14 May 09 What is coworking?
So what exactly is coworking? It seems there are a few definitions floating around. The coworking community blog says:
Coworking is a movement to create a community of cafe-like collaboration spaces for developers, writers and independents.
The coworking wiki adds:
Or, it’s like this: start with a shared office and add cafe culture. Which is the opposite of most modern cafes.
WiseGeek has a little more to say on the subject, starting with:
Coworking is a method of collaborative working for independent professionals which provides them with a comfortable and professional space in which to work, along with the companionship of like-minded people. Many independent contractors and traveling professionals work in hotels, cafes, and other less than ideal spots, and coworking is designed to address this by creating a space specifically for people who prefer to work nomadically. Coworking spaces can be found in many major cities around the world, and more are constantly opening.
Well, we have a slightly different definition:
Coworking is a flexible, productive, social and community-minded work philosophy, that just happens to occur in the same space. Coworking comprises both community and space.
Coworking as Community
Coworking can mean “collaborative working”, “community working”, working alongside each other, working in co-operation with others, working together, competing, sharing, joining, and many other possibilities. But fundamentally it’s about community - bringing people together with different views, backgrounds, work and social habits and encouraging dialogue and engagement. It’s about listening and feeding of our collective ideas. It’s about choosing to be small, agile and work on what drives you, but have access to the social and business structures you need to make a real business, not just a lifestyle one. It’s about finding like-minded people to spur you on and contrarian minds to challenge your assumptions. It’s about waking up every day and wanting to go to (co)work, even if you plan on surfing the Internet all day. If we get the community right, you’d prefer to turn up than lounge at home in your PJs. You’d rather top yourself than turn up to a dreary, isolating serviced office for sure!
Coworking as Space
To make the most effective community for getting work done, and socialising well requires a physical space. There’s already enough supply online for virtual communities - enough anyway that adding another one isn’t likely to improve your life significantly. Adding a space in which you can work, socialise and stimulate your mind (and caffeine system!), if done in the right way, should drastically improve your levels of motivation, happiness, productivity and senses of belonging and intellectual stimulation. It should improve business outcomes too - the space is as much about connecting with people as it is working with or alongside them.
OK, all that philosophy is nice and all, but what do I actually get?
For that, you’d be better off checking out the other tabs on this site. In short, an office like no other, with high ceilings, natural light, fresh air, open spaces and a balance between calm and busy. The space itself will facilitate chilling out, solo work, team work, computer work, whiteboard work, meetings and more. There will be no private offices, just a meeting room. The rest will be open plan, but segmented in a way that maintains balance and harmony in the space. There’ll be couches for chilling or working; a games area; a kitchen area; large tables for cafe-style work, individual workstations and carrels for privacy or computer use, individual desks with personal storage rollers - all mixed up in a dynamic, flexible space. The space is what you want it to be, but within the limits of our philosophical grounds - no cube farms!
