Since 5 years I have been operating my small consulting company globally without offices (why pay the overhead when we spend most of our time at clients’ offices?!?). It always seems strange to acquaintances, but that’s the way many businesses run today. In this example, ‘The company behind WordPress is closing its gorgeous San Francisco office because its employees never show up‘.
Working from home or on the road is the new normal. I hope that architects will take into account this requirement for home offices a bit more systematically. Traditional businesses would need to notice. In large organizations I still find people who can’t work remotely using video conferencing tools on their laptops (or even still using desktops!). What a waste!
I am not saying that having a co-located team is not appropriate in certain instances. For example I am deeply convinced that continuous team geographical colocation is an essential success factor in project execution and probably also in certain instances of creative endeavors. But in most cases, temporary offices can be rented out when they are needed. And office space needs to be more flexible – for example project team co-location can be more effective outside the traditional organization offices.
Flexible offices are the future, as is remote work across time zones and locations. Traditional office spaces are due for obsolescence. And this will happen sooner than some might expect!
