As careers become more fluid, diverse and self-directed and more of us work flexibly at multiple gigs or projects, the hard lines between spaces for work, family and play are also becoming less stark. Behold the railway station/office and coworking space/daycare. Read more »
A UT researcher spent several years asking Austin area coworkers and space proprietors to define what the movement was all about. The wide array of different and even contradictory answers he came up with is both intriguing and bewildering. Can anyone define coworking? Read more »
In an interview, Terry Howerton, co-founder of Chicago-area incubator TechNexus, argues that rather than view big companies as innovation killers or community destroyers, it’s time for some segments of the startup and coworking communities to grow up and leverage corporate America. Read more »
Recently the Wall Street Journal reported a trend towards larger startups sticking with coworking as they grow, but experts warned there could be downsides, including other companies poaching your talent or ideas. But not everyone it seems to see eye to eye with these experts. Read more »
Rather than growing out of shared office space, larger startups with dozens of employees are increasingly sticking with coworking spaces. But should they? Experts caution there could be company culture, security and human resources drawbacks if startups fail to leave the nest. Read more »
Coworking, originally a movement dominated by freelancers and entrepreneurs, is increasingly attracting more and more remote corporate employees. Do their expectations line up with other members? Do they get as much out of the coworking experience? A new survey aimed to find out. Read more »
Traditional business culture, with its emphasis on networking, meetings and pitching, doesn’t generally favor introverts. And the current management mania for collaboration may be making matters worse for quiet ruminators. Is remote working the solution to the problem, or does it bring its own issues? Read more »
A handful of furniture and design stores are doubling up as coworking spaces, encouraging nomadic workers to drop in with their laptops. Is this a natural evolution and the beginnings of a healthy partnership, or hardly a home fit for community-focused coworkers? Read more »
With the traditional college experience being assaulted as out of touch with real-world careers, a handful of coworking spaces are launching themselves into the gap, partnering with universities to reconnect classroom learning with a community of doers. Read more »
With the number of remote and freelance workers on the rise and the coworking movement maturing, some coworking spaces are getting pickier about their membership, actively curating their communities by seriously vetting would-be members and turning plenty of people away. Read more »
Coworking is moving out from its community-focused roots as larger organizations explore ways they can apply the principles of the movement. And Twitter has gotten the memo. When the company opened a satellite office in Detroit, they set up shop in a coworking space. Read more »
A newly announced partnership between mobile working app LiquidSpace and three Bay Area cities is another example of local communities leveraging the idea of coworking to keep commuters closer to home, boosting economic development in the area and cutting carbon emissions. Read more »
Weak isn’t a desirable characteristic for bodyguards or cocktails, but when it comes to social ties, weak is good, according to a recent study by Emergent Research. It explains why weak social ties are valuable and how coworking can help professionals cultivate them. Read more »
Evidence from last week’s Global Coworking Unconference Conference and recent online commentary on the movement points to the fact that earlier predictions on GigaOM that coworking is undergoing a rapid and significant transformation were on to something. Should we mourn or rejoice? Read more »
One futurist claims that we’ll trade our offices, universities and stores for coffee shops in the future, but won’t all this time in buzzing spaces disrupt the thinkers among us who chase eureka moments in quiet solitude? Not according to a new study. Read more »
The ability of coworking spaces to keep talent in town and boost local businesses is relatively well known to the movement’s fans, but another possible economic benefit of the spaces is less obvious. They help people share resources more efficiently, argues one space founder. Read more »
The rise of remote work may mean teams can spread out far and wide from corporate headquarters, but ironically, the increasing prevalence of telecommuting could actually lead to denser communities rather than atomized workers as work and life are integrated in one space. Read more »
Coworking and independent work may seem utopian as workers escape being chained to dreary cubicles, but exploitation of contractors is still a danger. Are coworking spaces inadvertently making it easier to establish asymmetric power relationships and, if so, what’s to be done about it? Read more »
Two design pros who will speak at an upcoming coworking conference on a panel about creating spaces that foster collaboration explain that, as technology allows teams to be far more nomadic, providers of corporate office spaces have a lot to learn from coworking. Read more »
Experts have declared coworking a movement on the edge of exploding, with new business-savvy players set to take advantage of the trend. But survey results show existing owners hope to capitalize on the idea’s rise as well, often even if their existing space isn’t profitable. Read more »
