Here’s just one example:
Andrea del Verrocchio (1435–1488) was a sculptor, painter, and goldsmith, but his pupils weren’t limited to following his preferred pursuits. In his workshop, younger artists might pursue engineering, architecture, or various business or scientific ventures. Verrocchio’s workshop gave free rein to a new generation of entrepreneurial artists — eclectic characters such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), Pietro Perugino (c. 1450–1523), and Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494).
Not bad for a day’s work, eh what Andrea?
Critically, these bottega were the furthest thing from abstracted academic think tanks or rich boys’ playgrounds: Their raison d’etre was to conceive new artistic and engineering forms and deliver them into the marketplace. (The long arm of patrons, after all, was omnipresent.)
There’s a wonderful and sadly archaic characterization of markets as “conversations.” Indeed they are. A product or a service offering is never ejected from a firm like a disembodied pod into the judgmental stream of commerce, never to be seen or heard from again. Just to state the premise reveals how disconnected from reality it is; yet many people I know, in their heart, think this is how markets work.
Instead, think of entering (or continuing to intersect with) a market as a true, vibrant, open-ended conversation. Imagine yourself at a cocktail or dinner party if it helps; you often have no idea where an opening gambit is going to lead. All I’m really suggesting here, as to how you design and organize your physical office space, is that you do so on the principle that it should do everything possible to facilitate and enable those conversations and not put unnatural hurdles and barriers in their way or put a lid on them before they get good.
Soon, all of us will be able to work any time from anywhere, so long as we can be in front of at least one screen; the Millennials may have gotten there first, but we’re all well on our way. Let’s just make sure that if the time we spend together is less than it is today, we make the most of it.
Thank you for this article Bruce. As a history graduate, I enjoyed it as much for the comparison with Renaissance Italy as for the investigation of agile working and office space in law firms.
My take is that the use of office space is but one aspect of truly agile working. Like you, I am struck by the prevalence of the phrase in UK law firm parlance. I have also been struck by how ‘agile working’ is used narrowly, to describe nothing more than an HR policy (flexible or remote working) or a facilities management approach (open plan / hot desking).
Agile working is so much more than this. I feel we’re missing the point and law firms are missing a great opportunity. Agile working is not about the firm – it’s about its clients. It:
– starts with client and market demands
– matches resources of all types to those demands
– focuses on outputs rather than inputs
– aims for maximum flexibility and minimum constraints.
In doing so, the firm may choose to implement open plan or flexible working, but both will be the means, rather than the end.
I recently posited a definition of agile working for the legal sector in an attempt to achieve greater clarity and a deeper purpose for agile working (see: http://www.katherinethomasconsulting.com/thoughts).
I suggest: “Agile working starts with the client and focuses on achieving outputs rather than managing inputs. It encompasses every area of the organisation and matches resources of all types to meet demands efficiently and adapt to changing market conditions nimbly. Crucially, agile working in legal services exists where business needs overlap with worker preferences and skills, resulting in increased productivity, efficiency, adaptability and innovation.”
What do you think?
Katherine
Katherine: Many thanks for contributing to the conversation. I’ve used a slide a few times lately that A&O developed to represent the legal marketplace ecosystem as they see it (law firms, LPO’s, the Big 4, Axiom and Integreon and NovusLaw &c.) and what strikes so many people who see it is not the variety of service providers available but the fact that A&O put the client at the center of this solar system and not the law firm! Hilarious that people react that way, but of course A&O is right to do so.
As are you.
Thanks again,
Bruce
How revolutionary indeed!! Thanks Bruce. Katherine