The future of coworking

[knicklabs]

Hey everyone, I would love to hear your thoughts about Monday night coworking. What is good? What is bad? What should change? etc.

[dideler]

Good:

• It's social and fun
• Sometimes there's good entertainment
• Food and drinks available for purchase
• Option to stand up or sit down while working
• Downtown St. Catharines is a good location, especially being right next to the bus terminal and a garage
• Open till late (usually)

Bad:

• Often too social to get real work done
• Hours aren't consistent
• Sometimes there's bad entertainment
• Not a dedicated space, so not guaranteed to be open or being able to find a spot if open (though I don't think this has been an issue yet)
• It's pricey for students or anyone with no or little income

What should change:

• I'd like to see more people outside of the usual crowd come out
• Better notification system for who's coworking? (To be clear, I like the system, but maybe it's not friendly for others)
• Have a way for newcomers to identify the SN coworking group

I'll edit my comment if I think of anything else.

[mmottola24]

I couldn't agree more with Dennis' assessment of co-working. Especially finding a way for new corners to identify the SN group and get more people to come out.

[knicklabs]

I agree with Dennis' assessment as well. I would add that the "social and fun" bit can be both a pro and a con. While enjoyable, it also prevents getting real work done.

In addition to addressing the other concerns of price, space, and visibility, would it be better to have project-based hack nights or more sociable coworking nights?

[dideler]

Agreed that the socialness can make it difficult to get work done - added to list of cons.

@knicklabs would the project-based hack nights be group projects (possibly planned in advance)? If we make coworking any more sociable, I'm not sure if we can still call it coworking :p.

[knicklabs]

I think that would be up to people who come out. They could work on their own projects or in groups.

[dideler]

I'm not sure I see a difference with how it's set up now. Currently coworkers mostly work on their own projects, but they can work in groups if they decide to.

[knicklabs]

I'm wondering if a quieter environment would have a different outcome.

[dideler]

Possibly. Do you have a place in mind?

[tmadej]

How about FueledMinds? Free coffee. Fibre backed WiFi. Plenty of space. Sofas coming soon along with NES, SNES & Sega. I can give a couple of you guys passes so you can come in after 5:30PM whenever you want on Mondays and the building is willing to keep the doors open until 10PM.

Another thought: Maybe even rebrand it to Coffee & Code. Less social. More doing.

On Jan 6, 2014, at 8:38 PM, Dennis Ideler notifications@github.com wrote:

Possibly. Do you have a place in mind?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[dideler]

I'm willing to try FueledMinds as a new coworking location (thanks @tmadej).

I also like the "Coffee & Code" suggestion.

[knicklabs]

Same. +1

[mmottola24]

Same to both! May need to sneak in some Bailey's from time to time for the coffee, the Ballmer Peak will ensure we get more done ;)

[trevortwining]

I think it's important to have it somewhere that's visually and physically accessible (not in the disability sense, but that's important too). Given that it's an evening event, many people are looking for the social part of it. That's why I think moving it away from Mahtay -- or a similar venue -- is a bad idea.

Trevor Twining skype:trevortwining

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 1:34 PM, Michael Mottola notifications@github.comwrote:

Same to both! May need to sneak in some Bailey's from time to time for the coffee, the Ballmer Peak will ensure we get more done ;)

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/softwareniagara/feedback/issues/51#issuecomment-31764962 .

[mmottola24]

Point well taken. Are there similar venues besides Mahtay that we could try? Or would similar issues exist no matter where we go?

[knicklabs]

When we started the Monday-night variant of coworking there were a couple of goals:

1. Give the after-five crowd a taste of coworking, which was a daytime event.
2. Give developers a time and place to work on their pet projects.

I think we did well achieving the first goal. We've helped to spread the coworking concept and we've helped bring people together. We have a really solid community that I'm proud to be part of.

