NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
WORKTECH 19 LONDON
IN SEARCH OF THE SUPER OFFICE
Worktech 19 London, which took place on November 27-28, included insights into the sentient workplace, the
super experience, diff erent scenarios for the future of work and why we all need to slow down
The global series of Worktech
conferences is produced by the
Worktech research platform that
looks into all aspects of workplace
intelligence. Some of the content
could be viewed as containing a
little too much blue sky thinking
for the typical FM, who is generally
more concerned with the dayto
day challenges of facilities
management than the future of
work and the workplace. However,
as FMs are increasingly charged
with using digital tech to improve
their users’ experience, they would
have found that some of the key
themes at this year’s London event
were particularly relevant – not
least how the sentient workplace
can help drive smart decisions and
benefit employers by attracting and
retaining talent.
SENTIENCE AND SUPER
EXPERIENCES
As Philip Ross, Futurologist and CEO of
Cordless Group and UnWork, explained
in his presentation on the sentient
workplace, this means finding ways
of creating a space where people feel
engaged and a sense of belonging. He
added it was di icult to predict what
people want without using digitally
collected data, which is why the ideal
solution is to fuse digital tech to the
physical space.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive at the
10 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020
RSA, recapped the charity’s Future Work
Centre model of four di erent scenarios
for the future of work in 2035: the big
tech economy, the precision economy,
the exodus economy and the empathy
economy. But, he warned, we need to
avoid asking the ‘ridiculous’ question
‘how do we adapt to technology’? The
question should be how can technology
adapt and develop in order to meet
human needs?
In a particularly lively session, Jeremy
Myerson, Director at Worktech Academy
and a Research Professor for the Royal
College of Art, teamed up with Adam
Scott, founder of the global experience
masterplanning agency, FreeState,
to explore the concept of the Super
Experience. By taking a people-first
approach, they explained, you can
‘curate experiences’ within a workplace,
from increasing the chances of
serendipitous encounters to improving
users’ immersion in the space.
Nelly Ben Hayoun of Studios One,
sometimes known as the ‘director of
experiences’, had much to say about the
topic in a frenetic presentation which le
listeners ba led but strangely inspired.
One kernel of insight gleaned from her
session was the need to view an o ice
space as more of a series of organised
communities than a workplace.
USER BEHAVIOURS
The second day kicked o with Jennifer
Celesia of Haworth filling the keynote
slot originally intended for Bruce Daisley
of Twitter. She picked up on one of the
major themes of day one: the super
experience, with reference to the need to
understand behaviours. If we know how
people behave in a space, how they use
it and what they want from it, then we
can give them a better space to reflect
their needs.
She also suggested the lessons that
commercial o ice space designers
and managers can learn from retail
and other sectors. Retailers are using
ideas such as augmented mirrors to
maximise the use of space and blend
the data with actual user experiences,
while the master of user experience – the
hospitality sector – constantly seeks
feedback in constructive and subtle ways
to help improve their o er and the guest
experience.
One of the highlights of the event
was Jeremy Myerson’s interview with
Architect Sir David Adjaye, who strongly
believes in making space for reflection.
His work is focused on the concept
of creating meaning, memory and
learning, and he wants the spaces he
creates to have a vision and shape.
But fundamental to that is a sense of
community and the ability to find a
reflective space within whatever he
creates.
Jeremy Myerson’s second interview
with Ollie Olsen, Cofounder and CEO
of The O ice Group (TOG), was a
fascinating look into the success of TOG
and its evolving philosophy. It included
some startling insights, such as that TOG
does not measure the performance of
its buildings or space, with no use of
technology to analyse performance or
monitor feedback. Instead he physically
talks to customers, making a point of
using TOG spaces and working alongside
people. In this way he experiences for
himself if a space is functioning as it
should, asking people what they like or
not. As a result, TOG is expanding with
around 38 buildings open in the UK and
another 30 or so in development.
Olsen’s main premise is that coworking
and therefore workplace generally is
driven by what employees want. If their
corporate space isn’t good enough, they
will work in coworking space. Hence, we
need to trust them. That was wrapped
up in Leeson Medhurst’s explanation of
the report and research that his team
at 360 Workplace had done alongside
The United Workplace and Worktech
Academy into the e ects of leadership
and leadership style. His conclusion
agreed with Olsen – we need to trust the
employees. He argued that despite the
research indicating that leadership is the
single most important factor in driving
workplace productivity, designers don’t
make that connection.
TIME TO SLOW DOWN
The panel discussion led by Philip Ross
between Peter Otto of Condeco and Neil
Riddell of Macquarie Bank essentially
covered the same ‘tech innovation
is a good thing’ theme, Riddell did
make the brilliant point that you can
have too much data. You only need to
measure certain stu , otherwise you are
measuring for the sake of it.
Which brought us to the closing
20-minute session that could easily have
been a whole day and deserved to be
heard by a bigger audience: Richard
Watson, Futurologist from Imperial
College, talking about slowing down.
He said that despite the reduction
in working hours, 40 hours now, on
average, compared to around 70 hours
in the 19th century, we are far too busy
and never switch o . We need to do
less and achieve more. We need to slow
down, physically and metaphorically.
Watson argued strongly that concepts
like procrastination, staring out of the
window and thinking and so on are not
a waste of time but are actually good
reflective processes where we find our
best ideas. He didn’t make the overt
connection back to David Adjaye, but
it was the same argument. Instead
of assuming the ‘busy’ person racing
around the o ice going to and from
meetings is the most productive, why
not consider the person thinking over a
problem while staring into space?
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