An all-inclusive description covering, tele working, hot desking, combi offices, virtual offices etc.
Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line. Full time broadband Internet and data connection, the only way to go for the future.
Short range wireless connectors or flash memory that plugs straight into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port of your computer and allows it to communicate with other devices or transfer information. The USB connector looks a little like a tooth; I don't know why the word blue is used.
It's obvious but check that your bulk storage or filing does not include pre 1976 telephone books! There is too much stuff if it does! As a general rule a move or refurbishment can reduce bulk storage or clutter by about 20% See also Personal Storage, Pedestal, and Paperless Office.
German for office-landscape. A very 'retro' term used in the sixties which allows you to sound intelligent and well informed when discussing the open plan layout of arrays of desks or furniture systems that allow for the easy flow of communication between people in different departments. This German expression never really caught on but can sound great dropped into designer conversation!
An important consideration when selecting office furniture. Manufacturers all try to outdo each other in their research and development solutions to these problems! Can cause nervous breakdowns and insomnia but it is actually never used in practice. See also Cordless Office.
This is what is supposed to on behind screens and stud wall partitioning. This is physical separation via ducting or conduits to provide screening for cables. It prevents EMF Electro Magnetic Flux from power lines corrupting data transmission within data cabling. I have always wondered why once the cables leave their hideouts, they are allowed to lay together in a spaghetti tangle "corrupting away".
A new name for "help desks" that has become an industry in it own right. Competitive telephony, satellite, communication provision and CTI "computer telephone integration" has revolutionised telework. Help desks can be anywhere or linked together across states, borders, countries. This can also benefit areas of low or cheap employment. India is already major provider in this market. Although sometimes frustrating to the user this "leap forward" in customer service is here to stay just like ATMs.
These are open plan and cellular offices in which workers move between depending on whether they are bats (caves) or sheep (common). It all depends on the type of work they are doing. See also Combi Office.
For the boss only and not for the humble employee! (You?) Cellular offices are partitioned private offices usually built from floor to ceiling and with doors. Not very good for listening through keyholes but fantastic for one's privacy and peace and quiet. They make superb prisons so beware, as ex-convicts hate them. They are particularly effective for people who do a lot of secretive foreigners "private work". See also Open Plan.
The "humble" chair is a very individual thing and can reveal as much about the owner or sitter as the scruffy pair of shoes or the designer pair of shoes she is wearing! It is very important to buy the correct chair for you for comfort, design and ergonomic reasons. Avoid permanent damage to your arms, eyes and back. Buy the right chair but always remember to adjust it to your needs otherwise it can just be a waste of time.
This is the relocation of an individual or group of individuals due to a change in the office environment. No big deal? You'd better believe in the repercussions from "churn". Statistics show that it costs the U.K. economy around two billion pounds a year (that's a lot of Aussie dollars!) Over a third of office staff move or change their workstation every year. Each move costs on average fifteen hundred Aussie dollars. Ignore this at your peril or in your ensuing shrinking bank balance!
No desk office ownership here! Areas are allocated on the basis of job function over a period of time instead of providing workstations used for all job functions (meetings, VDU work, paperwork etc.) The office layout provides different areas of the office designed for meeting spaces, computer rooms, private work areas etc. Employees are flexible in moving around the office space according to work needs and the 'task at hand'. This leads to more flexibility, communication and a relaxed environment for 'nomads'!
This term implies that we are isolated from other people and society in general. It appears that we are either in our own little insular world at home or travelling to a destination in our car or cocooned at work in our cellular office. This is ideal for introverts and people who love their own company but not ideal for knowing what is 'going on'. Teleworking creates similar problems too but most organisations are incredibly aware of this very problem. So, socialising takes on a whole new aspect in creating opportunities for people to get to know each other and find out the latest 'goss' about the boss. Human beings are by nature gregarious and to this end we need to avoid home based staff being too isolated or 'cocooned'.
This type of office design attempts to combine the best features of open plan and cellular office plan layouts. When this is well done, the disadvantages of both layouts can be avoided. Dedicated workstations are used for workers in private cellular offices with flexibility for ease of moving to an open plan for group work and team meetings. Of course, you can design the opposite of this where cellular offices provide the workspace and privacy for the worker in an open plan office. Great for introverts and extroverts alike! See also Open Plan Office, Cellular Office.
