As mentioned before, I decided to hit up Austin Jelly this morning to see what the craze was all about. I’d worked at Cafe Caffeine a few times before and for the most part, it felt like that.
David Walker of 302 designs introduced himself. Strangely, he mentioned that I looked familiar to him and he seemed rather familiar to me as well. I’m going to have to try to figure that one out.
It wasn’t as social as I expected it to be, but I figure most of the regulars were out seeking new iPhones. Then again, I actually had quite a few things to get done this morning and had my mind wrapped around too many things to pay too much attention to my surroundings.
Here are some tips I’ll use for my next venture out there:
- Grab a centrally-located table. It’s easy to go unnoticed on the outer tables if you want to socialize. The centrally-located tables had the most conversation and action, naturally.
- Make sure you’re not so head down into your work that you actually have time to talk and introduce yourself to others.
- Make sure your day isn’t interrupted by an hour long conference call where the VOIP USB speakerphone at home is necessary.
I’m actually looking forward to my next adventure out there (I make it seem like it’s so far away when I can literally walk there in less than five minutes) when I get back from the Bay Area in a couple weeks and looking forward to meeting some of the folks I didn’t get a chance to meet today.
I took a step in the direction of getting out of the home office and working collaboratively with others when I talked to the other two SugarCRM employees in Austin today to see if they wanted to get together once a week and work together at a coffee shop, or somewhere equally interesting.
Naturally, they were both excited about the idea and we’ll talk about it while we’re all out in Cupertino next week. As one of the early employees, I could probably give them a lot of insight they wouldn’t get working in their individual silos for the most part. And, I can figure out if there’s anything I can, or the company can, do to make their lives easier.
A win-win situation and all it took was a little initiative to ask.
I’ve got 19 more of these suckers left if anyone is interested.
I’m a big fan of their UI. It keeps everything well-organized and while the refreshes aren’t instant, they make it easy to sort through. Most of all, they group up the facebook-twitter-simultaneous-update spam.
As most of you know, I work from home. I’ve been doing this for the better part of two years now and it’s worked out pretty well. There’s no question that I’ve been more productive out of the office rather than in it.
But there’s one essential thing missing: human interaction. You know, bouncing ideas off of others and getting that personal feedback. Shooting the proverbial shit about technology. Perhaps even a bit of water cooler talk. As a result, I’ve become even more of a social butterfly–yes, I know, I’m quite one normally–whenever I head to Cupertino to visit the folks at Sugar HQ. I’ve been looking for a way to get at least some of this on a regular basis.
I think this is where the concept of co-working comes into play. I’m not sure if I fit the freelancer or designer mold–maybe that is a common misconception–but I hope that I would have something beneficial to offer.
Thankfully, I live out in the Silicon Hills–Austin, for the folks not in The Know–and there’s quite an initiative by a few groups of bright folks to bring co-working (and flourishing technology enthusiasm) into the spotlight. Our local paper ran a story yesterday about telecommutting Austinites having an office to go to when the camaraderie is missing.
And then there’s Jelly Austin! Luckily, this scheduled event takes place two blocks from my house at Cafe Caffeine that I already frequent on a regular basis.
I’ve been searching for a consistent theme to write about on my blog and I think I’ve found one. My journey into the world of Austin co-working begins now.
I’ve got over 500 photos and 100 videos of the last few weeks with our trip to NYC, Houston, and my cousins’ visit to Austin.
It amazes me how quickly some folks are able to get their digital lives online within a day of it happening. Maybe I need to step up my game.
