Size definitely matters…

… in many things.  It’s not always about getting the biggest, sometimes small is best. And in all cases matching the ‘right size’ is the objective.  It’s true in selecting cars, clothes, food, furniture, even electronics.  I like my cell phone to be as slim as possible and I wouldn’t mind an even beefier HDTV in my family room.  Many such decisions are personal ones which is the way it should be.  But unfortunately, in business, many of these decisions are made for you; the size of your workstation, laptop, and your cell phone for example.  You may get some choice, but it is almost always never enough.

This became very apparent to me the other day, as I sat in a hotel conference room with a number of others having a group brainstorming-like conversation.  While the hotel considered itself quite progressive because they had internet access and even the ability to ‘connect’ laptops to a projector mounted in the ceiling. The image the projector made was too small for people at the far end of the room to see clearly.  This was obvious as I witnessed the famous ‘dance of the chairs’ where people slide in and out from the table to see beyond their table mates and lean towards the screen at the end of the room in hopes of picking up more of the details.  The rest of the walls were covered with a tacky wall paper and there was no white board or flip chart stand of any sorts.  So much for looking at alternative ideas concurrently, co-creating a new idea by combining pieces of several other ideas, and pulling up Google references as background for a decision.  It was a lousy meeting, and I know it was due to the lack of sufficient wall display space. 

Our research clearly shows the importance of ‘information persistence’ in the group innovation process.  Without appropriate wall space for ideas/thoughts/opinions to be displayed on, collaboration is severely hampered.

I believe that the difference between a well designed group space, and one that isn’t is the amount of attention paid to what will actually take place in the room and matching the information display requirements accordingly.  If the room is used primarily for presentations, then a single display at the end of the room is sufficient (just make sure it is large enough and mounted high enough for everyone to have a clear line of sight).  If the room is for developing something (an idea, a plan, etc.), then it requires multiple types of information display surfaces, and generally more than one.  That’s why you’re meeting after all, to look at and evaluate existing content.  Again, it’s back to the idea of ‘persistence,’ where an idea will emerge from the information that persists around the room.  This is no different than a desktop screen.  The argument for a larger screen is not to have the biggest on your row of cubicles, but to have sufficient screen real estate to place related information sources which ‘inform’ the primary task you are focused on.

If your project rooms are like the majority I’ve seen at companies large and small, they’re OK for single threaded presentations, but lousy for comparing, contrasting, cross-sharing, etc.  The key is to design the ‘wall space’ as carefully as you design the ‘floor space’.  As a rule of thumb (no scientific evidence for this) I suggest you target 1 sq. ft. of wall display space (digital or analog works) for every 4 sq. ft. of floor space, with maybe 25-40% of this wall display space being digital.  I personally love the tactility of paper (analog media) of all sorts; sketches, photos, sticky notes, etc. However, the added value of using digital media vs. analog is the ability to alter, capture, and most importantly to easily retrieve that altered content in the future.  So keep this in mind as you design the wall space as well.

I guarantee people using the space will appreciate how well you’ve thought through how the room supports the purpose.  Tape measure anyone…?