I stumbled upon an insightful piece by Wired, titled "Big Boards and the Rise of Massive Office Screens" in which the author acknowledges the silent rise of big screens in the offices, shadowed by the triumph of small screens that are getting all the media coverage. From the article "At tech companies large and small, big wall-mounted displays showing statistics and other live data have become shared reference points, digital campfires that can focus a group of employees on common goals. Some show web traffic, others customer support queues, product development progress or the leaderboard in the pingpong rankings, but all capitalize on the falling prices of big flat-panel televisions and the growing ease of funneling live information into those screens."
Having visited numerous software companies in recent years I've taken a notice that having at least one large screen set up in an office is pretty much a norm. In many cases one screen is not enough but there's several of them scattered around the office. In Screenful, we strongly believe that each team should have their own big screen devoted to their own data. Heck, why not?
Furthermore, the article states that "At a time when team members are pulled apart by web distractions, work-from-home allowances and endlessly buzzing smartphones, these big office boards are a way to get everyone on the same page again."
The point of having something constantly visible for everyone is in turning data into a shared experience. You may not need more information beamed at you through every possible channel. But you do need to be on the same page with your co-workers.
----
Monday, 24 November 2014 17:30
Is your office equipped with digital campfires?
Written by Sami Linnanvuo
Published in
Blogs
Tagged under
Login to post comments