Contracting or outsourcing job functions is now seen as the norm to reduce costs. Increasingly, outside consultants (gurus?) are employed or existing employees converted to contract work status to reduce costs for organisations. The latter can be a 'godsend' for the worker wanting to control their own destiny or conversely give them a nervous breakdown! - Depending on the employee! 'Hot desking' provides a solution to accommodate such people in the office layout.
Instead of cables, a cordless office uses infrared or radio to transfer data and telecom services. This frees the worker from the desk. Without the need to tie people to workstations to receive data and telecomms, office design becomes far more flexible. However, there is a real restraint in battery technology being very limited so there is a big need for access to power outlets. The 'cordless office' is a technological development and an absolute reality - unlike the much talked about paperless office, which we all know, is a myth! The latter relies on human nature and is not technologically driven, as is the cordless office, this will enable more flexible work practices.
Cordless local area network. See Cordless Office, Network.
Any item, office furniture or otherwise, designed by designers for other designers. Yes, designers fall over themselves to admire it while the ordinary Joe-Blow can easily see the impracticality of it! Phillipe Starck's 'award winning' kettle is a classic example and fails the acid test of 'does it work'? The kettle gets so hot when it contains boiling water that it need to picked up with protective clothing. Designer swank indeed!
A catchall term for Hot-Desking, Hotelling, Touchdown etc.
Desks are very important. Some might argue that a 'desk is just a desk' just like a car is a car! It may help the old image but in the end you get what you pay for! In the office, the desk represents their position within the organisation and this is why hot desking has to be very carefully implemented. When you take somebody's desk away from them, make sure they know why you're doing it and what's in it for them. The psychology of desking can be a big issue.
In an office context, 'docking' can mean two different things. It may mean finding and sitting at a shared desk. Alternatively, it may refer to the use of a modern type of storage unit in shared desking areas. In this case the user has a trolley for their personal storage which docks into a secure cabinet in either a central storage area or at the workstation they are currently using.
Making people redundant to develop a leaner and meaner organisation or corporation. The man who pioneered this theory - Stephen Roach - recently admitted this is nonsense. No doubt, he's now being paid huge fees to promote a new business solution! But it's O.K. because it's now called 'rightsizing' to overcome any negative overtones to the word 'down'. This doesn't fool anyone for a minute. Downsizing has reduced the requirement for office space and hastened the introduction of alternative officing (q.v.).
Electronic mail. E-mail is doing to the fax what the fax did to letters. One of the major benefits of e--mail is that information may be transferred in a format that can be used by the recipient. It is feasible that some spreadsheets and text documents may never see the light of day as pieces of paper. However, we all know someone who prints off their E-mail "to read it'.
The notion that to get the best out of the workforce (who after all, should know best how to do their job), Management must devolve decision-making, involve and consult so that they may get the best out of their workforce. Knowledge workers in particular should control how they work. Most evidence suggests that empowerment really works, but organisations still believe it and DO IT; don't believe it and DON'T DO IT; or believe it and DON'T DO IT. The latter theory appears to be the most popular.
The study of how people relate to their environment. Whenever this is mentioned in an office context, you can be assured that there will be a picture of Anna Rexia (the proverbial skeleton) sitting at a workstation!
A facilities manager may be either a board member or the cleaner! Their decision-making power may range from total control of all aspects of the office to none at all which can mean the understanding of complex office design to where the photocopying paper is stored! As people realise the importance of offices as a key element to operations, the facilities manager is acquiring belated and higher status.
Chinese art of creating harmonious working and living environments. By harnessing the flow of the World's energy (chi), the right environment promotes organisational and personal health, prosperity and happiness. Feng shui is being taken seriously by an increasing number of organisations and is gaining acceptability. Cynics have suggested that 'feng shui' is Chinese for 'bullshit', but it actually means wind and water.
Emerging technology means that in the future, VDU screens will be no thicker than laptop computers. The implication of this for future designers and buyers is that desks don't have to be as deep to give the correct ergonomic focal distance for VDU users.
