First Day in an Incubator office - T Rex

Tofit · Apr 3, 2018

I'm sitting here in my new office setting. My company is called Silk Cocoon and I'm a silk merchant. I just setup my business last month and this month I transitioned from an at home business to an incubator office setting. I'm in the T Rex building in Downtown St. Louis. This is my first time in an incubator office, and it's pretty nice. It almost seems like a library setting, but with rooms for meetings and 20 other people all working in a shared office setting. I've been too busy to get to know many people, it's only my first day. I've got to get so much work done and building content for my website is on my agenda. Got a variety of free coffee to drink a little bit of office fruit and bread from the Monsanto meeting and the hum and chatter of all the people.

Now I'm on this forum trying to get advice for a blog story and trying to figure out how to get a signature on my posts.

So have any of you ever worked in an incubator office? Tell me about your first day.

Dennis E. Taylor · Apr 3, 2018

Me, I'm just grooving on the thread title.

But no, my office is in our third bedroom. And honestly, it works fine for me. Even has a lock on the door for when subtle hints are not enough.

Snitchcat · Apr 5, 2018

Nope, but do work in an open plan office. It may as well be an incubator office for all the "work independently" and "get to know others" atmosphere. Lol. Not bad. Active but productive. Quite a communally motivating place: Everyone is focused and that translates into a productivity energy.

boatman · Apr 7, 2018

No, me neither. In fact I had to look up incubator office - what a dinosaur.
Top of the stairs, first left, that's my office. Like Dennis, 3rd bedroom. I share the space with our dog, a keyboard (music) and, just at the moment, a pair of socks warming on the radiator.

Introversion · Apr 8, 2018

Nope, but as a software developer, the “open floorplan” concept is familiar. A cancer on productivity, and fun for chatty extroverts but hell for introverts who need to concentrate. :tongue

The current gig is fulltime work-from-home. I shed 3 hours of daily commute to get it! My office is a large-closet-sized space connected to our living room. I can slap on headphones, and be blissfully productive for hours at a time, free of distractions.

lizmonster · Apr 8, 2018

A contrarian view.

Having worked in both an open office and an office with a door (both with and without an office mate), I can say that my own experiences back up that study. As a contrast with working at home in total isolation, I can see why it might be a good thing, and maybe that's more what you were getting at.

TL;DR: I can understand enjoying working in a building with other people, but an open office plan, in most situations, makes people less productive.

Dennis E. Taylor · Apr 8, 2018

Introversion said:
Nope, but as a software developer, the “open floorplan” concept is familiar. A cancer on productivity, and fun for chatty extroverts but hell for introverts who need to concentrate. .

Ahem: http://www.monkeyuser.com/2018/focus/

lizmonster · Apr 8, 2018

Dennis E. Taylor said:
Ahem: http://www.monkeyuser.com/2018/focus/

Love this one.

Works the same for writing, too.

boatman · Apr 8, 2018

Surely we all need a bit of external stimulation.
Are not many of the ideas we come up with from varying situations, snatches of conversation etc.?
When it comes to putting it down on paper, yes perhaps we need a bit of peace and quiet.

lizmonster · Apr 9, 2018

boatman said:
Surely we all need a bit of external stimulation.
Are not many of the ideas we come up with from varying situations, snatches of conversation etc.?
When it comes to putting it down on paper, yes perhaps we need a bit of peace and quiet.

There's a difference between having external stimulation available, and having it be a constant firehose.

IME perceptions of open offices often fall along the introvert/extrovert divide, but the evidence of their (in)effectiveness is well documented at this point. Having common gathering areas? Great! Having one's workspace in a common area? Counterproductive, even for extroverts. (I'd guess even more so.) Stimulation is great, but you can't put it on a balance sheet.

First Day in an Incubator office - T Rex

Tofit

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.

boatman

Introversion

Pie aren't squared, pie are round!

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

Dennis E. Taylor

Get it off! It burns!

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen

boatman

lizmonster

Possibly A Mermaid Queen