Category: Culture

While evaluating coworking options here in Portland, Oregon, I have discovered that the coworking pricing shows an expectation of a certain momentum that I don’t have. Yeah, that’s pretty vague. I’ll explain how I work, and then how the pricing models clash with that. (Photo: Tyler Ingram)

Most of my work is pretty self-contained. Setting up a server and some software for a specific purpose, writing code as necessary. Implementing reliable operations so those servers don’t surprise anyone with downtime or excessive resource usage. Evaluating business plans and investment pitches and reporting the relevant facts and opinions. For all of these tasks, I can stare at a screen, read a little and type a little, and the work is done.

Sometimes, though, I need to build a team for a particular task, normally because the window of opportunity is shorter than I can manage alone, or the work has a broad scope and some of tasks require results of a quality that I can’t provide myself. So I hire contractors, explain the goals and give them their assignments. Sometimes they can work alone, just syncing up at a few milestones along the way. Sometimes we need to be in the same place to get the work done properly, without wasted time waiting for replies or interruptions like a ringing phone. I turn my ringer off when I need to concentrate, which prevents both interruptions and quick communication. Wouldn’t it be great if we could work in the same room‽ (Photo: Emdot)

Let’s say that I have an office with a door at Ye Olde Coworking Place. Let’s say that I share that with some people I work with occasionally, people who also want a place with a door. We either pay for the space (number of people is constrained by the space, bunk-desks not being a thing that exists, as far as I know) or we pay per person. Some places have a per-person ‘initiation fee’. How does this work when I need one more person in my space for a project that may last a couple weeks or a couple months? What if one of my ‘permanent’ office-mates is going to be travelling, freeing up the space for a different person to work in his space?

Fortunately most coworking spaces in Portland are local, and local usually means adaptable. We will be testing that soon!

Dan Morris started with a philosophical post (Working Spaces in a Knowledge Economy: Part 1) on shared spaces. I’m going to start in the trenches and work my way up.

I’m restarting my search for a mildly social workplace, one that doesn’t require me to submit to a manufactured ‘company culture’ or keep specific hours or write TPS reports. One that stimulates, challenges and gently corrects me as necessary.

When I realized that I was not suited to my (any?) job about 17 years ago, I had a fully equipped home office but did most of my work in clients’ offices. That worked well; I was in the Silicon Valley then and my clients had great amenities for employees and contractors alike. For example, Intuit’s culture encouraged everyone to join the Friday beer parties and most groups included contractors in their ship parties. I really enjoyed the breakfast burritos from the cafeteria too, and Fiesta Del Mar was right around the corner when I felt like eating some amazing mole poblano for lunch with a coworker or two. Many of my clients made working from their offices similarly attractive.

As I started working for distant companies as a remote worker, I did more of my work in my home office. With a new baby in the house, I was never completely ‘at work’. And with the computer just down the hall, I was rarely completely ‘at home’. It all worked out OK, but I didn’t feel as engaged in either role.

When we moved to Portland, Oregon in 2002, I separated work and home. My office was a small unit in the same high-rise where we lived, and we didn’t even have internet service at home. That was a great change, mostly. We moved out of that building in 2012 but I kept the office, commuting 20 minutes by streetcar each day. That really felt like ‘going to work’. But something was still missing.

What was missing from both my home office and my small remote office? Other people, aka coworkers.

In about 2008 I started making a concerted effort to meet the people around me who were doing similar or related work. Fortunately Portland is full of interesting and competent people! We’d meet groups of 2 to 12, in coffee shops and brewpubs and at the seemingly endless unconferences at CubeSpace to work or plan or just to have company while focusing on a task with our headphones on. Over time, some of those people have gotten jobs, some have started companies, and some of those have sold their companies so they can do it again. That core group of 15-20 people has fragmented, though I can safely say that we have all retained our high regard of each other.

So I’m restarting my search for a mildly social workplace, one that doesn’t require me to submit to a manufactured ‘company culture’ or keep specific hours or write TPS reports. One that stimulates, challenges and gently corrects me as necessary. I don’t expect to get subsidized breakfast burritos again, but I do expect to find a great group of coworkers.

Unless you are in a McDonald’s, you won’t hear this question asked. For better or worse, the answer defaults to yes. Do you want cheese in your nan at the Indian restaurant? Too bad, you’re getting cheese. In nan. Never mind that there isn’t any cheese in Indian cuisine (ignoring paneer, because it’s not identified as a western-style cheese by anyone I know); it’s France, therefore you must have that avec fromage!

In the US, people choose their wine first by the varietal (grape), then the winemaker, then the region where the grapes were grown. In France, the region is most important. The winemaker is important too. Looking at the varietal at all (as a consumer) is a relatively recent development.

I lived in Sonoma County (one of California’s prime wine-growing regions) for 9 years, and discovered wine there. My company is named for my favorite varietal. I’m a varietal-first drinker. The French way feels less likely to consistently result in a wine I’ll enjoy.
Continue reading “Dirt vs. Varietal”