Everybody needs to be flexible nowadays. We don't know what the future will bring, so we have to build flexibility into our lives. The jargon for this is 'future proofing'. 'Flexibility' has become the new buzzword but few adhere to the concept to the point of changing anything. Let's be serious, it's great for the brochures and impresses us all! See Reconfiguration.
A catchall term for any work practice that does not involve '9 to 5' and/or going to an office as part of a daily routine.
The footprint of a workstation is the shape and size of the space it takes up on your expensive floor area.
You will understand this concept only if you are a member of 'Mensa' or have a PhD in geo-physics! It is an idea developed by the Fraunhofer Instituet fuer Arbeitswirtshcaft und Organisation in Stuttgart. The fractal office draws on Chaos Theory to explain how offices can be looked at as small, independently functioning teams (fractals) working in a seemingly chaotic fashion to achieve common goals. Teams form and disband as needed - drawing on the skills of individuals (even more fractals) rather than relying on flows of communication through departments. Remember this term as it never fails to impress and automatically enhances your standing in the design community.
See Hot Desking.
Items like CD racks, filing trays, pencil holders, shelves, drinking glass holders hung onto function walls to keep desks clear of clutter.
A device mounted onto desks screens or walls sold on the benefit of good housekeeping. Often they are unused as clients rarely spend the extra required to fit them with function accessories.
See Flexibility.
Geek Remember this word - it never fails to annoy people from the IT department - always refer to computers as 'machines' and don't be impressed by computer jargon it works like a dream!
This consists of giving your staff a computer, phone and fax and sending them home to work. Accountants are in love with this when considering expensive floor area considerations! Sounds good? Any moron would know that this would isolate, demotivate and alienate many people - not a confidence builder at all. See also Teleworking.
Hot desking is characterised by the removal of ownership of individual workstations. Instead, users have access to a pool of workplaces on an ad hoc basis. Provision of workstations is based on a calculation of an average user pattern and a factor for any fluctuation in demand. The ad hoc nature of the allocation requires extra emphasis to be paid to technology, storage and servicing with provision for workstations for 50% of the workforce if they use it 2 days out of 5. Hot desking is likely to be part only of an office layout - used mainly for sales teams, consultants and teleworkers. Also known as 'just in time' and 'free address'. Note for bores: the term for hot desking comes from the naval practice of 'hot bunking'. Sailors working different shifts share bunks with colleagues (although not necessarily at the same time).
Similar to hot desking with the exception that work areas are booked in advance for a set period of time. Provides very effective use of space for mobile teams but assumes that they are able to plan office needs in advance. Advanced hotelling schemes include a concierge to 'personalise' the work area for the person coming to work - laying out files, favourite stationery, picture of the husband/wife/kids/dog etc. See also Hot Desking.
As a superhighway, the Internet can be compared to the Mitchell Freeway at 5:30, Friday on a long weekend - you'll get there in end but you have to be patient.
Potentially the single most important development in communication since the television. Developed in mid 1990's.
Integrated Services Digital Network (as if you didn't know). ISDN works by digitally encoding complex information such as voice, data, images and video and sending it at high speed down existing telephone lines. By allowing people to remotely access information in this way, ISDN will accelerate the development of teleworking.
See Hot Desking.
Any worker involved with the use of information rather than the generation of it. Basically all modern professionals are knowledge workers.
Local Area Network. See Network.
The laptop has done as much as anything to free office staff from the office. Small, portable computers offer the opportunity for people to carry information around with them and work on it wherever they are. An added bonus is that the boss can't see you playing computer golf when you're kilometres apart.
A fit-out paid for by the building owner or landlord, to entice a tenant into a vacant office space. They usually occur in times of over supply, and are financed through rental income or the potential loss of rental income.
Offices work on two levels. The Macro level is the bit that stays still for most of the time - screens, desks, bulk storage. The Micro level is the bit that moves around a lot - personal storage, desk accessories, you. Offices can be planned to create a framework for the macro and micro can be moved and adjusted to meet changing daily requirements. The micro is especially important when it does indeed include you - and let's face it, an essential and dynamic ingredient in any office mix! Remember, if you now ask for a pay rise, rest assured, it will be micro!
