Jailbreak Omaha

It has been a long time since the last post but there is good news if anyone still visits this blog. The coworking project has a name and a start time. The name is Jailbreak and the project is scheduled to launch the summer of this year, 2009. Above is the logo which was designed by GoodTwin Design, who also designed the website, jailbreakomaha.com. So go to the website sign up to have news and updates sent to your email of choice and stay tuned to this summer.

The Open-Environment Work Space

Tim Sidell, blogger at badbanna.typepad.com, hilarious twitterer at twitter.com/badbanana, and co-owner/creative director of the lincoln-based Fusebox, posted a very intersting and inciteful post about the open-environment work space at Fusebox. Since the coworking space is setup around an open-environment work space I thought I would share his beads of wisdom when working in such a work environment. 

1. Be prepared to hate it at first.
It took six months for us to get used to it. During that time, we felt every eyeball on us. We didn't know how to take private phone calls. We didn't know what to do when someone walked into the front door. Trust us, you get over it.

2. Go wide open and go big.
In our studio, the smaller work area (also open) is separated from the rest of the studio with a cardboard screen. All that extra studio space provides some privacy for those times when one must take a private call or get some alone time. The ability to get up, move to a quiet corner, or walk away from the group, is key.

3. Create little areas for a little privacy.
Set up your space with little pods. Tables. Chairs. Thinking areas. Meeting areas. And supply people with nearby tools for capturing creative ideas. Pads of paper. Nearby pencils. Chalkboard or dry erase boards on wheels. Heck, we even have chalkboard walls in the restroom.

4. Cut the cords as much as possible.
Everyone needs a workstation as a home base. But with WiFi, laptops, and mobile phones, your people should have the ability to truly use the various privacy areas around the studio. We've gone eight years operating entirely on mobile phones. Which means when we absolutely need privacy or a change of scenery, we can work from a park, coffee shop, or even home.

5. Understand that it's not for everyone.
Make sure you recruit accordingly. In our experience, the best creative people crave this type of an environment and a spirit of teamwork will prevail. On the other hand, manipulative, project-hoarding, non-collaborative, and dishonest people will not last long. That's the best part.

6. Create face privacy, not monitor privacy.
With work stations, we try to set it up so nobody is looking directly at someone else. On the other hand, we try to make it easy to see monitors. It's not that we're keeping tabs on people. It's that all projects are ultimately studio projects, and if anybody can tip in an idea or offer a suggestion, they should do so. Often, you can see the body language of someone struggling with a project. Instead of having to ask for help, people can walk by and offer it.

7. Build music into the environment.
Our studio is wired for sound in zones. We can adjust each zone's volume, or even turn off a zone (which we do for meetings). But for the most part, our studio is jumping with an eclectic mix of music. Music adds energy to the environment, but also provides noise to cover close conversations or some phone calls. It eliminates accidental eavesdropping. And if someone doesn't like the music, they can always put on headphones.

8. Embrace the chaos.
At times, it's going to be loud, chaotic, and hard to concentrate. Turn on your radar and see if the creative solution you're looking for is really floating around in the chaos around you. You'll be surprised how often it is, which is the greatest creative benefit of all. Walk around. See what other people are working on. Tip in an idea on someone else's project. In our experience, your work will get better as a result.

Business Incubator Program

After seeing what the founders of Turbine Flats have done, there has been some discussion of adding in an incubator program into the coworking space. What is a incubator you ask? According the definition from Wikipedia, a business incubator is "designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts." A small start could receive resources to help grow their business that they would not normally get, as quickly or at all, on their own. The thought is to give those in the incubator program an office space. Those who just need space to work can use the open-environment space. This inclusion of the incubator program could open doors for start-ups and entrepreneurial companies which would make the coworking project even more appetizing for potential investors and occupants.

Turbine Flats, Lincoln's Coworking Space

Silicon Prairie News went down to Lincoln recently and visited the coworking/incubator work space called Turbine Flats. While there they took some great video of the tour around the work space. This is what they saw.

Turbine Flats from Silicon Prairie News on Vimeo

There have been some addition news stories about the Turbine Flats in the Lincoln Journal Star. You can read them here and here.

What is Coworking?

I always get this question when people ask me about this project. You could read the pbwiki definition, which says "Coworking is a cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents." Even with that answer I get a glazed look from the questioning party. After some deeper explaining the usual conclusion is "oh it's like Starbucks." Sure but it is much more than that Starbucks community atmosphere. Coworking brings together like-minded individuals who have small, independent companies. 

A coworking space gives these independent companies that would usually work out of their home, to cut out overhead, a place to call their office. Even more than that the space allows for interaction with other designers or developers that they would normally get at an agency or company. This allows them to bounce ideas off of each other and it allows say a designer and a developer to work a projects that require each other's talents. Projects that they would not normally be able to work on because they didn't have the resources to team up and pitch on. Sometime companies are formed out of these collaborations and a one man design shop becomes a small boutique agency with designers, programmers and copywriters. No longer silos spread throughout a city, these individuals are now independents apart of bigger picture. The Divvy Collective slogan says it best, "We are not an advertising agency or a design firm. We are a group of creatives that have come together to share [ideas and] space.

It's Coming Omaha!

Stay Tuned...

More news to come on the launch of Omaha's Co-Create City...