Agile working – the modern office concept of the future
Innovative working environments from the open-plan office to the home office
The endangered employee?
In an age of digitalisation and artificial intelligence the question arises as to what role people should play and what work they should do. To anticipate the answer right away: the individual remains the focus around which everything revolves. And even becomes a new appreciation, because what our futures will still need in all industries are two things that cannot be digitised - social interactions and good ideas. Agile structures are the best way to generate them. With their help, employers can discover the creative potential of their employees, promote them in a targeted manner and make them effective, both in small and large sizes. The loudest employees are not always the ones with the best ideas. Everyone has their own particular strength, which is valuable for the company. In order to develop them and use them in the work process, smaller units are needed.
Scrum
Scrum comes from rugby and denotes a controlled mass of players around a ball; transfer this image to the project management, and its meaning becomes clear: flexibility and dynamism. The basic idea of Scrum does not plan a project from A to Z, but executes it iteratively in so-called “sprints”, i.e. step by step in small work packages, which are repeatedly coordinated, repeated and thereby improved. It is not thought in years or months, but in weeks or days. In this way, you can intervene in every phase of the process and react promptly to problems. When a work package is ready, the team discusses the result, gets feedback from the customer, and plans how to proceed.
Kanban
The word Kanban (= map) comes from Japanese and was developed in 1950 by the automobile manufacturer Toyota for production process control in order to achieve faster throughput times. After it was initially used for the IT industry, it is now used in numerous production controls - from startups to international corporations. The little hero here is the post-it. Because what looks like abstract art at first glance is the visualisation of an existing process flow, which is broken down into small steps and displayed on a Kanban board in a transparent and comprehensible manner for all sides. Tasks from "To Do" through "In Progress" to "Done" are arranged, the current status is recorded and possible problems become clear. Everything that stops the flow is analysed, optimised and thus continuously improved.
Design Thinking
The name says it all, because Design Thinking is about releasing the maximum creative potential from all team members of a project and thus systematically solving complex tasks. The work of designers and architects serves as a model, following an intuitive process and focusing on the future user. In Design Thinking, this is closely integrated into the process and its agreements from the start, so that the end result corresponds exactly to its needs. In addition to interdisciplinary teams, courage for out the box ideas and visualisation through storytelling and prototyping, innovative spatial concepts also play an important role in this approach.
The new freedom of thought
If you want to promote the creativity of your employees, you have to start at the workplace. Because only a space that offers the freedom to think and act provides new ideas and their efficient implementation. This requires intelligent and inspiring concepts and furniture that also enable these new forms of interaction. Most offices are completely unsuitable for this because of their spatial capacity and closed nature. Even the old open-plan office has little in common with the new open space. Meeting rooms offer the best chance of change, but all too often these too are usually too rigid and static for the desired methods. Agile working methods need flexible spaces that are designed for interaction, concentration and socialisation, that can be changed quickly and easily and that address the different needs of employees. In this way, small teams should find spatial solutions to develop creative ideas in peace, while larger teams have the opportunity to exchange ideas on a large scale. Maybe you need individual think tanks or a library. And the individual must also be able to withdraw, whether to make a phone call, relax or focus on their task. Not to forget the coffee lounge or kitchen island, where everyone can get together, eat and chat.
The agile smow team
Anyone looking for the "perfect office" for agile working life will have little success. Because here too, changeability and change remain the principle. Nevertheless, every company and every organisation has special ideas and requirements that need to be observed and implemented architecturally and internally. In order to choose the right one among the myriad of variables and variants, you need an expert or a competent team leader with whom you can work out the "perfect individual solution". Best of all agile and personal. We look forward to accompanying you on this search and to advising you with our knowledge and diverse experience in the field of agile office concepts. Please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail or visit us directly on site in our smow stores throughout Germany. We look forward to seeing you.

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