“Solitude is out of fashion,” declared author Susan Cain in the New York Times Sunday Review, arguing that our fetishization of collaboration is bad for introverts and innovation. Is coworking a symptom of this groupthink or a solution to it? Space owners weigh in. Read more »
Big ideas — big societal changes — don’t simply spring up full formed. Instead, they develop. This is also true of coworking, according to Steve King of Emergent Research, who has sparked debate with his claim that the movement has entered a very different second phase. Read more »
If you’re pondering trying to get out of the office more this year but are unsure if you’re ready to jump into a membership at a coworking space, an event coming up on the calendar may be for you. Read more »
The road to optimal productivity and happiness at the lowest cost is paved with pallet racks, the internet, yoga and local organic leafy green salads, according to Freeman Murray, the co-founder of Jaaga, which is pretty much the coolest co-working space you’ll find out there. Read more »
Coworking might be the pivot around which the transformation of work revolves, but the movement is young and facing profitability challenges. Its money struggles may be explainable, but they’re still undesirable, so how can more spaces move into the black? There’s no shortage of ideas. Read more »
A few years back, people had to more or less lie to their boss if they wanted to work at a co-working facility. These days, coworking is increasingly adopted by big corporations who value increased productivity just as much as any potential cost savings. Read more »
New scientific evidence is emerging about the benefits of telework, supporting workers’ desire to work out of the office. Stowe Boyd discusses the implications involved in the increasingly popular post-industrial adoption of telecommuting, and explains why coworking may be the missing link. Read more »
Next week at Net:Work in San Francisco, tech geeks and forward-thinking business folks will gather to discuss the untethered, agile future of work. But apparently it’s not just these private actors that are cheerleading these changes; several governments are getting behind the idea too. Read more »
When DeskMag polled 1,500 international members of the coworking movement, it found only 40 percent of coworking spaces are profitable. How bad is this figure? When you take the movement’s young age into account, not as bad as it first appears, claims the magazine. Read more »
The iconic office design company sees a trend away from personal space and toward shared space. Don Ball talked to Steelcase about the changing state of the “office” and how it is designing spaces that allow people to be “on” — not “at” — work. Read more »
Coworking magazine Deskmag presented the results of its second annual coworking survey at the Coworking Europe Conference last week. While the findings confirm that coworking is well-loved by participants, the numbers also indicate there are some challenges ahead for the movement. Read more »
Simply joining a coworking space is obviously a necessary first step to joining the movement, but it’s not enough to get the maximum benefit out of participating, according to Genevieve DeGuzman, the co-author of a coworking guide. She offers tips for newbies to find their footing. Read more »
Remote work has boomed during the recession as job seekers look beyond traditional office-based gigs and companies embrace any opportunity to cut costs. That boom in nontraditional work has fed enthusiasm for coworking spaces. But will this enthusiasm outlast the tough economic times? Read more »
Co-working is a growing movement. How can you tell? It has a guide. Andrew Tang and Genevieve DeGuzman spoke to freelancers, startups and space founders for their book Working in the UnOffice: A Guide to Coworking. What did they discover about where the movement headed? Read more »
Coworking has been popular among entrepreneurs, techies and creatives for years, but it seems the idea if finally breaking out of its niche beginnings and going mainstream. The proof? A recent article in the staid Wall Street Journal lays out the evidence. Read more »
Adaptable to a variety of work situations, tech friendly and easy to get off the ground, are coworking spaces a solution to rural areas’ economic woes? A non-profit in central Appalachia is hoping so as it prepares to open a space this fall. Read more »
Coworking is a well-established trend in some areas, yet as coworking spaces expand into new cities, the owners need to educate people about the benefits and engage in some creative marketing to lure entrepreneurs in. Read more »
Like a traditional first day on the job, your first few times at a coworking space can be stressful and full of questions. Who are these people? How am I supposed to act? How can you settle into a coworking space as easily as possible? Read more »
Think coworking spaces, and most of us will populate our mental picture with freelance designers and developers. But with the idea of remote work gaining traction as a legitimate business strategy for those who favor suits over piercings, is this picture of coworking space regulars accurate? Read more »
When it comes to attracting companies to lovely but not exactly low-cost Santa Cruz, the city just south of Silicon Valley has a problem: no airport. So what did the city’s creative mayor, Ryan Coonerty, decide to do? Start a coworking space. Read more »