Metropolitan Area Network. See network.
Medium Density Fibre board
Over specified, over here.
At first glance, Australian furniture manufacturers, like dingoes, are very difficult to tell apart. By getting to know them, you'll soon be able to distinguish them by the little differences and the bite we take out of foreign competitors.
Melamine faced chipboard.
The Oxford Dictionary defines a modem as 'a combined device for modulation and demodulation'. Oh yeah! What does THAT mean? We define a modem as a gizmo that allows your computer to talk to other computers down the phone line. The modem is another piece of technology that allows people to work away from the office almost as if they were there. Information can be shared and transferred on-line rather than as pieces of paper.
Yes an essential ingredient of the office know-it-all designer. As well as mentioning fractal office systems, ensure you include the following names: Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Duffy, Alvin Toffler, Glen Murcutt, Eileen Gray, Harry Seidler, Charles Eames, Tom Peters (use sparingly). A mention of the following buildings won't hurt: Perth Council House, Sydney Opera House, Johnson Wax, Riverside, Chiat Day, SOL, Digital Equipment Corporation.
Net lettable area is the space you rent in a building. Be careful! Net usable area is an entirely different thing. Beware of the hungry window ledges, columns, services cupboard and access hatches that cut into this area.
Net usable area is the NLA of the building, minus circulation space. If NUA is 80% or more of the NLA, you have a space efficient building. But NLA and NUA are measurements of size. When it comes to planning your office remember the shape of your floor plan, as windows, heaters, columns and curves are all potential problems to solve.
A network is a system of computers connected through a larger central computer (called a server), that allows the sharing of information and resources (such as printers and scanners), which the individual computer user would not normally have easy access to. Networks vary in size from Local Area Networks (LAN) for specific office buildings, through Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), which can cover areas up to 100km across, to Wide Area Networks (WAN) which can cover the whole planet. The best known WAN is the Internet. Cordless-LAN technology creates access to the server through portable computers, allowing people to work anywhere within the office.
Nomadic workers don't need an office. Equipped with laptop and connected to the office by mobile phone and modem, they can work wherever they find themselves. See also Teleworking, Road Warriors, and Telecottage.
We all love screens. We love them because they can create little defensible spaces all of there own. The problem is that screens, if specified solely for this reason, can inhibit communication. In an ideal situation, screens should be used to provide privacy (not protection), define space and reduce noise. The height of screens should not restrict the flow of information through the office.
An open plan office is designed with segregating workers' desks with nothing more than low screens and storage. Open plan offices provide a good way of facilitating interdepartmental communication and team working. Open plan is also conducive to telephone rage and inhibiting nose picking! See also Cellular Office.
See Contract Work
A palmtop is a smaller version of a laptop. See also PDA.
Definitely a myth up till now! Dismissed, it is feasible thanks to modern document management systems. We just need to control the hoarders and lovers of filing every bit of office paper.....
Personal Computer. For the past I5 years, the principle challenge of furniture design has been how to accommodate these bulky machines with their inevitable spaghetti protruding from the back! However, now that cordless communications, Flat screen VDUs and portable computers are set to do away these constraints furniture design will change dramatically.
Personal Digital Assistant. PDAs are about the size of a mobile phone and incorporate phone, computer and modem. These cannot be miniaturized any further as our metatarsals are too big and so to overcome this annoying problem in the inadequate human race, we now have voice recognition software, which will allow these machines to work without keyboards. I look forward to future etiquette that will have to be developed for the use of ....wait for it..... mobile phones, Walkman and now the PDA. Can't wait to see how this will affect the queue at the bank!
Never call a pedestal a filing cabinet if you want to impress Bob! So a pedestal is always a pedestal and will never be anything else! A pedestal is a small, personal storage unit - nowadays often on wheels but traditionally a structural part of the desk. "Yes, Bob, I'll have 100 pedestals please". He'll automatically think you are highly intelligent and a brilliant designer (of course)!
A temporary private space where the haggard nomadic worker can "dock" and do work which is intensive requires no distractions or is very personal.
