Once upon a time

Once upon a time … not so long ago, in a design land known as workplace, I used to regularly write blogs, whitepapers and attend round table events as a guest speaker, where the good people of the land would gather to hear the tales of offices past and of dreams for workplace futures.

During this time, fantastical tales were being told of scooters, slides, ball pits and beer taps and of their instant healing powers for the recovery of a sick, sad and ailing industry… and verily people were drawn to these cures and seduced by their playfulness and memories of childhoods past and the nay sayers were chastised for their inability to see the Emperor’s new clothes.

Many a nay sayer found that their words of caution were lost in the noise and disruption of open plan and their insistence that a one size design solution would not fit all was brushed aside in an attempt to keep up with the Joneses. And so it became, that workplace environments all began to look the same and the owners were sad for they had lost their identity and the people of their work lands did not know who they were or what they stood for and a great wailing could be heard across the cavernous yet curiously half empty boardrooms of the land.

During this time, this particular nay sayer long of hair and even longer of tooth had become disillusioned by the snake oil elixir being repeatedly peddled as the cure all, and while still delivering his cautionary tale of inefficient and costly design solutions lost his blogging appetite and retreated from the world of social media.

Having recently made a move to a new and inspirational working land I have rediscovered my drive to once again offer my views and experience based on over three decades of designing workspaces and offer an opinion different to the constant repeated twitter posts and regurgitated so called industry insights from self-appointed industry soothsayers, rehashing the same prophesies dragged up from some ten years previous.

Like all things in life, needs, wants and desires change and so it is with workspace design, which has long since moved on from simplistic choices such as cellular office versus open plan or deciding whether to opt for a breakout lounge rather than a formal reception.

For my first foray into design comment for a while I thought rather than tackle a component, I’d start big and look at the whole approach to understanding a work environment. As there is currently a lot of noise in the world about big data it seems right to explore the importance of fact. You’ll find no Presidential alternative truths here, just the facts ma’am nothing but the facts… or will you? Just what is a fact? It’s something that is known to be consistent with objective reality and can be proven to be true with evidence. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience.

Living as we do in a time where change has never happened at such a pace (which will by the way only get quicker) and with such a broad generational spread working within the same environment it’s become increasingly important to understand what makes a workplace tick, what makes it efficient and what, above all else, makes it somewhere that staff want to be.

A quick google search on evidence-based design, for that is the term we shall use to describe the good that will prevail over evil (other search engines are available), pulls up an incredible number of businesses and organisations who have leapt upon the data bandwagon. However, further drilling down into the processes and outcomes highlights some familiar internet traits. Most quote almost word for word the exact same definitions, action justifying stats and cite the exact same source information. The situation is even more evident when you look at Twitter with posts not even trying to re-badge surveys and reports but simply supplying a link through their own front page… laziness in the extreme.

I question whether these plagiarists truly understand or believe the importance of evidence or whether they are as I suspect purely paying lip service to the topic seeing it as another route or data highway to market. Perhaps they are applying some big data speak and using fuzzy logic. That being an approach to computing based on degrees of truth instead of usual true/false (1 or 0) Boolean algebra. Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent pieces of work out there, but a significant number of others are piggy backing the efforts of a few. The danger is that there are so many ways to interpret the results of these studies and that without checking the background data, history or its provenance its all too easy to misunderstand the outputs. That said, gathering evidence on the current working environment and work day process is vital to making a truly informed decision but needs to be done on a case by case basis.

Why is it important? Well firstly workplace involves the two most costly aspects of a business, its staff, about 85% of the cost and the physical space that they inhabit. Mistakes are expensive and difficult to rectify. Secondly, with the adoption of flexible working methods it’s becoming increasingly important that a workplace creates a sense of belonging, brand reinforcement and ultimately be a space that attracts and retains talent and thirdly, with the move to more agile activity-based design solutions that the work environment reflects the demands of the staff and contributes toward the health and wellbeing of all.

How is the information gathered? There are six basic ways in which data can be generated, each having a slightly different focus and outcome. Each method can be undertaken in isolation or as part of a more comprehensive study. Broadly, the six methods are, online anonymous survey / one to one interviews / occupational study with heat & motion sensors / occupational study utilising visual observation / visual walkthrough study observing occupation and function / staff workshops. Some will log only numbers and time, which is of restricted benefit, others add function, such as high focus individual work or low focus collaboration and others the hearts and mind piece, the likes, dislikes and frustrations that wouldn’t be picked up from a simple count or observation.

What are the pitfalls and dangers? The data only tells you what users are doing in the existing space. It’s quite possible that behaviours are such as they will have been adapted to suit the facilities that are available. It doesn’t necessarily indicate what is required. Yes, it is a massive aid in understanding a business and the requirements of its staff, but the facts shouldn’t be taken at face value. The mistake made by those who mindlessly reuse the stats published on the web. Its vitally important to apply common sense.

What are the benefits? Evidence-Based Design is still hugely under utilised. A recent survey on evidence-based design identified that 80% of respondents understood the need for data gathering, yet 71% admitted not undertaking the work. Just as baffling only 5% undertook a post-occupancy survey. By studying how staff interact, collaborate and meet, a considered design can be created to best support staff in their day to day functions, positively influencing their working habits, assist a business in identifying the amount of space it requires to accommodate a specified number of workers and above all produce the hard facts required and the justification to make an informed decision. An additional benefit to the data gathering process is that it gives staff a voice, gets them engaged and ultimately, they will repay the business with a positive buy in to the design solution.

And so I commit this epistle to the great modern day town crier that is the internet and the ever so precious media that is printing. I would be more than happy to discuss further how an evidence-based design approach can benefit you, your business and staff to live happy ever after…

#evidencebased #workplace #officedesign #wellbeing