Essentially this title should be replaced with “Chaos”. That’s basically the limbo our office has now been in for a few weeks. My company has been in the Watermark Tower for the past 8 years (I’ve been there over 7 years) and we have outgrown our space and have been ready for an upgrade for some time. We moved literally kitty corner to Waterfront Place, the corner southwest of us, so now there is nothing that stands between us and the Sound.
Last week we were delivered boxes to pack up our belongings and instructions to dismantle our monitors. Friday was essentially a completely unproductive “overhead” day and some coworkers came in on Saturday to help the movers with giving them directions and to answer questions. Now that it is Monday we are spending our first day in the new space, unpacking our boxes, and still essentially unproductive from the adjustment period.
The space is good, with all new furniture, adjustable height desks to go from sitting to standing, a much larger kitchen (with kegerator), a larger lunch room with flatscreen TV and our lunch table is actually a ping pong table, and my group scored prime real estate with views of the Sound and a lot of natural light coming in. Additionally, there is a designated lactation room and much larger locker rooms for pre or post-work exercises. I was actually assigned to buy furniture for the library, lobby and lactation room…of which I pretty much got all from IKEA.
I think this is going to be good for our company. The space is a lot more open, yet my group are now all seated together, which I think will make things a lot more productive and cohesive. I am giving up my desk right next to the window but am still getting a lot of natural light so I am okay with that. I’ll essentially be there for seven weeks max and then will be out for up to 14 weeks so hopefully I still have my same desk when I return. Although the new space is much nicer than the old, it is going to take a little more time to get everything working like normal. Printers have been an issue. We are waiting for the fridges to come in for the kitchen. The moving boxes are everywhere. And the front lobby and library areas are basically holding places for things right now and don’t have the furniture in them that I am responsible for ordering.
It feels super weird to be in a different space. Since beginning work I have moved around quite a bit; to Sound Transit in the ID, to Capitol Hill to work on site, to Redmond to work in the project office. But this is different. The whole office moved and it will not feel like home base for some time I believe.
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 