Viral Marketing and Impact on Box Office

I heard a pretty interesting dialogue on the radio about the impact of viral marketing and word of mouth on movies today. Seems like a year or two back, even a bad movie could manage to stay around and make reasonable box office numbers before the word really got around that the movie is bad. So it had a shelf life of an average of 10days-2 weeks. In this twitter, facebook age of viral marketing, if a movie is not good it takes folks 2-3 hours and they tweet about it and the word spreads. So a bad movie today has an average shelf life of 2 days now. Sure bodes bad news for movie producers. Seems like now its more important than ever to make a good movie. Seems pretty self evident- doesnt it- duhhh!!

More on Flat Workspace

Follow up to my previous blog which generated some interesting questions- like some of you asked so what is the implication to folks who are used to their cubes, offices etc- well yes you guessed right. A lot of change management and preparation is needed to make this transition smooth. Need to ensure the concept is socialized with the employees, they are shown use cases on how this workplace use is optimized and how it will make people more productive. It is a journey- but not as difficult as more people think. Also, if you think about it this move makes sense. As we move to more virtualization of the workforce, more people choosing to work from home, from their hotel rooms, from the coffee shop they are sitting in- really having a dedicated cube in the office becomes less important.

Here is a link to the earlier post to which this is a sequel: http://chmadan.blogspot.com/

The World is Flat- and so is my Workplace

So I work in a truly evolved work environment here in Cisco. We call it a "Connected Workspace'. It is open, no cubicles, no offices- a very open plan with plenty of desks and chairs each equipped with docking stations, monitors, and phones that enable mobility (ie any desk I sit at I can log into a phone to make it my own- my setting, my extension etc). No fixed seats and better still no visual evidence of any hierarchy. It is truly flat and collaborative. All levels, all seniority, all ranks sit right next to each other. Gone are the days you can tell a VP by their plush office. Talk about a truly open door policy- we have taken it a level further and got rid of the door altogether :-)

So whats the implication of this to work, to productivity, to professional interactions? Significant- to say the least. Once you get used to the noise of talking, typing etc- it is really liberating. I feel I have easy reach to all my colleagues. We have dens and lounge spaces to encourage interaction and meetings on the fly and an environment like this fosters collaboration. It is good for the company too- since it brings down costs. Rather than have dedicated offices and cubes for each employee- here is a way you have a collaborative, connected workspace- where no real estate gets wasted if employees choose to work from home for say 50% of their time.

In this new workspace, I have seen people come together, have impromptu discussions, generate creative solutions more than ever before. So - in my mind having broken the cubicle barrier is a great breakthrough in this 'Brave New World' of collaboration, web 2.o and being connected.