Corvus Consulting

For the past three years I’ve worked primarily from my home, making outings to client offices for meetings. When I explain to people that I work this way, they almost universally say one or both of the following:

1. Wow, that must be nice.
2. Wow, you must be really disciplined.

Most of the time, I smile and nod, then turn and bite my knuckle, praying they don’t realize that working from home is not a utopia, and I’m not always that disciplined.

Truth be told, working from home is a mixed blessing in which often you find yourself distracted by the very little things in your own life, and sometimes losing touch with the human interactions that we need to stay sane, not to mention create great software.

So imagine my interest when, in the doldrums of winter, I heard about "www.abetterplacetowork.com" target="_blank">WorkSpace starting construction in Vancouver’s Gastown neigbourhood.

The gang there describes it best:

WorkSpace is a shared work environment in downtown Vancouver. Our Gastown loft has meeting rooms, a lounge & a café surrounding a beautiful open concept work environment. We provide memberships (not leases) to independent professionals and small firms looking for a better place to work.

Dane gave me a tour while the site was still concrete and drywall dust, with paint just starting to go on the walls. As we talked, I could see that the Working Space vision was the kind of thing I was hoping for. Now that I’ve seen the finished product, I’m convinced that Bill (WorkSpace’s founder) and Dane are going to succeed.

Why? Here’s the biggest clue: the cafe bar. When you walk in, you’re likely to see one of the WorkSpace staff behind a bar where they not only do their own administration work, but also serve up some very nice coffee drinks. Bill pulled a fine espresso shot that made my afternoon, and I always feel more at home with good coffee.

They also positioned an iMac for use by people visiting without a computer to check email, burn some idle time, that sort of thing. But here’s the key – they also put some bar stools there for members to sit down and chat a little. This is the genius touch, as it uses architecture to bring their clients to them in a natural, comfortable way where they can hear back what works and what doesn’t in simple conversation.

No comment cards, no management office to find – feedback is a natural part of the environment at WorkSpace.

And so this week, after an unveiling party in which the rolling chairs got a little wild, I understand, WorkSpace is open and I’ll be in there afternoons and evenings.

That’s right, I’m here right now, and here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what’s going on.

Some of the simple desk/tables, roomy for one and comfortable for two.

More tables, this time with people.

Just a small part of the awesome North Shore view

Who’s the happy camper? Yours truly flashes a smile.

Reality TV is one of my guilty pleasures, often because it’s so bad that it’s good, if you know what I mean. One of the best for being the worst was American Inventor, where contestant brought in their ideas for inventions that were refined and eliminated in rounds of voting.

Blogger Phil Ryu has launched a website for designing the next great Mac app through the same model: ideas will be submitted, voted on by a panel of established Mac developers, and eliminated through five weeks of voting on My Dream App (www.mydreamapp.com). The goal, to find real gems of ideas for cool apps, and to guide them to the 1.0 release. The panelists are made up of recognizable names Mac development, tech journalism and blogging, and I hope the advice they can give will be a boost to aspiring designers.

I think Phil’s idea is an interesting one, but the cuteness of the American Idol parallels end up sabotaging the potential. What sours me is the premise that there can ultimately be only one winner, a model that requires elimination for the sake of elimination, rather than a real building of potential. It also precludes the notion of two or more projects merging in the course of the contest as a part of the process, which in the fledgling age of the mashup is an idea that should only be encouraged, not discouraged by pure competition.

An amusing side note: in the forums one person complained about the 500 character limit for submitting an idea description and asked for more space. The response?

…the 500 character limit won’t change. It’s our belief that any great app can be described in 500 characters, and we also can’t judge thousands of page long ideas.

Come on; was it really a substantive decision to decide it in character numbers, like 501 is out but 500 is in? A humane way would be to give a maximum number of words or a suggested range. Better yet, ask for an elevator pitch to start things off and work from there.

All is not lost, of course. This is the prototype, the 1.0, season one of My Dream App, and despite my doubts I’ll definitely be watching.