Imaginary Workplace

My imaginary workplace is a circular building. It holds 3 concentric rings. The outer ring is the public ring. Anyone can enter it. This is where you show your work. You do your demos in the auditorium. You arrange gatherings in the open agoras. Your work is exposed all across this ring, and people can walk around it freely. This is where you invite people in to get their feedback, where you arrange design thinking sessions. This is where the creative process starts and also where it ends.

The next ring, the middle one, is the team ring. Only those who belong to project or product teams can access it. This is the space where team members engage with one another; the space for planning and reviewing. This is a place to brainstorm and dissent; a place for consensus; the place where decisions are made. A place for heated discussions and also celebration. A command center for your projects. I see drawings on the walls, kanbans and dashboards.

The final ring is the core ring. A place for deep individual work, no different than a library. No distractions allowed. It’s only you and your work. I see an open space of creators absorbed in their work. I see individual booths for those who need isolation. While you are here, nothing can disturb you.

In my imaginary workplace there’s contextual awareness. If you are in the core ring, you don’t receive notifications. When you step out to the next ring, only your team’s messages can reach you, only your team can call you. Then, when you get out to the public ring, you get back to the wild.

The building knows where you are. Your status gets automatically updated as you move from ring to ring. Nobody has wrong expectations. People get notified when you are reachable. Your team when you are on the team’s ring, the rest when you are out to the public.

I would love to work in a place like this, a place where each work mode has its own space. I’d love to know how much time I spend on each ring. What would be a reasonable balance?

Why doesn’t this exist yet? Or does it?