The Workplace of the Future | Hacker News Reader

The Workplace of the Future

blogs.bnet.com

6 pointsjyellin11 comments

This might be taking an extreme viewpoint, but the flat organization concept is something that I believe is already becoming visible in our society. Generation Y (WOAH WOAH!!!) is beginning to have an influence in companies of all sizes because of our inability to "play by the rules" and our desire to "hack" the system. We believe that if there is a will, then there is a way, and we do not want anyone to "tell us" what to do. As a Gen Y-er I am always open to intense brainstorming sessions, but EVERYONE's ideas need to be considered regardless of AGE or EXPERIENCE. This is the workforce of the future...what do you think?

I always thought my tendency to skirt processes (to just get things done, using the philosophy its easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission) was a negative aspect of my personality... not a property of my generation :)

of course I only had to do that at the two previous companies I worked at (both fortune 500 large enterprise environments) my new company is small, typically I just tell my boss I have an idea, and hes ok with it :)

Our society and business model has to change to produce results. I believe corporate model will be extinct. It is correct about Generation Y which is ambitious and want make its own rules. One might think it creates chaos what it might but this is how invitations happen and how we evolve. 3D and Virtual computing is a little bit far away but will eventually happen, 50 years ago we could never imagine that all our life will be so much computerized and depended on internet and other invocations so it is hard not to foresee even bigger changes going further.

All of his predictions might be right. However, the times until they happen are going to vary greatly. The first two might really arrive tomorrow. But the third?

> Everything will be 3D, virtual reality, ....

Having done research in VR, I can tell you that there are some very hard problems relating to focusing (VR is annoying to use), touch feedback (VR is not believable), and UI design that are still very much unsolved after 20 years of work on them. It will be a long time, I assure you.

Flat organizations have arrived in tech. When I took a tour of Facebook last week, I was shocked at the lack of visible structure in regard to closed offices, etc. Everything was open and collaborative, it was pretty sweet - especially all the snake boarding. :)

To an outsider it was a bit overwhelming, like walking into an active bee hive. The volume of pure talent that place contains does not thrive under micromanagement.

lack of micromanagement != flat organization

the appearance of flat != lack of hierarchy

I work in an open office (looks pretty flat if you're just walking by), but there certainly is a CEO - VP of Marketing/Sales - Sales Director - Sales Person structure, and we only have about 35 people working here. No one is micromanaged, but the organizational structure attempts to make individuals responsible for their team(s).

Mailing documents will no longer be necessary?

Winston may have something to say about that. http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/9j4th/winston_th...

While this is an interesting read one thing will never happen:

"3D virtual reality meetings will all but eliminate business travel."

As some people only trust you when they actually meet you in person.

Plus, it may seem crazy, but some people LIKE getting out of the office and traveling.

I'm one of those types. It's like a mini vacation and a great way to build up airline miles for personal trips.

The effective bandwidth of face to face meetings is still at least 100X a synchronous audio/video feed. There is also what the military calls "ground truth." Until you have visited a location/situation and experienced it you are not as prepared, no matter how many maps and situation reports you have reviewed.

I do think collaborative virtual reality environments will be extremely useful for visualizing and analyzing patterns in data because there is little emotional aspect to the problem, nor the need to influence or negotiate.

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