The Collective Office

19 March 08

futurethink sunshine suites Sunshine Suites is a New York-based company that leases “office space” to people on a per-desk, per-day basis. Entrepreneurs, writers – anyone who needs a quiet, “official” place to work – can rent out space at one of Sunshine Suites’ three Manhattan locations. Users can also rent conference rooms equipped with the latest telecommunications goodness, or just a desk with an internet connection, phone line, and comfortable chair. The flexibility and low cost are appealing to people looking to work on their own terms. For small companies and start-ups, the company offers special solutions that can simplify life and allow business owners to focus on growing their business instead of dealing with office space. Another nice perk is that Sunshine Suites members get access to a host of corporate “benefits” and discounts with Citi, Staples, Crunch Gym, UPS, and Zipcar.

The company is just one more example of the work when/how/where you please attitude that’s sweeping corporate America. The big oak desk and the corner office of yore are quickly becoming relics of an out-of-date work environment. We’re not saying that Sunshine Suites are going to replace the traditional offices of large organizations – but they will likely become increasingly popular for people who work for themselves or who run small, web-based businesses. Could this represent the future of work?


Placing Bets at Google

9 January 08

GoogleWe love prediction markets. And we love Google. So we were pretty excited to stumble on a little article on internal prediction markets at Google in the New York Times. The article is a great summary of a recently published report by Eric Zitzewitz of Dartmouth College, Justin Wolfers of Wharton, and Bo Cowgill of Google. The report (which you can download HERE) is the result of a two-year study of Google’s prediction markets and how they relate to internal information transfer. While you won’t find out how effective Google’s prediction markets are in the report’s 30-something pages, you will learn some fascinating things about prediction markets and about Google. Among the findings: Read the rest of this entry »