The topic we get asked about the most (after data warehousing) is our office situation. We do have an office. The address isn’t hard to find, but the post office won’t deliver there. That’s because our office is online via the Kumospace platform. Since so many people are curious about it, this issue of The Gestalt Gathering invites you into our virtual work space for a glimpse at what it looks like and some of the reasons why it has become real for us.
People Make the Place
The other day I went into the office over the weekend. No one was there, of course, and I got that weird, lonely gut feeling that you usually get as soon as you turn on the lights. Only I didn’t have to turn on the lights. That would be weird because this is our office:
Our office is like a Sims game. It simulates the office experience on a screen. Still, I got that same lonely feeling over the weekend when I was working, even though I was just looking at my computer screen. I don’t know why. But I did. Maybe because it’s become a real office for us. The place where we go to meet, work, have coffee, and connect.
That same week, something else happened in our virtual office. I’m not proud of it, but it will illustrate my point. I was in a meeting with two other people on our team. During the discussion, I got annoyed, stomped out of the virtual meeting room, and went back to my virtual desk. Childish, yes. Did I need to apologize, yes. But looking back, it’s pretty funny that this virtual office of ours gives us the ability to act out – in good and bad ways.
I remember from my last company how one team member worked in another state, while the rest of us worked from our Westlake, Texas, office. We had a friendly, but competitive, fantasy football game going on. The losers each week were subject to some friendly teasing, as they had to do whatever we pulled out of a hat. One week, losers had to be a bathroom attendant for an hour, standing by the door, welcoming everyone, etc. Our one remote teammate was in the losing group that week. He wanted out of it, I’m sure, but I set up a desk and got him on video so he could join in the fun, too.
Here at Gestalt, no one is in a physical office. Our entire team works remotely. The ongoing challenge is how do we support our company’s culture through events like fantasy football competitions in a virtual environment.
Well, one great idea came from our VP of Design that our “Office Mom” implemented for us – an Office of the Month competition. We decorate our
virtual office spaces by the 15th of each month and announce the winner on the last Monday. Like a neighborhood Yard of the Month competition, winners get a sign for their office and a trophy.
Turns out I’m as bad at decorating a virtual office as I am keeping my yard, but SO many people created amazing virtual offices. Take a look:
Along with Kumospace, we use Teams for meetings with people outside of the company. The same thing you’d do if an in-person meeting wasn’t feasible. We do, however, use our virtual office for chatting – no Slack – to make it feel like we’re actually talking at the office. And it does feel that way.
Why we picked Kumospace
I’m on the board of a company that uses it, and they spoke highly of the platform. I was open to the idea and said let’s try it. At first, there was some concern that people wouldn’t use it or wouldn’t want to use it. Then again, we weren’t asking anyone to drive an hour in traffic every morning and evening. All they had to do was be online “in the office.” It seemed reasonable enough. Plus, it’s not meant to be a way of checking up on anyone. Our goal is to make a better, more connected company – so that’s good for everyone.
I’m sure others in the company would answer differently, but I’m writing this, so here’s…
What I like most about our virtual office:
- I love seeing people “walk” into the office everyday, with their little faces chugging along to their office. It makes me smile. It’s so much better than just looking to see if they’re on Slack.</li
- I love the tech/customer standup meeting room. It has a variety of chairs, because (I hope ) everyone has picked which type of chair they’d like to sit in.</li
- I love shutting my door when I’m in a meeting.</li
- I love hearing someone knock on my door.</li
- I love ringing the gong when we get a sale.</li
- I love seeing someone else on the team use the Megaphone – which makes your face huge across the office (like the Wizard of Oz).</li
- I like seeing the “relaxing” space – typically a koi pond or pumpkin patch or fire pit. It relaxes me when I see it.</li
- I like that we can have multiple floors – but I’m not looking forward to being so big we need them. I like seeing everyone across one
floor. Ohhhh, I had the exact same feeling in a physical office!</li - I love seeing our team picture up in one of our meeting rooms.</li
- I love seeing when someone is drinking something (shows up as a coffee cup and slowly goes down).
What I think needs some work:
- The mobile experience isn’t there. Kumospace is really meant to be an “in the office” experience, which I get. But, I do wish the messaging part were a little more enhanced.
I don’t know if Kumospace is the answer to working from home for everyone, but I do love all the things about it related to culture, and it helps us with that. I also love creative solutions and Kumospace gives us that as well.
What are you doing to stay connected in this WFH enviro? Let’s get together – online or off – and compare notes!