Despite the fact that it the office was quite cold today, it was good to be back. Not just because I've become spoiled by dual monitors. As much as I need to block out the doings of my co-workers most of the time, not having them close to hand adds considerable friction. (For the life of me, I cannot understand why we don't use IM. It cuts down on the over-the-cubicle-wall chatter, not to mention tells you at a glance who's in and who's out.) Oh, and keyboard latency sucks. A lot.
It occurs to me that what's missing from office design is remote office interface. This isn't merely self-interest talking. Green building (e.g. LEED standards) already involves support for remote workers. But, even working for a firm that's All About excellence in architecture & design, I have yet to hear about the contributions of the I/T & telecomm staff in any of their projects. It's still all about the space, which is frustrating. Because, ideally, a workspace should feel like an extension of one's mind, regardless of where one is located.
