February 17, 2005
Dear Everyone:
I spent this morning “observing” one of my co-workers giving the instruction for the Beginners version of how to use the document management system at work. This is part of the “certification” process for her to become a bona fide Trainer, like myself. (As one of the first trainers, I was never “certified”. We just made it up as we went along.)
It will be extremely helpful to have another trainer in the neighborhood. That way we’ll be able to spread the load around when training is suddenly urgently required by one project or another. We also have one “certified” trainer and one “in-training” in the “Hobby” area.
It also means that I will have more of my time available to work on other projects. And from what I’ve been hearing, our Global Records Consulting group has prospective projects beating down the door.
After the training was completed, we decided to
drop in on Building V (we were in Company
Building V is the first building in the Bay Area to move to the new space standard. They moved all the people out and gutted the building. Now they have almost completed setting up the new space. In fact, the second floor was completed a couple of weeks ago and is already occupied by the first group of people, who were moved in last weekend.
Last summer we were shown mockups of what the new space standard would look like. You have your basic 8X8 “cube”. It contains a “Sit-Stand” desk (more about that in a bit), a chair and a “pedestal” The “pedestal” is actually a little roll-around file cabinet. Cute as a bug, really. There’s a standard file drawer on the bottom, with a shallow drawer (for pens, rulers, paper clips, etc.) above it. The top is upholstered and the whole thing rolls around on casters. Oh, by the way, that’s also your guest chair. That’s why the top is padded.
So that’s the basic cube. Now you get to customize it.
Maybe you have lots and lots of files and need a lateral file cabinet. Or maybe you’d rather have a table because you need to spread things out a lot. You can have one or the other, but not both. Would you like an overhead bin for binders and books and things? Maybe you’d like two. That’s fine, but to get the second overhead you have to give up having a “storage tower”.
The tower (similar to the one I currently have in “Pleasant Hill”, only smaller) has two cabinets, one above the other, with pull-out drawers, or shelves. Above that is an open space and above that is the top of the tower. You can put family photos, or keepsakes, or whatever on the two top shelves. And along one side of the tower is a “closet” for your coat, provided your coat isn’t more than three inches wide. (If you pass on the tower, you can get a coat hanger that attaches to the top of the cubicle wall.)
Personally, I elected to have one overhead bin, with a table below it and the tower next to that. That pretty much fills that side of the cube.
There’s also something called a “slat wall”. This attaches to one side of the cubicle over the “Sit-Stand”. Various objects can be fitted into the slats, forming above-the-desk spaces. Desk trays, slanted organizers, small shelves to hold your stapler and tape dispenser, even a shelf specially designed to hold the telephone. You’re allowed to pick from a selection, provided you don’t go over your allotted “points”. After that, if you want more, you can buy them.
Now about that “Sit-Stand”. This is the pièce de résistance, the “crown jewel” of the new space standards. This is a corner desk, designed to fit into the corner of the cubicle. It goes up and down, electronically, at the press of a button. You can adjust the height to perfectly match the best fit to you either in your chair, or standing up.
This is the part that has had me excited for months. I have never been able to find a chair/desk combination to fit me. If the chair is low enough for my feet to touch the floor (as recommended by all ergonomics), the desk is about breast-height and I look like a little kid at the counter in a candy store. If the chair is high enough to use the desk comfortably, my feet are dangling miles above the floor.
There’s always a footrest, but these are problematic in their own way. Most are rectangular, but the base of most office chairs is five spokes radiating out from the center. This makes the chair very stable, but the spokes push the footrest away so your knees aren’t the recommended 90 degrees. I did speak with an ergonomic expert about this problem; and he mentioned a company that he thought had come up with a triangular footrest that could fit between the spokes. But I could never find anything about the company.
For over thirty years, I’ve been saying, “Either lower the desk or raise the floor.” And the response has always been, “Get over it.” Finally, I will have a desk that fits me!
That having been said, there is one caveat. (“Caveat”, as in “caveat emptor” (“let the buyer beware”) is a Latin word meaning, “Danger, Will Robinson!”) We finally got to see these wonderful cubicles in use today. With all the wonderful furniture, including a chair, and a real person moving around…
They are a tad bit cozy.
Suddenly the expression, “…enough room to swing a cat” springs to mind. On the plus side, you’ll have everything at your fingertips. You could probably hang your coat in the closet without leaving your desk.
As for the cute little “guest chair”. Put two people in one of these cubicles and one of them would have to step outside to change her mind.
Can’t wait to move in.
Love, as always,
Pete
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