"That's not a stick, that's a log"

Contents Preface

001

Introduction

013

01. Our perfect storm.

017

02. Why ‘slowly, slowly, then all at once’ can help us anticipate change.

025

03. Recgonising that we’re moving from a hierarchical society to

031

a network society helps us understand why we need to do things differently.

04. Four key inventions that shaped the office for 100 years.

039

05. We don’t see the future very clearly.

045

06. Our blocks to blue sky thinking.

053

07. We’re smart cookies – right?

057

08. Why Boomers won’t leave the stage.

071

09. Why Tyler Cowen’s assertion that ‘Millennials are on track to

079

be the least entrepreneurial generation in recent history’ is a stop-you-in-your-tracks insight.

10. Why under-30s are spending their money differently.

083

11. Why work no longer only happens in the workplace.

089

12. Why concepts such as touchdown, clubhouse and hoteling served

095

us well, but have now had their day.

13. The new importance of ‘made by hand’, and the adoption of

099

‘comfortable & homey’ workplace.

14. Why Biophilic design has come of age.

103

15. Why Accenture’s organisational idea of the ‘liquid workplace’

111

can be an important element of office design.

16. Why the 3Ps should always be central to office design.

117

17. How neuroscience research yielded powerful insights about our

123

three modes of attention, and why we shouldn’t ignore them.

18. Why a more diverse workplace is a smarter and more

127

successful workplace.

19. How the reduction of office footprints can be the stimulus for more

135

engaging workspaces.

20. Why we may need to get better at learning from the past.

143

30 Books... research and inspiration

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Colophon

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20 observations & insights...

“ That’s

not a stick, that’s a log! ” My English pointer loves sticks and when she finds a good one will either run around with it in her mouth or drop it at my feet, begging me to throw it for her. When I was in the thick of writing this book I took her for a walk and she brought me such a massive stick that I said, ‘That’s not a stick, that’s a log!. I instantly thought it would make a great title.

Just as my dog gets overrun by her optimism and overexcitement, so it seems we do by our ability to jump straight in and run with new technologies and design ideas, when a more tempered response and uptake would be better in the long run. (Both for us and for the development of the technology and design solutions we adopt.)

The phrase also serves as a metaphor for our increasingly fastpaced technological world. Everything’s easy in hindsight, but who, in the heat of the moment, knows which is the perfectly formed, enjoyable stick with great running potential and which the log, whose cumbrousness means it’s going to be quickly dropped?

Think Blackberry vs Apple, the Sony Walkman vs the iPod, Alta Vista vs Google, Xerox copiers vs their Alto personal computer, Uber vs the world’s taxis.

The sheer volume of technological change, while not yet overwhelming, does come close, constantly testing us with the demand to keep up, change, adopt the new. Generational changes are no longer small in scale or consequence. Think of the projected potential of

Preface

big data+

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01 02

“ That’s not a stick, that’s a log! ”

the cloud +

Preface

the internet

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03 04

20 observations & insights...

of things,

and the implications of

Preface

blockchains

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05 06

“ That’s not a stick, that’s a log! ”

technology..

Preface

... all game changers that have exploded onto the scene within a few short years (& AI and VR are also just around the corner).

Making the right judgment calls is critically important to everything we do, but to make the right calls we first need to understand the context and recognise exactly where we’re positioned within the landscape.

And it seems to me that in 2018 that’s not so easy. It’s certainly a lot more difficult than it used to be.

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