Quickr	Google Docs	Ning	Zoho wiki	Office Live	Box .net	Huddle	Con fluence	Base camp
Logging in
Https	?
New workspace
According to template					(1)
Access rights
My workspaces
Documents			(2)
Action points
Traceability	(3)
Notification change
Notification action points
Schedule
Online status
Chat	(4)
Knowledge base
Free	(5)					(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)
User friendly
Web application
Dutch
Ads free			(10)
Standard	DFNAS	DF	NS	DN	DFNAS	DF	DFAS	D	DA

About the demands: based on the way the customer would like to work together with people from other organizations, we have formulated the following demands on the virtual workspace. The words must, should and could in the description indicate the importance of the requirement:

• Logging in. The workspace must be secure and people need to log in before being able to access information.
• Https. Communication over the internet should be secure.
• New workspace: It must be possible to create new sub-workspaces that contain information on a specific topic/case, with specific access rights.
• According to template: It should be possible to create new workspaces according to a template to create a standard structure or to fill them with standard documents.
• Access rights. It must be possible to indicate per sub-workspace which people or groups have access (edit, view, no access)
• My workspaces. It should be possible to have an overview of the workspaces (topics/cases) you are working on.
• Documents. It should be possible to upload documents (Word or PDF) as part of a workspace. In the next phase of our experiment this must be possible.
• Action points. It must be possible to keep track of action points as part of a workspace.
• Traceability. It must be possible to see who made what changes to the workspace.
• Notification change. Users must be able to receive notifications of changes to the workspace.
• Notification action points. Users must be able to receive notifications of changes to the action points.
• Schedule. It should be possible to keep track of scheduled meetings in the workspace.
• Online status. It could be nice to see the online status of other workspace members in the workspace.
• Chat. It should be possible to exchange chat messages with other users in the workspace.
• Knowledge base. It should be possible to create a knowledge base at the highest level of the workspace, with questions and answers that all registered users can access.
• Free. The workspace should be free to use.
• User friendly. The interface of the workspace must be intuitive, clear and appealing (subjective scale).
• Web application. Users must be able to access the workspace via the internet using their web browser.
• Dutch. The workspace should have a Dutch interface.
• Ads. The workspace should not show ads.
• Standard: While it is often possible to store information in a workspace (for instance, notes about a document can be placed on a wiki), this shows which types of information (relevant in the pilot) the workspace recognizes.
  • Documents
  • Folders
  • Notes
  • Action points / tasks
  • Scheduled meetings / events

Notes:

1. Only via pre-defined templates
2. Only via external applications: Ning Apps
3. Only in the Quickr wiki
4. Requires integration with Lotus Sametime
5. The costs are €71 per person per year
6. The costs are $15 per person per month
7. Costs start at $200 per month, see http://www.huddle.net/huddle-price-plans/
8. See the options at http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing.jsp
9. See the pricing options at http://basecamphq.com/signup
10. Paid option

When the Concept Game is played by more people in an organization, it can help that organization determine what aspects of future ways of working are important for the people in that organization. The Concept Game can be played in a workshop of 8 to 10 people. In the workshop, people first select their own favourite and not favourite concepts. Secondly, the choices are explained and discussed by the group. Finally, a coherent view is created on what issues and opportunities of future ways of working are most important for the organization. You can download a flyer about the Future Workspaces Concept Game Workshop here.

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

Alike the Projective case we organized a ‘marketplace’, covering the walls of the meeting room with posters containing screenshots and descriptions (what is it? what can you do with it? what are benefits and drawbacks?) of various social media. It was fun to do this, especially since some colleagues had strong opinions in favour or against certain social media - lively discussions just had to follow. Surprisingly, it took a workshop like this for some colleagues to realize that they were already using the same social medium!

