Corvus Consulting

Vancouver’s tech community learned yesterday that the beloved coworking facility Workspace is to close its doors tomorrow. Jayson Minard, who took over the business from founder Bill MacEwan less than a year ago, emailed members with the bad news, and a shocking imperative to clean out any personal belongings before the end of August 21.

I planted myself at Workspace part-time for two years, joining before the doors opened on the basis of an idea and a tour from Dane. I made new friends, enjoyed what was still Gastown’s best cup of coffee, and got things done against the view of peaceful mountains and the busy harbour. Though I worked more on remote projects, Workspace made me feel like I was working in the Vancouver community. Last last year I needed to change things up and ended my membership, but was still in there every two weeks for meetings. I have one last meeting there today at 4.

Workspace showed what the upper bar in coworking looks like, but more importantly it was a fantastic hub for Vancouver geeks and a symbol of innovation. It doesn’t sound like there will be a chance for a closing party to give it a proper sendoff.

Speaking of losses, the wider world of geekdom saw another one on the same day with the disappearance of the anonymous uber-coder _why. Not being a coder, I never knew much of _why, only that the work under that name was widely-respected and packed with personality. John Resig’s tribute sums up the value that _why brought to the community, and touches on the ephemerality of our works:

If there’s any analogy that I can make about _why, his online persona, and all the works that he’s produced over the years it’s to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the sand mandala. After a mandala has been constructed – and displayed – it is ceremoniously deconstructed – which is meant “to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life.”

It’s a fitting theme for those who work on digital products, which can have less durability than fresh sushi. Nick Sweeny recently wrote about the durability of things written down hundreds and even thousands of years ago, and the durability of what narratives are created by communities that form and live online.

Technology and business are relentless in the pursuit of tighter cycles, and the urgency can fool us into forgetting too easily what came before. I don’t think that the space left by the disappearance of _why or of Workspace will be so forgotten, as they live on in the better coding and better relationships that came out of their existence.

So, here’s to the life of things done well, all of which have their own ends.

You know I’m loving WorkSpace, but check out how they decided to show some love back. Today Bill and Dane quietly visited everyone while they worked away and brightened the afternoon with a sweet bit of appreciation.

A custom Moleskine notebook, with a short letter of thanks:

Moleskines are legendary, and I use them all the time, myself. This one I won’t be writing in because it’s a rare custom run of the books, embossed with the WorkSpace logo:

The point of this is pretty obvious. It doesn’t take a lot to tell people you appreciate them, but how you tell them should be in line with your style, and your clients’. Another premium play from WorkSpace.

This weekend, as some bloggers quicker on keyboards will tell you, saw BarCamp land at Vancouver among other places around the world.

The event, an un-conference of web enthusiasts, was held at WorkSpace and came off amazingly well. I have to hand it to the WorkSpace guys for pulling this off in their opening week. I’m unsure if they sleep.

This was my first BarCamp, and it’s exhausting to say the least. Every time you turn around there’s someone new to talk with, brimming with ideas to share. You burn a lot of glucose trying to keep up and assimilate everything that comes your way.

Things I talked about with other attendees:

Ma.gnolia, and social bookmarking in general, of course

Judo and kung fu, after Sarah Pullman’s Yoga For Geeks session that left me refreshed

Bringing web 2.0 and its advantages to family-oriented web surfers

Managing online identities

The sometimes shady world of search engine optimization and how to play fair in search

Dating for geeks, which had a very strong product sales angle

Career transitions

A crash course on tagging, with Alex who tag-teamed me in (love that pun) to talk about the thinking process behind tagging and why it just works.

Tag spam, what it is and just how much it does indeed suck

And it really just keeps going. Darren has posted a roundup of afterparty blogging, along with a link to Flickr photos of the event.

I have to admit I’m not the most comfortable person at these events, but every time I go I forget my apprehensions as soon as I start talking with people. The level of informatlity can be hard to reconcile with your work, but like many new things it takes a bit of courage and the willingness to give up your ego a bit to make it work. The nice thing about it is that the trust you put in the event pays off, and before long you can be among new friends where you only saw strangers an hour ago.

Just a wave back to the WorkSpace guys for their kind pointer to my post about them, and a welcome to anyone reading from the WorkSpace blog. These are early days for the redesign of the Corvus site, so please excuse any junk you find still floating around.

To local friends and clients, I’m really looking forward to showing you what they’ve got going, so get down to Gastown some afternoon and give me a call!

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.