A couple of weeks ago, a manager asked me to swap places with a couple of report programmers. My workstation used to be at the hub of three different project teams—I was just lucky, I guess—so I had quick access to members of these teams and could look around to see if someone I needed to talk to was available. Now, I sit where I can see part of one team.

Granted, I have windows and a wall now, which is nice. But I think I’m already starting to see the effects of not sitting where I can see more people. Or more important, where they can see me.

Being where the team can see you is an important ingredient in staying informed. I literally moved just around the corner, but I feel out of touch with the team I can’t see anymore. When I was sitting nearly back-to-back with the interaction designer, I consulted with him on features and scheduling, and he asked for my feedback on prototypes or suggestions for wording. That hasn’t happened in the last couple of weeks. He walked past my desk yesterday, and I think that was the first time I’d seen him in most of that time.

All this means is that I need to do some extra work to make up for the physical distance.

I wrote a while back about wanting to sit with the rest of the User Education team when our department changes locations, but this small move has shown me that this probably may not be the best thing for any of us (though DocGuy and I sit next to each other). The team has made up for our distribution by conversing by email and a SharePoint blog, which have worked well over the last week or so that we’ve had our two additional team members.

I suppose I could look at my small move as a good thing, since with the way our new location will be laid out, I’ll be able to sit with only one team anyway. So I’ll have to use all means possible to stay in close communication with the members of the other teams I work with. Email. IM. Phone. Get off my rear and go talk to them. All that good stuff.

Related entries (auto-generated):

The Team I’d Like to Sit With

Technical Communicators as a Point of Contact between Users and Project Teams

Tapping into the Resource of Project Documentation

Teaching Project Management How to Work with Technical Writers

Establishing the Correct Name of a Project