Creating the right space to foster a spirit of innovation
I’m all about space. A space does encourage or inhibit what takes place in it. I wasn’t aware until today that there was an actual Allen curve that “reveals the exponential drop of frequency of communication between engineers as the distance between them increases.” I’m sure if I had read David’s doctoral thesis on collaborative design teams, he probably cites Allen’s curve.
In an article from The Irish Times about Tom Allen’s upcoming presentation at the Innovation in Complex Social Systems conference at UCD, the benefit of having functional areas where people can meet to exchange information is discussed. Perhaps tea time is a gateway to innovation?
I suppose it’s time to put The Organization and Architecture of Innovation on the reading list.