The second aim of the workshop was to initiate a series of trials, each trial centered around one social medium and lasting for period of two months. We therefore asked our group members to cast their votes: five bonus points to be freely assigned to those social media that they liked, thought to be beneficial, were curious about, etc.; and five penalty points to be assigned to those social media that they disliked, felt uncomfortable about, couldn’t see the use of, etc. During a brief coffee break we then summarized the results.

Much of the discussion that followed after the coffee break focused our first trial: should it be Twitter or Yammer? Proponents of Yammer argued that it has useful functionality that makes it very well suited as a platform to exchange knowledge and to find experts. Proponents of Twitter (four colleagues were already using it actively)  argued that Yammer enforces an arbitrary division between one’s professional network inside and outside the organization, practically forcing one to use Twitter and Yammer side by side.

For this reason the choice was made to start the first trial with Twitter. Over the next two months we and our expertise group colleagues will use the tool, regularly evaluating its impact on knowledge sharing. We will conclude the two month trial period with a workshop where we will also pick a tool for the next two-month trial. By that time, expect on update on this post.

However, some of our collegues saw a different use for this screen. They sat together with five people to go through an extensive database. To me this is a good example of how the right tools can stimulate people to work together in an efficient way.

Instant gratification

As an extra incentive for people to send an SMS, we send them an instant response back via SMS. This response shows the daily statistics and can even be accompanied by a “tip of the day”, related to the topic at hand. Such a response provides instant gratification and confirms to the sender that her vote has been processed.

Playful illustration

Based on the votes received, we calculate daily averages and plot those as a weather report. Instead of just presenting numerical values, we intentionally have chosen for a somewhat playful illustration. Our expectation is that this playfulness helps the respondents not to consider the feedback as offensive or patronising, but rather as a means to gain insight in how they feel about the topic at hand.

Design

Tips and tricks

• Store the SMS number in the phones of the team members; alternatively, if you have their mobile numbers, send them an SMS from the number, with a message to store the number.
• Put coloured note cards with the SMS number and the question at the locations where you want people to SMS. So, in case of a question about the effectiness of meetings, make sure their are note cards in the meeting rooms.
• Regularly publish the images also by e-mail or via their Intranet, apart from continually displaying results on centrally located screens
• Use digital photoframes to display results in smaller rooms. We use the Vodafone 520, as this photoframe allows us to update the image via MMS, even in a secure environment.

Imagine you would like to discuss an important matter with a specific colleague. You walk into her room only to discover that she is not in. You pick up your mobile phone, search for the phone number and call her. However, she rejects the phone call. You waste precious time walking to her room, your matter is not discussed and possibly you are annoyed by the fact that your colleague did not react. On the other hand your colleague is, due to your call, interrupted from her current activity. A major reason for such situations is that your context and the context of your colleague do not match. In the example above, the location and current activity of you and your colleague do not match. Nevertheless, you still would like to discuss the matter with her. You can either stay monitoring the room of your colleague or start a meeting scheduling process (for example using Outlook). Both processes require your attention and information to judge whether the right conditions exist for the meeting to take place.

We envision a system, which we call AYEC (‘At Your Earliest Convenience’), that facilitates ‘schedule and forget’’: A user can schedule a meeting and specify conditions under which this meeting can take place. He does not have to monitor these conditions (‘forget’), since the system evaluates when the specified conditions become true and subsequently notifies the intended participants. In this way, the system takes over the monitoring task.

For example, you would like to sit down and have a brief talk with two colleagues on a specific topic. You specify in the system which colleagues you would like to meet and specify that all of you should be in the same office, available for interruption and working on the same project. Currently, one of these colleagues is out of the building. When the system detects this colleague enters the building the specified meeting conditions become true and the system sends everybody a request to meet.

AYEC is enabled by evolutions in available sensory devices and the rise of ubiquitous communications. AYEC uses collected information to adapt to the situations of users. This paradigm is called context-awareness. This paradigm is currently being explored in the Future Workspaces project by Tom Broens, Cristian Hesselman and Maarten Wegdam of Novay.