I have contemplated moving from a WordPress-hosted blog to one on a URL I control for nearly five years now. I have spent more time than I care to admit contemplating it back and forth before always deciding to hold ground on where I had been the whole time. There is something comforting in the…
10 years ago today I wrote my very first blog post…I don’t even know how to react to this realization
I can just barely remember getting the idea to start writing a blog. It was part of a new organizational change that was going on with the company I worked for at the time. They were embarking on a new thought leadership initiative and I thought I could add value through writing. I was a…
It’s not about being either office or remote…but hybrid and flexible aren’t the right terms either.
This is the age of awful, awkward workplace operations conversations! Topping the list of language we will all one day cringe at are these lovelies: Hybrid working Flexible working Agile workplace Remote versus virtual Hoteling and hot-desking Monday/Friday in-office “How many days are right in the office?” Personas There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of…
A few musings on the nature of uncertainty and real estate delivery
If I had to pick one word that would summarize the last 15 or so months for me, it would be uncertainty. I find it interesting the impact uncertainty has on different individuals. Do you know that sensation that most people feel when there is a long, awkward pause in a conversation – that feeling…
Applying Systems Engineering to Corporate Real Estate
When most people think of engineering, they think of building things – machines, buildings, bridges, factories, roads, dams, etc. In fact, the Wikipedia article for engineering starts off saying just as much. Industrial and Systems engineering is the oft forgotten field of engineering that the “real engineers” call imaginary. Systems engineering is all about optimizing…
Never lose sight of the good things that have come out of this pandemic.
Pick as many curses as you want to describe the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to the creativity that is still to come to describe this shared period we’ve all lived through and endured. It hasn’t been easy personally or professionally. In fact, I’d argue that even for those that had it fairly easy (and…
Always separate the commercial real estate market from how you approach your occupied portfolio. The relationship between the two is tenuous at best.
The purpose of a corporate real estate function is to provide the space that a company uses to execute its business strategy. This is not to be confused with business models focused on investing in real estate as a separate profit seeking venture. Corporate real estate is about providing space for people, products, customers, and…
Workplace Experience has a new definition in 2021 that means you have to think about real estate more intensely.
It’s been awhile since I posted because this has been a strange year. On one side, the pandemic situation has completely upended the industry I work in. On the other, there’s professional things going on that tie right back in and make it a challenge to think through as well. Because I try to keep…
Understanding context requires both experience in the field and the organization.
2021 is the year that everyone in every organization became an expert in corporate real estate. I have heard the term “hot desk” used more in the last six months than I have in the last decade. Amazingly, it’s a term that I had thought was effectively dead five years ago. Yet, here it is…
Are you checking behind your AI to make sure it isn’t leading you wrong?
The story of technology is predictable. A new tool comes out in alpha and starts to generate press. It moves to beta and shows amazing potential for some universal use cases. It moves to early adopter production and word grows exponentially as the cases generate business benefits for those early adopters. It begins to be…