I think we can do a lot better in achieving the second goal. I think it's worth experimenting with a more project-oriented event. Providing collaborative space for people to explore and build projects, either alone or in small groups, is where a lot more interesting things will happen. There will be more opportunity for mentorship and apprenticeship, as well as potential development of passive income streams and new startups.

Mahtay Cafe is a great venue. The owners and staff are gracious hosts and there is a strong community of creative-types that frequent the venue, which make it a natural fit for coworking. It is a particularly great fit for the daytime coworking crowd as it is a bit quieter in the morning and afternoon. It is more of a social scene in the evening though. It can be crowded and there is often live entertainment. This is a fun environment for social events, like Startup Drinks. I wonder, however, if it is too amplified for coworking.

I think it is important to find a good balance between social interaction and productivity. I wondered if a library would be a good venue, but it is probably too far in the opposite direction. Some sort of coworking facility would be more middle-ground.

On a related note, FueledMinds has worked well as a venue for DevTricks, particularly from an organization perspective. We host DevTricks on the third Monday of each month. This means, we have coworking at Mahtay Cafe on the first, second, and fourth Mondays. This schedule is somewhat confusing, particularly for non-regulars. Having both these events in the same venue would improve consistency, which is an important aspect of community building.

For a good discussion on community building, including some talk about venues and consistency, episode 90 of JavaScript Jabber on the topic of user groups is a good listen.

@trevortwining raises very good points. In fact, I was originally opposed to hosting DevTricks at FueledMinds because of the difficult after-hours access. Ultimately, however, the consistent availability of the space tipped that battle.

In hosting DevTricks at FueledMinds, the two criticisms we receive are difficulty locating the space and difficulty accessing the space after hours. Fortunately, these issues are easy enough to fix and we've already started to address them to make DevTricks a better experience. Arrangements have been made with the building to provide late-night access on Mondays, meaning the doors will not be locked until 10:00 PM. The hallway leading to the space has been finished. Finally, signage is being made to direct people from the ground floor through the building to the space on the third floor. And as @tmadej noted, he can provide keys to some members of the community as well.

These are my thoughts on the matter. I think it's worth giving a shot so long as the other regular attendees agree. In a worse case scenario, we return to Mahtay Cafe. In a best case scenario we grow the event and we see more learning and increased productivity.

[dideler]

I'm willing to try FueledMinds as a coworking spot, because I agree with the points that @knicklabs makes. But perhaps we should try it out only when it becomes visually and physically more accessible (i.e. proper signage, after-hour access, etc). In terms of accessibility for people with disabilities, I don't think the space is as friendly as Mahtay, but I think it should be manageable.

[mmottola24]

So... Are we at Mahtay or Fueled Minds tonight? Dennis suggested switching to Fueled Minds after the next DevTricks.

[trevortwining]

The message that Nick posted today on Facebook mentioned Mahtay. I won't be out because I'm still in FL but I'll see y'all when I get back.

Trevor Twining skype:trevortwining

On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 5:48 PM, Michael Mottola notifications@github.comwrote:

So... Are we at Mahtay or Fueled Minds tonight? Dennis suggested switching to Fueled Minds after the next DevTricks.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/softwareniagara/feedback/issues/51#issuecomment-32220549 .

[shuttle1987]

I'm planning on making out to the meetup tonight (first time I'm going), is it still at Mahtay?

[tmadej]

Mahtay this week. Next week on at FueledMinds.

• TM

On Jan 13, 2014, at 6:20 PM, Janis L notifications@github.com wrote:

I'm planning on making out to the meetup (first time I'm going), is it still at Mahtay?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[shuttle1987]

Ok great, I'm on my way in, looking forward to meeting everyone!

[knicklabs]

I know this is a bit late but we will be trying out the FueledMinds space next time. Next week is at FueledMinds, however, next week is DevTricks not coworking. Refer to issue #52 for details. Coworking will continue on Jan 27 at the FueledMinds space.

@shuttle1987 You should checkout DevTricks. It's a fun event where you'll learn cool new things.