive as you would be in a dedicated environment.

If you truly expect your team to be productive; then you have to make the office space fit your team; not some idealised vision of what a office should be. While it might look quite cool in pictures, having bean bags in the office is never a good idea. My entire team is distributed so we all work where we need to work, sometimes that’s in the office, most of the time it’s from home and we communicate over IM and VOIP. When we all choose to be in the office, that’s when we collaborate, I don’t try and force collaboration on the team. Even so, the office area is still very sparse; we just have a couple of big whiteboards on the wall. It’s quiet to the point of silence, but we schedule regular breaks where we collectively go for coffee, and this is when we start the collaboration process; sometimes moving back into the office to use the whiteboards.

When you’re building a product, at some point talking about what the product is has to give way to actually building it. An office space that favours interruptions isn’t going to help you do the work. Sometimes being left alone is what’s needed

Here’s to a productive day

Lewin

@quotidianEnnui

Image link: http://twitpic.com/dj27dh

When Culture Clash is good

How do you turn cultural differences to advantages in networking?

On my first birthday in the UK, only two months after I had moved from Brazil to London, my work colleagues gave me a great book that would help me, a foreigner, to understand the oddities of a British lifestyle. I had fun reading it but, three years later, I still put myself in awkward situations because of culture clash.

How to be British by Martyn Ford & Peter Legon

I had an interesting episode last week. After finishing a good meeting with a work partner, I approached them with a hug.

For my total embarrassment, the person realised what I was about to do and they became as stiff as a lamppost, even bending their head back in case I was also trying to give a kiss. When I realised the situation, I backed off as soon as I could, said goodbye and left thinking if I should’ve said sorry or not.

Those three seconds raised many thoughts and discussions with my inner self. So much, that I let them go on my Facebook page, maybe trying to get some support or to discover if I was being inappropriate. After 21 comments and 50 likes on my page, today I can say my conclusion is, I was just being my “brazilianself”, something that will never change, this situation will now be a practical lesson that I need to be more aware of people’s personal space and culture, especially in a work environment.

We all have our strengths. Do you know yours? I am a people person, I love to be with, to work with and to invest in people. As John Donne said “No man is an Island”. I am not trying to start a hug movement; I’m just trying to say that you have to do what you believe in. Taking this to another level, how should we make sure we innovate sharing our values without going too far? We don’t want to be known as “The person who always tries to convince everyone you are right”, do you?

When I first heard about Tech Talkfest, I noticed something different. At the end of the day, the focus was targeted on interesting people, not only in business, statistics and numbers as usual. The more you give, the more you get. When you listen to someone, you own the right to be heard back on the same level, with the same attention you gave to them. Before you realise, your return will come in different ways, from people you spent time with. It might not just be on a financial aspect, but as respect recognition.

All of that might sound like an innocent and simplistic way to think. I believe that people realise more than ever before, when you relate to them, is because you want something back or that you are genuinely interested? That happens in different age groups, in schools between teachers and students, and in friendship groups and at work. Probably the most upsetting situation I had in a work envirovement was when I shared my ideas and plans for the company I was working with. Later,  I found the projects in cupboards and files not being used. The truth was, I wasn’t being listened to, not even to be confronted. I felt terrible not because my suggestions weren’t put in place, but because the attention and feedback I had received when sharing my ideas wasn’t genuine.

Keep your values; share your ideas with interesting people. The more you share, the easier it will be to find someone that wants to join or invest in them. Respect personal spaces and extend your values.

Have a great week!

Analice Mina Collyer

@analicemina