The Match Game…

source Wikipedia

… for those of us old enough to remember, The Match Game was an American television game show legend, that ran from 1962 to 1999 in syndication.  The object of the game was to have the contestant’s answer match those of invited celebrities.  While there is no prize money involved, having your work space match your work requirements creates a winning experience as well.  It all starts with having the space match the number of people involved in a work activity.  It’s pretty crowded when 3 or more people try and meet inside a typical cubicle, even a large one by today’s standards.  And when working alone, sitting in a large conference room built for 12 can be a bit unnerving.

A 2nd critical factor which contributes to a good match and a positive experience, are the information affordances (ability to access/display information) provided,… generally speaking the more people you have, the more affordances required.  An individual knowledge worker, more often than not, can be fairly effective with just their personal technology devices (laptop, cell phone, maybe a USB drive) and some amount of surface area to spread out reference materials.  A group of 3 or more though additionally require group affordances,… because collaboration demands that individual perspectives/ideas are displayed for all to consider.

This above distinction is evident in the variety of ‘3rd Place’ alternatives available to mobile workers today.  Solutions can be divided into three categories.  There are those designed primarily as a social setting, such as coffee shops,… where a cup of java and a good conversation is all that is needed.  Then there are those labeled as co-working facilities, which welcome independent free-agents, providing them with comfortable seating and mobile tables to sit at.  And finally there are service companies which have designed high-performance groupwork experiences,… with rooms including  HDTV and projected displays, white boards, and support for teleconferencing/telepresence.  Individual or Group…?