WLP226: Researching Collaboration Spaces

This podcast is brought to you by Virtual Not Distant, helping businesses transition to successful remote working.

Today we interview

6.07 Caitlin McDonald

Dr Caitlin McDonald is a digital anthropologist at the Leading Edge Forum, an organisation which works with senior leaders to help them reconsider decisions and outcomes, through research, events, and advisory services. 

Pilar participated in recent research for the Forum on Reconfiguring the collaborative workspace, which took a deep anthropological dive into workplace organisational structures and digital tools - in particular the ways we interact differently on and offline.

Recent policy shifts in remote working and travel restrictions will affect many organisations for the first time, and Caitlin was keen to point out that ‘remote under duress’ is not a recipe for success, as we have discussed in this podcast previously. And in urban areas particularly, not everyone has a home environment suitable for work - it could be noisy, shared, unheated, etc. Asking employees to set up their own space doesn’t always work, people need support and resources from the organisation.

We strongly recommend checking out the executive summary of Caitlin’s research here, and you can connect with her on twitter to continue the conversation.

And do keep your feedback coming, we really enjoy it - please contact us, or you can tweet Virtual Not Distant, or Pilar and Maya directly, with any of your thoughts and ideas.