Future Workspaces » in flow

Top rapport Connected Professionals

Marcel Bijlsma — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:02:44 +0000

Ons nieuwe toprapport “Connected Professionals” is hiermee online. Veel leesplezier!

Het rapport gaat in op belangrijke ICT gerelateerde uitdagingen voor de professional rondom “Het Nieuwe Werken” en biedt oplossingsrichtingen hoe organisaties hun medewerkers kunnen faciliteren met nieuwe werkvormen om toch “connected” te blijven met elkaar. Immers flexibilisering komt met een prijs. Collega’s weten steeds minder waar anderen mee bezig zijn. Informele kanalen veranderen of verdwijnen. Vertrouwensrelaties komen moeilijker tot stand, waardoor het delen van kennis wordt gehinderd. Het rapport gaat hier op in en biedt bovendien een innovatieve aanpak om met kleine interventies de verbondenheid tussen professionals te behouden en zelfs te activeren.

Een PDF-versie van het rapport is hier te downloaden. Wilt u liever een hardcopy, e-mail dan even.

Open publication - Free publishing - More samenwerken

Concept Game Online

Geke Ludden — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:28:54 +0000

Within Future Workspaces, many concept ideas have been developed. The Concept Pool page on this website shows some of them. To inspire knowledge workers and to gain more insight into what concepts or concept areas appeal to them, we have created the Concept Game.

The physical version of the Concept Game can be played individually or in a workshop. It is also possible to play the Concept Game online.

Click here to start playing the Concept Game online. You will be asked to select your favourite and least favourite concept ideas. Please also tell us why you have selected these concepts and submit your choices. It will help us to focus our future plans and concept development.

The online version of the Concept Game was developed by Steven Haveman.

» Start the Concept Game

Focus! The call for singletasking

external author — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:40:23 +0000

As we described in this blog post, one of the key challenges for modern knowledge workers is being in flow: reaching the mental state needed to get work done for which concentration is needed. This post of WebWorkerDaily is about singletasking: focussing on one task at a time, trying to avoid interruptions of other tasks – thus increasing the possibilities for flow. The article discusses three ways to help yourself to singletask: avoid task management tools that constantly remind you of all the other things you should do, use only one tab and use only one screen.

When I need to be in flow, I also switch off my e-mail notifications, log out from Skype and Twitter and make sure my physical desktop is clean. What do you do to get in the flow?

Workshop on 7 skills of modern knowledge workers

external author — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:57:18 +0000

Yesterday we did a workshop on the 7 skills of modern knowledge workers at the Innovatieproeftuin. After an introduction by Ruud about the challenges faced by modern knowledge workers, the audience (of about 80 people) was put to work: first they had to select what they considered the top issues modern knowledge workers are faced with. Based on the results, they then had to describe the key skills modern knowledge workers have to posses to deal with this. While many of these 80 people probably expected a session where they would sit back and hear about the 7 essential skills, it was great to see them actually working together in small groups.

Key outcomes of the session

After the groups discussed key challenges modern knowledge workers are faced with, they concluded that modern knowledge workers require the following key skills:

Being able to consider things from someone else’s perspective
Being able to stand up for yourself
Being able to reflect on your own working practices
Having self discipline
Being able to prioritize: making deliberate choices regarding what you do and how you do that
Allowing yourself time to reflect and to do things properly: investing time to gain time (later on)
Being outward oriented; relations are key. Leverage your personal and professional network
Being flexible and able to switch between different contexts

So, we came up with 8 instead of the 7 skills we promised in the title Note however that we are convinced that there is no such thing as seven universal skills of the modern knowledge worker: knowledge workers come in different flavours. Yet, we feel that these eight skills are indeed key ingredients.

The good news is that, by definition, skills can be trained. The question is how you train these skills as an individual and how, as an organisation, you can stimulate your people to master these skills.

By the way, the introduction presentation is also posted on SlideShare (in Dutch):

Zeven Vaardigheden

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: futureworkspaces workshop)

Kom naar Future Workspaces tijdens de Innovatieproeftuin!

Ruud Janssen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:31:25 +0000

Op woensdag 3 december vindt in de Van Nelle Ontwerpfabriek in Rotterdam het event “de Innovatieproeftuin” plaats. Het Future Workspaces team zal daar acte de présence geven met twee workshops (“No Hub, No Glory!” en “De Zeven Vaardigheden van de Moderne Kenniswerker”) en een studentenatelier (“Schrijven naar 2028″). Meer informatie vindt u in deze uitnodiging en op de website van de Innovatieproeftuin. Wij hopen u op 3 december in Rotterdam te zien!

Challenges of the modern worker: element 4 “on top”

Marcel Bijlsma — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:30:31 +0000

Today, together with Ruud, I dwelled further on the core challenges of the modern worker. We already introduced the core concepts of in sync, in touch and in flow, but we came up with a fourth called “in control” or maybe more appropriate “on top”. Key is that the concept of “on top” accounts for the needed craftmanship of the modern worker. As in the old times real craftsman knew their tools inside out, we think modern workers should be knowledgeable also on their tooling. This craftmanship has been lost for many end-users for some years now. People don’t really know their tools anymore: how to use them, how to customize them (or even repair them as in the old medieval craftman times). All is left to the helpdesk. As some qualitative (not scientifically in any sense) proof-of-the-pudding: many role model type of modern workers I know are indeed quite knowledgeable. They like to experiment with new tools, know somehow by heart all the advantages and disadvantages of their tools and have many stories of the cumbersome time it took them to master their installation and use.

Could it be that “on top” indeed is a core concept supporting the concepts of in sync, in touch and in flow?

Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 3: In Flow

external author — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:25:48 +0000

In the series of posts on the main challenges for the nomadic worker, this part focusses on the challenge to get work done for which concentration is needed. The constantly lurking distractions in an always connected world (combined with our information addiction) often prevent us from getting such tasks done. According to research by Csíkszentmihályi (1990), concentrated work requires a person to be “in flow“.

What is being “In Flow”?
Flow is a mental state in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990).

Why is being “In Flow” important?
Flow is needed to get work done for which deep understanding or concentration are needed.

Our research hypotheses about being “In Flow”

The ability to create flow is a special case of effective attention management.
People can be trained to recognize the need for flow, and to create the right conditions for it.
Proper tools and proper work environments can help to reach and maintain a state of flow.
Reaching and maintaining a state of flow is more difficult in an always connected world.
Reducing the number of interruptions and distracting stimuli helps to maintain flow.

Our research questions about “In Flow”

For what kinds of tasks is flow needed?
How can individuals be supported in their attention management?
How can we train people to create the right conditions for flow?
How can tools and work environments support an individual to reach and maintain a state of flow?

References

Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0-06-092043-2.

Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 0: In Sync, In Touch, In Flow

external author — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:38:15 +0000

This post is a first in a series of posts on what we(*) consider to be the main challenges for the nomadic worker (or the Web Worker, as Om Malik from Web Worker Daily calls them). This nomadic worker is someone who reaches out beyond the office, cubicle, home workspace, train or wifi café to connect to and collaborate with others doing the same things.Entrepreneurs, freelancers and employees can be nomadic workers: what matters most is the nomadic worker attitude: being authentic, social, active and open. Typically, nomadic workers have a bursty working style, work whenever and wherever fits both the task and their own preferences, and collaborate with people from their personal and professional networks with whom they share passions. Actually, the distinction between work and private is blurring for many nomadic workers, as these aspects of life get intertwined.

Based on our experiences, we consider the following three aspects of work (and life) to be the main challenges for nomadic workers:

Being in sync with the people you work with: knowing what the people you are working with are doing, where your input is needed and what that input should look like. Being in sync helps to be effective as a team.
Being in touch with your personal and professional network: the affective component of being in sync. It is the sense of “being connected” both with strong relational ties as well as with weak ties.
Being in flow, which is needed to get work done for which deep understanding or concentration are needed. Yet this concentration is easily lost in an always-connected world.

The following blog posts will go into more detail of these different aspects.
Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 1: In Sync
Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 2: In Touch
Challenges for the nomadic worker: Part 3: In Flow

(*) This is work is the result of collaborative thinking by Joost Broekens, Ruud Janssen, Marcel Bijlsma, Maurice Markslag and Robert Slagter in the context of the Future Workspaces programme.

Time defragmenter

Ruud Janssen — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:25:33 +0000

What it is: a more efficient day schedule, by grouping fragments of related work (detached actions) into larger, contiguous chunks.

How it works: a wizard analyzes your to do list (for actionable items) and your and your coworker’s agendas (for schedules and availability) to come up with an optimized schedule that requires fewer context switches.

For instance, it will group all activities that I need to do for the same project or with the same person(s) and plan these in one contiguous time slot.

Slow life

Ruud Janssen — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:00:58 +0000

A mental shift towards slowing down life’s pace.

SlowLife helps you to escape the hectic of modern times, by explicitly creating moments to reflect, to put things into perspective, or just to enjoy. Examples are: going to your work on foot, taking the time for a good and healthy breakfast with your family, taking an afternoon off just to do ‘nothing’.

From www.slowlife.nl (in Dutch):

“Slowlife staat voor zaken als genieten, leven met de seizoenen, spontane ontmoetingen, uitgebreid koken, eerlijk eten, met plezier werken, dromen, tijd nemen voor wat echt belangrijk is: een liefde, een droom, een goed doel, mensen…

Slowlife wil mensen bewegen op tijd gas terug te nemen voordat zij – en hun omgeving – voortijdig opbranden. Zij wil daarvoor ideeën en mogelijkheden aanreiken.

Symbool voor slowlife staat de molen die draait op wat de natuur hem aanbiedt. Bij harde wind staat hij te zwoegen, bij een flinke wind ijverig te wieken, bij geen wind staat hij schaamteloos te niksen. In een ‘donquichotterige’- context staat de molen ook voor dromen en ingaan tegen de heersende (‘druk, druk,druk’) stroom.”