Personal storage usually means a pedestal. Theoretically, personal storage is where you keep active job files and stationery items. In practice, it tends to involve unsavoury apple cores, half-chewed lollies and the coffee mug complete with its own fungus garden! This is O.K. if all your inoculations and boosters are up to date! In hot desking areas, personal storage is always a bete noire. Lots of personal storage space can partly compensate the anxiety involved in losing one's own desk!
Office planning is commonly the practice of fitting the greatest number of desks into the smallest possible space. As we don't really enjoy being sardines in a can, people have at last realised the importance of providing a pleasant environment at the office considering the amount of time spent there. Space, light, air, outlook, beauty are as important as a big desk.
Calming or renewal areas where employees can get time out and relax, sometimes equipped with play equipment.
In office terms, this means changing your furniture around. In order to help you do this, furniture manufacturers will tell you their furniture are modular. Well, all furniture systems are modular but some are more modular than others. Some are modular like a jigsaw puzzle while others are more like Lego. Choose Lego for frequent reconfiguring. See also churn.
A catchall term for telework, homework.
No, not roadrunner! Call your mobile office staff road warriors and they'll love it and you! Yes, travelling the exciting CBD and suburbs of Perth ready for and huge corporate commission - armed with mobile phone, laptop and modem! (Leaving behind one's hot desk (with pedestal)!!! See also teleworking, nomadic working. Who needs the boss then?
No - not sick of work. Sick building syndrome is costing our economy and health millions. It is a physical and psychosomatic response to unhealthy modern office environments with poor air conditioning, poor light levels, toxic materials and poor ergonomics. The psychological element is brought on by a lack of control of the environment. 'Smart' light switches and 'smart' air conditioning are very clever in providing an optimum level of human comfort. However, there's nothing like being able to open one's own window on a lovely sunny day. When employees have no control of their environment, the term ' taking a sickie' takes on a whole new meaning! This came as a surprise to nobody except architects.
120-degree layout or footprint workstation layouts usually used in call centres or touchdown offices.
Stands for Small Office Home Office. Manufacturers of office furniture, who are developing products that meet the demands of this kind of environment, now see SOHO as a distinct market sector. Many think that this is just fancy jargon like the dreaded fractal office concept. SOHO will be embraced more and more as greater awareness of the ergonomic pitfalls of this kind of work practice emerge - probably after a high profile legal case.
Space efficiency is measured by dividing the total amount of usable floor space in the office. However, ignore the very real problem of whether an office layout provides a pleasant and functional environment for people to work in at your peril!
Office specifiers are consultants called in to advise organisations on office layout, lighting, and furniture and equipment. Specifiers instigate detailed tendering procedures with numerous manufacturers and are usually designers and architects. Thorough examination of all aspects of tendered goods is required before the right decision can be reached. There are specifiers and then there are specifiers!
Usually marked 'In', 'Pending' and 'filing'.
See bulk storage, personal storage, pedestal, and paperless office.
A furniture system is a co-ordinated programme of desks, screens, storage, cable management and accessories aimed at providing a total solution to the requirements of an office. In simple terms, a desk is something that keeps your stuff off the floor. A furniture system allows you to do all the other stuff as well.
Teams form from different disciplines to achieve specific goals. Communication is direct, with less paperwork and less scope for misunderstanding. Decisions and ideas are better because they draw on a wider base of knowledge. Multi-disciplinary decisions mean acceptance of change is improved. Project times are substantially faster and with better results. This appears to be the opposite of departmental work and so if it is so effective, why is it not used more often? Perhaps because of the uncertainty of such a fundamental shift in thinking and operating. Most existing work environments are not conducive to team working. A team-working environment requires a wide variety of work settings for different types of work. Flexibility needs to be built in to the workplace to deal with the constantly changing structure of the teams. See also Fractal Office, Club Office.
See Telecottage.
See Telework.
This term will not work in Australia? This awful expression refers to fully equipped satellite offices for teleworkers and home workers, which allow them to get out of the house, meet colleagues and contact the office. See also Teleworking, Home Working.
A docking station for a nomadic workers laptop and communicator.