guide book cover

User GuideThe Self-Created Office

User GuideDirection for the Self-Created Workplace

Based on everything we’ve learned, we see the need for a scalable workplace redevelopment guide being unmet. Can we leverage simple tools, methods and personal insight to facilitate the further development of the self-created office?

Can we support the natural inclination for self-created workspaces?Using several previous project and process guides as case studies, we believe we can produce an early version of a Self-Created Office guide. In theory, this guide will help facilitate the redevelopment of existing workspaces. Or guide research for new workspaces. A key differentiator for this guide is be the inclusion of tools and elements from co-design and human centered design methodologies. We believe it is necessary to engage the primary stakeholders, the workers, in redeveloping their own office. Through this direct engagement and process facilitation, they can bring their deep level of insight and cultural knowledge to bear on the project.

We strongly believe that it is necessary to move beyond simply designating a certain number of square footage per employee workstation. We see sharing the design process with the workers themselves as a great opportunity to further optimize workspaces, and to continue learning about how people move through the range of work modes.

This of course, is not the final version. This is somewhere between iteration 1.5 and 2.0. It might be best thought of as a functional draft. Each tool and method has been deployed and improved upon at least twice within the context of office redevelopment. Substantial improvement and innovation is still necessary to make this guide more valuable. However, by packaging the resources, research and concepts together, we hope to present a more comprehensive value proposition.

At it’s most basic level there are three steps to developing your own self-created workspace. Those three steps are discovery – understanding – action. Of course this is an over simplification of how a new space can be created, but is a valid framework for beginning.

Tips:Formal powerpoint presentations work fine, but you can also post all of your work on the walls and have a ‘mingle event’ where people check our the concepts and have informal conversations.

Tips:Analysis is simply studying and identifying the relationship between differnt pieces of information. Simply begin by ‘connecting the dots’.

Tips:It’s very important to delay criticism of concepts. Rather than criticise an idea, play off it and use it as fodder to create a new concept and branch out in a new direction.

We have found 30 minutes to be a great beginning timeframe for a brainstorming session.

DiscoverIn some ways this step is already underway when the idea of office redevelopment comes about. Most people acknowledge that their workspace is not ideal and could use some improvements. One key element of the discover phase is taking the time to step back and gain a fresh perspective, especially if you have been in a space for an extended period of time.

It can be helpful to look at the space as if using a telephoto lens to zoom in and out. One needs to be able to create clear pictures of both micro and macro scales to grasp small details, but also be able to understand how the details interact in the ‘big picture’.

UnderstandHow do you digest everything you learned during the discover phase and what it means? This process will help to create a clearer picture of all the pieces collected during the discovery process. It provides the opportunity to digest the gathered information and further develop insight for effective redevelopment.

In some ways this stage can be thought of as the point where everything converges. It helps to create a bridge between learning and acting where many concepts and possibilities are in play.

ActNow that you’ve created an in-depth understanding, what can you do with it? At this point we can examine the feasibility and viability of the concepts that were developed during the understanding phase. This stage is also what sets this process apart from a work place report or survey. The point is that active steps are taken within the constraints uncovered during earlier points of the project.

Here is where you make things real. Whether it’s creating a new office process or protocol or re-creating the space where you work. All the digested analysis is transformed from strategy to a new reality.

Tips:Have people initial the note if you have more people in your group than sticky note colors.

Regardless of position or job title within the company, each vote carries the same weight and value.

Tips:scenarios can be written as stories. They can be acted out in ‘performance research’. Paper cut outs or little games can be used to tell the alternate reality of a scenario.

Why a guide?What is the goal of this work?

The goal of this process and guide is to provide office workers with the tools and

resources to make meaningful changes to the work environment. This method

supports the bottom up, organic nature of work habits. Our field research validates

our hypothesis that individuals and groups of workers can self-create high

performance workspaces. This guide can help create the support they need to:

focus, collaborate, learn and socialize.

It almost seems overly simple to say ‘each person knows what is best for

themselves’. While we are not suggesting that professional office development

and design is passé, we are suggesting that we need to move beyond the

top-down structure of development. The employees, the users of the space must

be engaged in the entire process from concept through completion.

Once you have completed the redevelopment of you office remember to

celebrate! Invite people from throughout your organization who can come and

appreciate your work and collaboration.

What tools will you need? Don’t worry about having a fancy collection of tools and resources. This guide is design to be used with simple available tools and on a very low to non-existent budget. Once the work is underway, people become interested in the work and often discover some financial resources to support the project and workplace redevelopment.• camera• post-it notes• large format post-it’s or pads of paper• medium / large white board• online or paper survey• interview questions / guide• personal note pads• model making materials (raid your children’s lego collection)• dry erase or regular markers• space blueprint (ask facilities) or a tape measure• guide instructions• an open mind• some level of tacit management approval

Disclaimer:Remeber, this is version 1.5 or earlier. This guide is far from complete. You are strongly encouraged to innovate and add to the methods listed above. This is only designed to give you a place to start and show intrinsic value in redeveloping a space. The rest is up to you. Best of luck and don’t forget to have some fun!