Archive
it’s not the third place; it’s an alternative second place at least, but maybe we should call it the fourth place?
Have we established the Fourth Place? A few weeks ago I mused here about developing the Second Place and commented about the hi-jacking of Ray Oldenburg’s well established Third Place for other purposes. This debate flared up again on Twitter at the end of last week where, under the hash tag #worktech, there was more discussion about misuse of both the term and the location. Read more…
Never mind apportioning blame; just sort it out
Over recent years there seems to have developed a huge blame culture; it’s always someone else’s fault when things go wrong and the desire to point fingers is very strong. When you look at cases such as the Olympic security or West Coast Main Line contracts we can all see that there have been apparent failures, but try to cut through all of the media and political rhetoric and what do you actually have? Read more…
the office of the future needs to be flexible and productive; but what does that mean?
I saw a headline that said the office of the future would need to be flexible and productive, but that’s a bit like saying that a house has to have walls and a roof. Let’s examine those words in more detail though. Read more…
things that go bump in the night – a Halloween special tale from the facilities front line
“We’ve lost about 100 yards of fence”. The words were succinct and, as it turned out, accurate, but when you hear them on the ‘phone at 0130 having been woken from a deep sleep to take the call they take a moment or so to register.
Outside the wind howled and the rain lashed on the windows. It was a foul night, but I was on call so I told the security guard who had rung me that I would be with him in about ten minutes and dragged on some warm clothes. My waterproof hi-viz gear was in the back of the car and I was quickly on my way. Read more…
getting facilities management out of the closet and into the mainstream
I am often asked what I miss most about no longer being an operational Facilities Manager, and I have a two part answer; on the up side I am glad I no longer have to put up with sitting at interminable meetings where the chair and many of the participants are ill prepared, but on the down side I miss making things happen. Read more…
the importance of being educated
I always find it sad when I hear people say that they’ve never used anything that they learned at school, because I have found what I learned in my school days to have been a help in so many ways. Read more…
with feet of clay it pays to tread carefully
I started this a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t quite finish and wrote a different Musing for that week, although it might have been quite prophetic given the news over the last week. I had been reading a few biographies and had been struck by one thread; whilst all of the people concerned have been highly regarded by some, or many, they have been flawed as individuals. Read more…
developing the second place; more thoughts on the office of the future
Continuing last week’s thinking about the workplace, but here using the definitions of First, Second and Third places as defined by Ray Oldenburg, with the First Place being home, Second being where we work and the Third Place as being somewhere between the two as Mr Oldenburg describes. (Celebrating the Third Place: Inspiring Stories about the “Great Good Places” at the Heart of Our Communities. New York: Marlowe & Company. ISBN 978-1-56924-612-2). Read more…
mid week musings around the water cooler @tomorrrowsfm
Check out my contribution to the Water Cooler debate in Tomorrow’s FM talking about London2012 and the G4S security provision controvesy.
where will we work in the future?
Is the office dead? No, not that TV show, the real place that many of us have worked in over the years. Read more…
I support this charity
British Blogs
the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke 