Your 3D holographic boss sent his robot assistant to get coffee.
It's just another day in the office.
Businesses have been obsessed with increasing efficiency and getting the most out of their
employees, and this goes all the way to how they set up their office space.
Now in the early 20th Century, your typical office looked like a giant open factory floor
with a manager up above looming over the employees.
And in the 1980s we saw the birth of the beautiful cubicle farm, which could be kind of a bummer
to work in, but hey, it gave us Dilbert and that fax machine scene in Office Space, so
they're not all bad right?
Meanwhile as technology has evolved, the office has evolved as well.
Mobile technology and tablets have given rise to open office environments where you might
not even sit at the same desk everyday.
At one of these offices you would come into work and a computer would tell you which desks
are available, and you pick which one you want based upon what you're working on and
who you need to see.
You just have to remember to take that photo of you and your dog with you when you're done
for the day.
And of course with wifi becoming more available, the office now is really wherever you are.
See we've had video conferencing for years, but now companies are experimenting with telepresence
robots which allow the user to control the point of view and look at who or whatever
they want based upon a robotic camera eye.
They can even move around and get a feel for the office, maybe they'll go on down to the
water cooler for some juicy gossip.
So, what might a typical office day look like in, say, 2030?
Not so typical.
You might start your day with a 3D holographic video conference with your CEO.
Then log into your department meeting via your avatar which can mimic your actual movements
and facial expressions.
Now as you work, software tracks which apps you use for how long, which emails you tend
to put off, and the tone of your response in the emails you send.
Your body monitoring device encourages you to get up if you've been sitting around for
too long doing things like playing the video games developed by your company to encourage
and reward innovative thinking.
Moving around gets your heart rate up, it might get some alpha waves going to really
encourage creativity.
And speaking about alpha waves and creativity, companies like 3M and Google are doing that
by setting aside time, sometimes between fifteen and twenty percent of an employees work week
to work on pet projects.
Other companies inspire employees to take naps or long walks or even just work from
home all the time.
Eventually we'll probably move into an environment where we just have virtual offices and robot
assistants will answer all of our emails for us.
But will such work be rewarding?
Well think about it.
Work has evolved over time.
Toiling the fields has given way in large part to toiling over a thirty-seven message
long email chain, or trying to figure out how to keep people from nodding off during
your PowerPoint presentation on "Assessing Possible Synergies to Critical Success Factors
Across Multiple Verticals."
It's still toiling.
One thing that will not change, though, is that we still need people to work together
to solve problems collaboratively, whether it's in a video conference or a challenging
video game level.
And one other thing that might not change are work hierarchies.
So a little word of advice, watch what you say about the boss when you're at the water
cooler - even if it's a virtual water cooler.
And hey, I've got a question for you.
What is YOUR vision of the office of the future?
We want to know, let us know in the comments.
Make sure you "like" this video and subscribe to this channel, we've got some amazing videos
about the future coming up really soon.