(The benies become obvious the first time you cowork.)

Enjoy!

Since C4 Workspace is closed I find myself out in the Big Wide World, meandering from one coffee shop to another searching for a little coworking mojo. This article, “Entrepreneurs Guide to Coffee Shop Etiquette” covers the topic in Q & A format. I think it will come in handy for me. And maybe for you too. I’ve covered the highlights below.

How Much Should I Buy?

Short Answer: Buy something.

How Long Can I Stay?

Short Answer: All day, if you’d like, but get your tail out of there when the café closes.

Can I Take Business Calls?

Short Answer: It’s most polite to take calls outside, but short, quiet conversations are permissible.

Is It Ever Okay To Turn My Computer’s Sound On?

Short Answer: Sound = never appropriate. Use your headphones, n00b.

What If I Need Extra Seats for My Belongings?

Short Answer: You only get one seat. Put your stuff on the floor.

Is It Kosher To Ask Others To Watch My Stuff?

Short Answer: Certainly! They’ll watch your stuff, and you can watch theirs when they need it.

Are Group Meetings Welcome?

Short Answer: It depends on how many people the space can accommodate, but four is the magic number.

What Can I Do on the Wi-Fi?

Short Answer: Be considerate, and keep to the basics of browsing the web and checking email.

I’d like to think that C⁴ Workspace embraced most of the principles the talk about. SO enjoy.

“The hell is not something that will be: if there is one, it is already here, the hell where we live every day, that we form staying together. There are two ways not to suffer from. The first one is easy for many people: accepting the hell and become part of it up to the point not to see it anymore. The second one is risky and requires attention and continuous learning: searching and being able to recognize who and what, into the hell, is not hell, and to make it last, and to give space to it.” -Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

The nature of work is evolving, and with it the workplace. We know that. These changes offer incredible potential for development. Workspaces are the ones that connect diverse organizations and individuals, giving them the chance to collaborate, share knowledge and develop systemic solutions to the issues they are trying to address.

The Hub Oaxaca, photo via the Hub Bay Area blog

The co-design method requires a mixed and participatory approach involving people from different fields. This approach acknowledges complexity and seeks not to simplify process and outcome but to explore the set of unpredictable and surprising ideas that emerge from combining different ideas and points of view.

Creation demands a higher level of reasoning and draws connections between cause and effect. The best rules are never permanent, but always naturally evolving. A good collaborative space it needs to be:

1. People-centered

Hub Oaxaca co-design workshop run by Andrea Paoletti

2. Luminous

Cliff Bar Emeryville’s glass walls and meeting room, designed by ZGF Architects

3. Simple

Square San Francisco’s Informal gathering areas, designed by Studio O+A

4. Diverse

Hub Milano’s open collaborative environment, designed by Andrea Paoletti, Marta Pietroboni and Roberto Siena

5. Randomizing

Skype Palo Alto’s contemplation areas, designed by Design Blitz

6. Fluid

Milano Curved-edged furniture, designed by Andrea Paoletti, Marta Pietroboni and Roberto Siena

7. Adaptive

Rovereto paradoxical furniture with unconventional materials, designed by Andrea Paoletti and Rosso Scuro Design

8. Ethical

Hub San Francisco inspiration steps, designed by Andrea Paoletti

9. Flexible

D-school Stanford’s rolling white board and table on wheels, designed byScott Witthoft and Scott Doorley

10. Open-ended

Hub Oaxaca co-design workshop run by Andrea Paoletti

Co-design the space to feed the soul of the people and give them a sense of accomplishment. This cross-fertilization makes the space more human, spontaneous and flexible, making people more creative and fostering discussions that play an essential part in the development process, bringing down walls and inspiring collaboration.

At TEDxMidwest, he lays out the main problems (call them the M&Ms) and offers three suggestions to make work work.

Come ready to party and give the space a good sendoff. We’ll have beer, wine, some Twisted Tea and perhaps a blender will make an appearance.

You’ll have your chance to say goodbye on video and share your memories and success stories from your coworking experience.

And there will be a Garage Sale of sorts as we sell off excess furniture and stuff in the continuing saga of paying off our bills.

In the spirirt of an Irsh wake come celebrate C4 Workspace. It may be the end of coworking “place” in San Antonio but not the end of the coworking “concept” here. That will continue on in some form and perhaps pop up in spot near you!

COWORKING IS AWESOME!

Just watch. You’ll see.

Anyway, snagged this interesting post, “Coworking for Lawyers: First Impressions” from the Coworking Google group. It was created by a lawyer who was working out of Indy Hall, Philly’s premier coworking space. Indy Hall was co-founded by Alex Hillman, who could be described somewhat accurately as a coworking godfather. (Hey, yo! Jersey’s just across the river!)

And now…the gratuitous lawyer joke. (I grew up in NJ and spent a while in California.)

Why does California have the most attorneys, and New Jersey have the most toxic waste dumps?

New Jersey got first pick.

(from http://www.lawyer-jokes.us/)

And fuhgeddaboutit. I’m from Jersey, I make the Jersey jokes.

The shift from an ownership economy to an economy of sharing has been one of the most important movements of the past few years – a concept most eloquently captured in Rachel Botsman’s notion of collaborative consumption. From car- and bike-sharing to bookcycling reading clubs, the decentralization of resources is enabling us to have more by owning less — because, as Kevin Kelly puts it, “access trumps possession.” So far, however, the majority of this resource-sharing has been experienced on the individual level: though enabled by a community of car-sharers, your ride in a ZipCar is no different and no less solitary than a ride in any other car. But an emerging groundswell is bridging shared resources and shared experience by taking collaborative consumption to a promising new frontier: The workplace.

So, what do you think? Leave a comment whydoncha?

C4 Workspace, 108 King William Street 78204

Lunch included for RSVPs. RSVP Now.

What Will Work Look Like?

How will we be working? Where? What will that space look like? Who will be around us? Will anything be different?

Very likely.

This first C4 Workspace Lunchtime Learning Series session will look at tomorrow’s work styles, tomorrow’s workers and tomorrow’s workplace. Our three speakers will present and discuss the opportunities that the Future of Work will bring.

Clay Spinuzzi, Ph.D.

How Adhocracies Fit into the Future of Work

Clay will explore the world of kinetic organizations, new relationships and organizational forms and the “third place.”

Clay is an associate professor of rhetoric at The University of Texas at Austin.

Gina Schmidt

Harder Working Spaces

Gina will look at the key issues that businesses face today: enabling collaboration and teamwork, attracting and retaining the right talent, using the workplace as tool to build brand and reflect organizational culture.

Gina is a Workspace Consultant with Steelcase and a graduate of UTSA.

Todd O’Neill

It’s a Movement!: Coworking Around the World

Since 2005 coworking has grown from 0 to 600 space worldwide. Todd will look at what it is about this work style that appeals to so many people around the world.

Todd is the catalyst behind C⁴ Workspace, San Antonio’s first coworking space.

RSVP Now

This event made possible by: