Slow Mover
Two weeks ago, work’s new office opened. Worth blogging about? As much as anything, I guess!
Buildium had clearly outgrown our old office on Chauncy Street in Downtown Crotching, and on August 10th we opened a new, more spacious office on Franklin Street in Post Orifice Square. Actually, it’s the old State Street Bank building, which used to be one of the most prominent features of the Boston skyline until they removed the logotype sign from the top.
The most noteworthy thing to mention was our move timeline. As originally planned, my department packed up on Tuesday July 28th, expecting to work from our homes for four days before taking up residence in the new place on Tuesday August 4th. But as the week wore on, we learned things weren’t quite ready for us; so we were told to hold off a day, until Wednesday. Then no, it would be Thursday. No, let’s try for next Monday… In the end, we worked from home for eight days (12 calendar days) before opening the office two weeks ago.
Working from home for a week and a half was okay, and was a good trial run for potentially working remotely full-time, if that winds up being a possibility. I was actually more productive than I had anticipated, to the extent that I didn’t get very much personal stuff done at home. But collaborative work still required more planning and effort.
The biggest thing I’ll miss about the old office is that the windows opened: a treat that I’ve enjoyed only a couple times during my professional career, despite working at scores of client sites. It also helped that my desk was in a corner with windows on two sides, but that wasn’t anywhere near as significant as access to fresh air.
At the new office, I’m at one end of a double-row of ten desks, which is tolerable, but pretty dehumanizing: far worse than being in a cube farm. The nearest set of windows is about 50 feet away, and the fluorescents are on all the time. On the plus side, I’m close to the hidden back exit and bathrooms; but I’m far away from the foosball tables.
Our building-and Post Office Square in general-is much more businessy. For neighbors, we’ve exchanged Chauncy Street’s skungey ESL students and affordable housing tenants for self-important real estate dealmakers and financiers in suits. In a stunning display of righteousness, the other tenant on our floor-a local branch of real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield-came over and requested that our HR department prohibit our employees from wearing tee shirts at work! Arrogant much?
In more pleasant topics, although I haven’t really scoped out the food choices, one benefit is that the new building is only a block away from Lanta, the Thai restaurant I used to walk a mile to visit once a week. Hopefully there’ll be a burrito place that can replace Herrera’s, because that’s rather a long walk just for a burrito.
My commute has gone from about a mile to a mile and a half, which is still walkable, but I may start biking in more. There is a bike room down in the sub-basement, which isn’t great, but it’s functional. However, getting between our office and the sub-basement is a veritable ratmaze of public and freight elevators, hidden stairwells, and Orwellian linoleum-and-fluorescents corridors, and navigating it chews up all the time I’d save by biking home rather than walking.
Conveniently, last Wednesday was both my weekly Green Line Velo group ride as well as a “bike breakfast” day (a rather tepid affair put on by some local cycling organization), so I rode in for the first time. My commuting route-which I extend to a completely-unnecessary 10 miles-is identical to my commute to our old building except right at the end I jump one street over, taking Seaport instead of Summer.
So that’s my take on Buildium’s new digs.